MARK AUERBACH
Lopez and Lopez
Hartford Stage presents the East Coast premiere of “Somewhere” Matthew Lopez’s dance filled saga of a Puerto Rican family in 1959, inspired with showbiz dreams, after “West Side Story” becomes a big hit. Lopez’s aunt, Priscilla Lopez, the original Morales in “A Chorus Line” (“What I Did For Love”) stars. Giovanna Sardelli stages the drama with music composed by Bill Sherman, and choreography by Greg Graham. Performances run April 3 through May 4.
The play’s journey over the past two years included well-received productions at The Old Globe in San Diego and TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, CA, and then a workshop as part of Hartford Stage’s Brand:NEW series four months ago.
Priscilla Lopez appears in “Somewhere” at Hartford Stage.
Matthew Lopez is the author of “The Whipping Man”, one of the most widely produced new American plays of the last several years. His newest play, “The Legend of Georgia McBride”, premiered earlier this year at the Denver Theatre Center for the Performing Arts. Other plays include “Reverberation”, “Zoey’s Perfect Wedding”, and “The Sentinels”, which premiered in London at Headlong Theatre Company in 2011. Matthew currently holds new play commissions from Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, and South Coast Rep. Matthew was a staff writer on HBO’s “The Newsroom.” Lopez also served as the 2013-2014 Aetna New Voices Fellow at Hartford Stage, and. another Lopez play is scheduled for production in Hartford next year.
Priscilla Lopez has appeared in Broadway’s biggest hits (“A Chorus Line”, “Pippin” (the original production), and “A Day in Hollywood/A Night in The Ukraine” ) for which she won a Tony Award playing “Harpo Marx”), and “In The Heights”.
For tickets: 860-527-5151 or www.hartfordstage.org
Lynn Klock
Adieu, Lynn Klock
Longtime UMass Music Professor Lynn Klock, who is a saxophonist with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, retires from UMass this spring. He gives his final recital, “Adieu” on April 6, at Bezanson Recital Hall on the UMass/Amherst campus. Joining him onstage will be UMass Professors Nadine Shank, piano, Klock’s wife Laura Klock, horn, and Stony Brook University Professor Eduardo Leandro, percussion.
“For my final recital I chose works that are particularly meaningful and important to me and my career”, says Klock. The program includes “Suite for Alto Saxophone and Precussion”, written for him by Charles Bestor; two world premieres by Salvatore Macchia and Eric Sawyer, works by Marc-Antonio Consoli.
Klock’s CD, “Links” was just released on Albany Records.
For tickets: 413-545-2511, 800-999-UMAS, or https://fac.umass.edu/Online/
Springfield Symphony Maestro Kevin Rhodes. (Photo by Todd Zawistowski)
Keep in Mind…
***The Springfield Symphony, brings pianist Joyce Yang to Symphony Hall to perform Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F on April 12. Kevin Rhodes conducts a program which includes R Strauss’ “Don Juan” and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Symphony #2, “Antar”. For tickets: 413-733-2291 or www.springfieldsymphony. org.
***Hartford Stage has announced its 2014-15 season, which includes the classics Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, Noel Coward’s “Private Lives” and Cole Porter’s “Kiss Me Kate”. Three premieres round out the season. “Ether Dome” by Elizabeth Egloff, chronicles the discovery of ether as an anesthetic by Hartford resident Dr. Horace Wells, Matthew Lopez’s “Reverberation”, and “The Pianist of Willesden Lane, the story of a Jewish pianist who locates from Vienna to London during World War II. For tickets: 860-527-5151 or www.hartfordstage.org
***The Springfield Symphony has announced its 2014-15 season, which opens on September 27 at Springfield Symphony Hall. Among the “Jeans ‘n Classics” pops programs: a salute to Sgt. Pepper and The Beatles, The Music of Michael Jackson, and a mix of Blood, Sweat & Tears, plus Earth Wind and Fire, and Chicago. On the classics side, pianist Sara Davis Buechner on a program with Leonard Bernstein’s “The Age of Anxiety”. For details: 413-733-2291 or http://www.springfieldsymphony.org/concerts-events/2014-2015-concerts/
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.
