by Mark G. Auerbach
TheaterWorks Announces 2018-19 Season
TheaterWorks Producing Artistic Director Rob Ruggiero announced the theatre’s 2018-2019 Season, which includes The River by Jez Butterworth, A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath, Fully Committed by Becky Mode, and Actually by Anna Zeigler. The fifth and final production will be announced shortly.
Jamison Stern
Ruggiero said “I’m excited by the adventure this season, our renovation season, presents. It comes with challenges but we think it also offers great opportunities, creatively. Part of the season will be produced in different spaces and we’re looking forward to the challenges that brings us and our audience. We’ll share the same intimate experience but through a new lens. At the close of the season, we’ll welcome everyone back to 233 Pearl where the experience will be everything TheaterWorks audiences have always known plus so much more.”
Ruggiero will direct the season opener, The River, which was a major Broadway hit for Hugh Jackman. Jenn Thompson, the innovative director who helmed Oklahoma and Bye, Bye, Birdie for Goodspeed, will stage A Doll’s Houe, Part 2, a sequel of sorts to Ibsen’s classic. Jamison Stern, the actor who gave triumphant performances in TheaterWorks’ The Legend of Georgia McBride and Goodspeed’s LaCage Aux Folles, stars in Fully Committed, the hilarious story of an out-of-work actor working the reservations line in a hot New York City restaurant. Actually is a promising work by a rising playwright.
For details: 860-527-7838 or www.theaterworkshartford.org
Sue Frost
Of Note
Goodspeed Musicals announced that Sue Frost will be the latest recipient of The Goodspeed Award for Outstanding Contribution to Musical Theatre. Sue Frost is a founding member of Junkyard Dog Productions which is dedicated to developing and producing new musicals. Her Broadway credits include: Come From Away. Sue was Associate Producer at Goodspeed Musicals for 20 years, where she produced more than 50 new musicals at both the Goodspeed Opera House and The Norma Terris Theatre. Frost’s contributions to musical theater and her dedication to fostering new works will be celebrated on June 9. For details: 860.873.8664, x368 or www.goodspeed.org.
Chesterwood, the summer home, studio and gardens of America’s foremost sculptor of public monuments, Daniel Chester French (1850-1931) officially opens for the season on May 26 through Oct. 8. French is best known for his sculptures of the Minute Man and the seated figure of Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Situated on 122 acres near Stockbridge, the property and its buildings were donated to the National Trust for Historic Preservation by French’s only child Margaret French Cresson (1889-1973). Chesterwood is recognized as both a National Historic Landmark and a Massachusetts Historic Landmark. There are numerous lectures, workshops, special events, inclduing wine seminars by Nejaime’s. For details: 413-298-3579 or www.chesterwood.org
Downbeat Music Awards Winners include two ensembles from The UMass/Amherst Department of Music and Dance. The Chris Foe Project won the award for Outstanding Performance, Graduate College Blues/Pop/Rock Ensemble. The award for best Undergraduate College Latin Group went to the UMass Brazilian Jazz Combo. For details: http://www.umass.edu/music/
Keep in Mind
Arts Beat Radio airs every Friday at 8AM, on 89.5fm/WSKB. On June 8, Host Patrick Berry, President of The Westfield News Group, chats with Shawn Farley from the UMass Fine Arts Center, who will preview the upcoming music, dance and theatre season at The FAC.. Start your weekend with ArtsBeat Radio. Tune in live on the airwaves, on Comcast ch. 15, or www.wskb.org
Mona Golabek
The Pianist of Willesden Lane, Mona Golabek’s gripping tale of her mother’s escape from the Nazi’s on a Kindertransport, accompanied by some of the most exquisite classical music, returns to Hartford Stage July 12-22. Acclaimed amongst area arts journalists, when it was first performed at Hartford Stage in 2015, The Pianist of Willesden Lane tells the story of a piano prodigy who finds her music in harrowing times of war. For my Westfield News Group review: https://thewestfieldnews.com/review-the-pianist-of-willesden-lane-at-hartford-stage/ For details: 860-527-5151 or visit www.hartfordstage.org
Rylan Morsbach
I Am My Own Wife, Doug Wright’s Pulitzer and Tony winning drama about the the fascinating true life story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, who survived both Nazi Germany and Soviet-controlled Berlin as a transgender woman, comes to the area under the auspices of Pauline Productions. May 31-June 9 at the First Congregational Church in Ashfield, MA and June 13-14 at The Majestic Theater in West Springfield. Rylan Morsbach, the talented young actor who starred in Berkshire Theatre Group’s The Music Man, plays von Mahlsdorf and thirty other characters. Trey Morehouse directs. For details on the Ashfield performances: http://paulinelive.com/index.html. For details on the Maestic performances: 413-747-7797 or http://www.majestictheater.com/
The Hartford Symphony Orchestra ends its Masterworks Series with the spectacular Carmina Burana, June 8-10 at The Bushnell. Maestra Carolyn Kuan conducts Orff’s choral spectacular, which also features theHartford Chorale, led by Richard Coffey, soprano Lisa Williamson, tenor David Guzman, baritone Tyler Duncan, and the Connecticut Children’s Chorus. This program includes Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915. For details: 860-987-5900 or www.hartfordsymphony.org
The Khalif Neville Trio appear at the Historic North Hall Arts Festival in Huntington, Mass. on June 10. Keyboardist and composer Khalif Neville, son of the late and legendary Charles Neville, performs with Hiroyuki Shido on bass and Talyn Neville on drums in a blend traditional jazz forms with derivative styles of funk, R&B, and hip-hop. For details: 413 667-5543 or www.northhallhuntington.org.
Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Etheridge will rock the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center on June 10. Etheridge has remained one of North America’s favorite female artists for more than two decades. Her chart-topping singles include “Bring Me Some Water, “No Souvenirs,” “Ain’t It Heavy,” “I’m the Only One,” “Come to My Window,” and “I Want to Come Over.” In addition to her two Grammy Awards, she has won an Academy Award for “Best Original Song,” a Juno Award for “International Entertainer of the Year,” and ASCAP’s “Songwriter of the Year” Award. For details: 413.528.0100 or www.mahaiwe.org
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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. Mark produces and hosts ArtsBeat Radio for 89.5fm/WSKB.
