by Mark G. Auerbach
Saturday Night Fever
Matt Alfano and the company of Saturday Night Fever.
With its solid gold Bee Gees score and a smart story about a high-stepping disco dancer, from the streets of New York, played to perfection by John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever was THE hot film of 1977. It was developed as a Broadway musical, which opened in 1999, and the cast featured some now well-known names like Bryan Batt from Mad Men, Orfeh from Broadway, and Casey Nicholaw in the chorus who became the choreographer and co-director of The Book of Mormon.
A new production of Saturday Night Fever The Musical, directed by Marcia Kash with choreography by Marc Kimelman and music direction by Steve Thomas is touring the country, and it plays a one-night stand at Springfield Symphony Hall on April 1. Almost all of the songs from the original movie sound track are included in the stage musical. For details: 413-788-7033 or www.citystage.symphonyhall.com
John Davidson
Think Summer!
The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington has added more summer performances. The Mahaiwe will kick off its summer season with a Memorial Day concert by Rusted Root on May 29. On July 12, John Davidson, part-time Berkshires resident, who is best known for his appearances on Hollywood Squares, That’s Incredible!, The Tonight Show, and the Disney Musical films takes the stage. Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes will perform on July 22.The Beach Boys will perform on August 15; Stephen Stills and Judy Collins will perform on August 21. For details: 413-528-0100. or www.mahaiwe.org.
New Faces
Adam Davis, long-time Managing Director of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and former Company Manager of the La Jolla Playhouse, has been named as Shakespeare and Company’s new Managing Director.For details on Shakespeare and Company: www.shakespeare.org.
Michele Weathers will assume the role of Managing Director of Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, MA. Weathers comes to the Berkshires from North Carolina’s PlayMakers Repertory Company. For details on Barrington Stage: www.barringtonstageco.org..
Opportunity
Woof ! The Hartford Symphony Orchestra is looking for some talented dogs. Want to see your pup on the big screen? Does your canine best friend do silly, crazy, funny, wild things? Capture 15 seconds or less of footage and submit to the Hartford Symphony Orchestra for consideration to be featured in a segment during its Playing with Dogs concert on May 20! Please send clips (filmed horizontally, please) to [email protected]. Deadline is April 3. Playing with Dogs will be held on May 20 at The Bushnell in Hartford, CT. All submitted video footage will become property of the HSO and will be used at the HSO’s discretion. For details: www.hartfordsymphony.org.
Golden Dragon Acrobatics
Keep in Mind…
The Golden Dragon Acrobats, one of the premiere Chinese acrobatic touring companies, is playing Western New England in April, with tour stops at The Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, MA on April 9, and at Springfield Symphony Hall on April 13. Impresario Danny Chang and choreographer Angela Chang combine award-winning acrobatics, traditional dance, spectacular costumes, ancient and contemporary music, and theatrical techniques to present a show of breathtaking skill and spellbinding beauty that’s definitely family-friendly. For details on the Great Barrington performance: 413-528-0100 or www.mahaiwe.org. For details on the Springfield performance: 413-788-7033 or www.citystage.symphonyhall.com
Darlene Zoller
The Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra celebrates “The Magic of Nature” on April 1, at Greenfield High School. Paul Phillips conducts a program that includes the American premiere of Thea Musgrave’s LochNess: A Postcard from Scotland, along with Liadov’s The Enchanted Lake, Vaughan Williams’ Concert for Bass Tuba and Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 “Pastorale”. Former UMass Music tuba professor John Manning is the soloist. For details: http://pvsoc.org
Rockin’ The Forest will presented by stop/time Dance Theatre at West Hartford’s Playhouse on Park March 29-April 9. Created and directed by Playhouse on Park’s co-artistic director and founder of stop/time dance theater Darlene Zoller, with musical direction by Eric Larivee, Rockin’ The Forest ponders, for example, what occupied Little Red Riding Hood’s time when she wasn’t running from the wolf . Connecticut Dances: A Visual History Exhibition, which celebrates the dance history of Connecticut, will be on display as well. For details: 860-523-5900 x10 or www.playhouseonpark.org
Jason Vieaux, Grammy Award–winning classical guitarist, hailed by NPR as “perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation,” performs in recital on April 4 at Bowker Auditorium on the UMass/Amherst campus, under the auspices of the UMass Fine Arts Center. For details: 800-999-UMAS or 413-545-2511 or www.fineartscenter.com.
Jason Vieaux. Photo by Tyler Bove.
Eurydice, Sarah Ruhl’s fresh take on the famous love story of Orpheus and Eurydice, will be performed by Connecticut Repertory Theatre on their Studio Works Series throughApril 2. Helene Kvale directs. For details: 860-486-2113 or www.crt.uconn.edu
Canoe: The Musical, spotlighting Pioneer Valley performers, Mary Bonacci, Bob Plasse and Michael Rheault launches the new Westfield on Weekend series of three cabaret performances on March 31 at The Great Room at the Westfield Senior Center. For details: 413- 579-5967 or www.westfieldonweekends.com
So Long, Farewell, and Thanks
Larry Murray, a longtime arts writer in the Berkshires, died on March 10, after a long illness.. He co-founded the first Berkshire Theatre Awards, “The Berkies”, on whose nominations committee I served. He championed the arts in Western Massachusetts, wrote compassionately about the many theatre productions that graced our stages, and was a great friend and colleague to all the area arts reporters and critics.
—
Mark G. Auerbach studied theatre at American University and the Yale School of Drama. He’s worked for arts organizations and reported on theatre for newspapers and radio.
