by Mark G. Auerbach
As The New Theatre Season Begins: One Man’s Opinion
A great theatre experience happens when actors, directors, designers, and audience connect on the same page or stage. There’s an energy and excitement onstage which envelops an audience, and an audience response which fuels a performance. Make the new season a great experience for yourself and for the people giving you those theatre moments.
- Arrive on time. The people involved with the performance will be at the theatre early, getting ready to perform for you. Understand that seating audience members during a performance is distracting. So, if you’re late, regardless of the reason, expect to wait in the lobby for the first appropriate pause, which won’t distract audience and actors.
- Turn off the cell-phones. One ringing cellphone destroys the mood for everyone else in the audiences, along with the actors. If you’re a doctor on call, leave your seat number with the box-office, and leave the theatre’s house manager phone number with your service or the hospital.. Better yet, go to a performance when you’re not on-call. You’ll enjoy the show much more.
- Don’t text. The light from your phone is a major distraction to the people around you. No one in Facebook nation will miss you during a one-hour first act. The actors onstage aren’t texting in between lines.
- Stay for the curtain call. Actors work hard. Show them your respect and appreciation. It’s like you’re throwing a dinner party, and your guests leave before dessert, because something is more important than your hospitality.
- Savor the moment. Some of the great theatre memories can send chills down your spine forever. I’ll never forget seeing “The Mirror Song” in the original Follies; Jennifer Holliday singing “And I Am Telling You…” in the original Dreamgirls, or the railroad journey sequence in Hartford Stage’s Anastasia. For others, it’s Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl. A great theatre moment is an incredible lifetime experience.
Ruby Rakos plays Judy Garland in Goodspeed’s Chasing Rainbows.
Goodspeed Presents A Premiere: “Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz”
Karen Mason plays Ma Lawlor in Goodspeed’s Chasing Rainbows.
Goodspeed presents the new musical Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz, on September 16-November 27. Written by Mark Acito, who penned last season’s Broadway musical Allegiance, Chasing Rainbows is the story of young Judy Garland, who was known as “the girl with the great big voice” before she captured worldwide attention in The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis, Easter Parade and A Star is Born. The future star’s complicated childhood is showcased against the songs of the period that made her famous: “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” “You Made Me Love You” and “Over the Rainbow”.
Ruby Rakos will don the famous ruby slippers as she takes on the role of Frances Gumm/Judy Garland. Rakos appeared on Broadway in Billy Elliot: The Musical. . Michael McCormick, who has performed in a dozen Broadway productions will play L.B. Mayer. Ma Lawlor and Kay Koverman will be played by Karen Mason, whose Broadway credits include Mamma Mia!. Chasing Rainbows will be directed by Tyne Rafaeli. Choreography will be by Chris Bailey.
For details: 860.873.8668 or www.goodspeed.org.
Brush Up Your Shakespeare
Darko Tresnjak, Hartford Stage’s Artistic Director, is staging a new production of Verdi’s Macbeth at the Los Angeles Opera. Placido Domingo stars in the title role, and James Conlon conducts. Performances go through October 16. For details: http://www.laopera.org/season/16-17-season/macbeth/
Finn Wittrock plays Hamlet in a Shakespeare and Company benefit.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield (The Reduced Shakespeare Company),will be performed by the Silverthorne Theatre Company in Greenfield, MA October 7-15. This comedy is a rollicking irreverent attempt to represent all 37 of Shakespeare’s works (poems included) in one evening’s entertainment. David Rowland directs. For details: http://www.silverthornetheater.org/
Elizabeth Aspenleider plays Hamlet’s mother Gertrude in a Shakespeare and Company benefit.
Hamlet, Shakespeare’s classic about a Danish prince in distress, gets a staged reading at Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, MA on October 8. Finn Wittrock of American Horror Story and The Big Short, plays Hamlet. Elizabeth Aspenlieder, one of the company’s best actors, returns to the stage as Hamlet’s mother Gertrude. Hamlet is a benefit for Shakespeare and Company. For details: 413-637-3353 or www.shakespeare.org,
Keep in Mind…
Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares begins its 5th season with a performance by Steve Swell’s Kende Dreams, featuring Steve Swell, trombone, compositions; Rob Brown, alto saxophone, Connie Crothers, piano, William Parker, bass and Gerald Cleaver, drums, on Thursday, September 15 at Hampshire College Music Recital Hall, Amherst, MA. For details: www.jazzshares.org
Little Shop of Horrors opens the Playhouse on Park season in West Hartford, CT. The zany musical by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman is the story of an exotic plant in a skid row flower shop who eats her way to the top. Performances through October 16. For details: 860-523-5900 x10 or www.playhouseonpark.org.
David Sanford, Mount Holyoke composer, will have works performed at the UMass New Music Festival. Photo by Tony Rinaldo.
New Music at UMass. The UMass Department of Music and Dance presents a free concert of new music by local composers Eric Sawyer, David Sanford, Salvatore Macchia on September 17 at Bezanson Recital Hall on the UMass/Amherst campus. Showtime is 7:30PM. For details: http://www.umass.edu/music/
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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.
