by Mark G. Auerbach
DeeDee Bridgewater
Jazz Flight Opens the UMass Fine Arts Center Season September 27-29
Jazz Flight, a three-night jazz sampler of vocal and instrumental jazz performances, opens the 2018-19 season of the Fine Arts Center at UMass/Amherst. The series includes avant-garde harmonic experimentation, Arabic/jazz fusion, and Memphis soul. The series begins with a concert by innovative jazz composer and pianist Angelica Sanchez, September 27, at Bezanson Recital Hall. The “flight” continues with cross-cultural Amir ElSaffar & Two Rivers Ensemble, September 28, in Bowker Auditorium. The three-night series concludes with an evening with legendary jazz icon Dee Dee Bridgewater and the Memphis Soulphony, September 29,in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall. The Saturday night concert also features Memphis-style BBQ and Berkshire Brewing Company beer tasting on the plaza starting at 6:30 pm.
Angelica Sanchez’s performance on Thursday night also launches the 30th Anniversary Magic Triangle Jazz Series. She’ll be joined by an accomplished nine-piece jazz ensemble, featuring Thomas Heberer, trumpet; Kirk Knuffke, cornet; Chris Speed, tenor saxophone; Michael Attias, alto saxophone; Ben Goldberg, clarinets; Omar Tamez, guitar; John Hébert, double-bass and Sam Ospovat, drums. Sanchez has established herself as both a gifted pianist and advanced composer. She has played with renowned jazz artists, including Mark Dresser, Susie Ibarra, and Paul Motian. The New York Times has described her compositions as having “a loose, cantankerous energy, given shape by some smart writing.”
Jazz Flight continues on Friday night with composer and trumpeter Amir ElSaffar & Two Rivers Ensemble. ElSaffar has been called “one of the most exciting voices on the scene today” (Downbeat Magazine) and “uniquely poised to reconcile jazz and Arabic music” (The Wire). A 2018 US Artist Fellow and a recipient of the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, ElSaffar has established himself as a master of composing his unique cross-cultural musical fusion, marrying two of his most beloved musical forms – the endangered Iraqi maqam modal system and popular American jazz. Two Rivers Ensemble features Nasheet Waits, drummer; Carlo DeRosa, bassist; Tareq Abboushi, buzuq; Zafer Tawil, multi-instrumentalist; and Ole Mathisen, tenor saxophonist.
2017 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater concludes Jazz Flight on Saturday night with a concert that honors the spirit and soul of her birthplace, Memphis, Tennessee. Over a series of visits to her birthplace, Bridgewater explored the energy, sound, and feel that runs deeply in her veins. Her highly-anticipated 2017 release “Memphis…Yes I’m Ready” showcases her undeniable versatile talent and driving passion for the city’s rich legacy of soul and blues. Helmed an “international ambassador for jazz” by San Francisco Classical Voice, Bridgewater is joined by her nine-piece band for an exquisite night that embodies the spirit and soul of Memphis. .
For details: 413-545-2511, 800-999-UMAS, or www. fineartscenter.com/jazzflight.
Haley Aguero. Photo by Sarah Wildes Arnett
Berkshire Theatre Group Brings Naked to Stockbridge
Naked, Luigi Pirandello’s rarely-staged classic, gets a new production, adapted by Nicholas Wright, and directed by Eric Hill at Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn Theatre in Stockridge, September 27-October 28. Hill has assembled a cast of veteran Berkshire Theatre Group actors, David Adkins, Haley Aguero, James Barry, Jeffrey Doornbos, Tara Franklin, Barbara Sims and Rocco Sisto, to tell the story of a young governess, who attempts suicide when she is jilted by her lover, and one of the children in her charge is involved in an accident.
Rocco Sisto
Pirandello, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1934, was one of Italy’s most important playwrights, and is best known for his drama Six Characters in Search of an Author. He founded Rome’s Art Theatre in 1925. Naked dates back to 1922.
For details: 413-997-4444 or https://www.berkshiretheatregroup.org/
Alex Mandell and Amelia McClain in the Broadway cast of the Olivier and Tony Award winning The Play That Goes Wrong Photo by Jeremy Daniel.
Broadway’s The Play That Goes Wrong Comes to The Bushnell.
The Play That Goes Wrong, the award-winning London and Broadway comedy hit, launches a national tour this week, and comes The Bushnell in Hartford on September 25-30. The comedy by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer is still selling out on Broadway. The laugh-filled backstage comedy takes place at a small British theatre, the fictitious Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, known for its hits The Lion and The Wardrobe and Cat. The company has received a substantial bequest and is putting on a performance of The Murder at Haversham Manor – a 1920s murder mystery play. But as actors drop lines, and sets fall apart, the theatre company’s performance malfunctions become huge audience hilarity.
For details: 860-987-5900 or www.bushnell.org.
Of Note
The Community Music School of Springfield, which provides high quality music education that is accessible and affordable to all, was awarded a $10,000 Community Impact Grant from New York Life, to support the school’s Little Notes Early Childhood Music Financial Aid Program. For details: www.communitymusicschool.com
Julianne Boyd
Keep in Mind
Arts Beat Radio airs every Friday at 8AM, on 89.5fm/WSKB. On September 28, Barrington Stage’ Artistic Director Julianne Boyd joins us to preview “The Glass Menagerie”, recap the season, and talk about future plans at Barrington Stage. Start your weekend with ArtsBeat Radio. Tune in live on the airwaves, on Comcast ch. 15, or www.wskb.org
Delectable Durang, an evening of hilarious Christopher Durang one-acts, closes the current season at Silverthorne Theatre, September 27-October 6, at The Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center Perch, 289 Main Street, Greenfield. This show is an ‘homage to the theater‘ featuring Durang’s most pungent satirical takes on the world of the stage. The six plays are The Actor’s Nightmare, Women in a Play Ground, Nina in the Morning, For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls, One Minute Play & Medea. For details: 413-768-7514 or www.silverthornetheater.org
War of the Worlds: The Panic Broadcast, Joe Landry’s take on the famous Orson Welles radio broadcast, gets a reading at West Hartford’s Playhouse on Park, September 25, as part of its Playwrights on Park Reading Series. For details: 860-523-5900 x10, or www.playhouseonpark.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.
