by Mark G. Auerbach
Once, the hit Broadway musical.
Once, Again
If you missed Once, the multi-Tony Award-winning musical on Broadway, or its national tour at The Bushnell, there’s yet another opportunity for one performance on December 1, at the UMass Fine Arts Center Concert Hall.
Winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Once is a truly original Broadway experience. Featuring an impressive ensemble of actors-musicians who play their instruments onstage, Once tells the enchanting tale of a Dublin street musician about to give up on his dream when a beautiful young woman suddenly takes an interest in his haunting love songs.
Based on the indie film of the same name, the musical Once started off as a regional theater production (it was workshopped by the highly regarded American Repertory Theater in Cambridge–which also launched the Broadway productions of Hair, The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Pippin, and Waitress; went to Off Broadway, and then moved uptown.
For details: 413-545-2511, 800-999-UMAS, or http://www.fineartscenter.com/.
Fred Sokol. Photo by Betsy Sokol.
New Play Gets Local Reading
Longmeadow theatre educator, director, and arts reporter Fred Sokol, has a new play, The Forever Boys, which will get a local reading on December 10-11 at Springfield’s Bing Arts Center, in a co-venture between the Springfield Jewish Community Center and the Bing. Sokol will direct.
Sokol, former theatre reporter for the Springfield Republican, wrote a novel, Mendel and Morris in 2011. It was a comedy about two elderly men in Springfield. The Forever Boys is a dramatization of that work. Sokol has taught theatre and directed productions at American International College, Asnuntuck College, and Bay Path University. His theatre reviews are published on the national theatre website, Talking Broadway.
These performances will give Sokol to present the play before a live audience and then make changes and adjustments to the script before it moves on.
For details: 413-739-4715 or http://www.springfieldjcc.org/adults/artsandculture/jart2/2016/
Opportunity for High School Students in The Arts
There’s scholarship funding available for any WMass High School student who has been accepted to a college or certificate program in the arts. The Massachusetts Critics Circle offers the Walter Haggerty Scholarship, named for a late Springfield advertising executive who was a champion of theatre. The deadline for application is this Spring. For details: http://www.inthespotlightinc.org/2016/10/ma-critics-circle-500-annual-walter_24.html
Nicholas Palmer conducts the Springfield Symphony Pops
Keep in Mind…
The Springfield Symphony Orchestra’s Pops presents its annual holiday extravaganza, this year titled It’s A Wonderful Life. There’s been a holiday pops in Symphony Hall ever since I can remember, and this year’s version features guest conductor Nicholas Palmer, the Springfield Symphony Chorus, The Children’s Chorus of Springfield, Sinai Temple cantor Martin Levinson and more. It’s traditional family fare with a sing-a-long. Among some of the highlights, excerpts from Tiomken’s score for It’s A Wonderful Life, Herbert’s Babes in Toyland, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, music from Frozen and Mame and more. One performance only, December 3 in Symphony Hall. For details: 413-733-2291 or www.springfieldsymphony.org.
The Barkada Quartet. Photo by Victoria Chamberlain.
The Barkada Quartet with pianist Anastasia Antonacos perform at Bezanson Recital Hall on the UMass/Amherst campus on December 1, under the auspices of the UMass Department of Music and Dance. The centerpiece of this contemporary music program is Indiana University of Pennsylvania Associate Professor of Music Theory and Composition David Martynuik’s newly composed Quintet #2 ‘Sierra Vita’ for saxophone quartet and piano. The program also includes original works for saxophone quartet by Christine Delphine Hedden, Pedro Iturralde, David Salleras Quintana, and Florent Schmitt. The program is free.
Refugee, a new play by Milan Dragicevich, with music by Tim Eriksen, will be presented by the UMass Theatre at Rand Theatre on the UMass campus through December 10. Nikita Milinojevi directs the drama about the refugee crisis.experienced by a Serbian family after World War II. For details: For details: 413-545-2511, 800-999-UMAS, or http://www.fineartscenter.com/.
Sirena Huang guest soloist with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra
The Hartford Symphony Orchestra performs a Merry Mozart concert on December 9-11 at The Bushnell in Hartford, CT. Sirena Huang is guest violinist, and Steven Mackey is guest electric guitarist. Maestra Carolyn Kuan is on the podium. The program includes: The program includes Mozart’s Overture to Don Giovanni and his Symphony No. 41 in C Major; Sarasate’s Gypsy Aiurs, and Mackey’s Four Iconoclastic Episodes. For details: 860-987-5900 or www.hartfordsymphony.org.
An Absolute Turkey, the Georges Feydeau’ farce adapted from Le Dindon by Nicki Frei and Peter Hall. is next at Connecticut Repertory Theatre, December 1-10 in Storrs, CT. Pul Mullins directs, and Brooks Brantley and John Leonard Thompson co-star. For details: 860-486-2113.or www.crt.uconn.edu
Peril in Thine Eye, an immersive dance experience inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, featuring contemporary arrangements of the score from Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet, Romeo and Juliet, and dialogue from Shakespeare’s play, will be presented by the University Dancers from the UMass Department of Music and Dance on December 1-3 in Totman Gym on the UMass/Amherst campus.Paul Dennis directs. Totman Gym is located at 30 Eastman Lane, Amherst, MA.For details: For details: 413-545-2511, 800-999-UMAS, or http://www.fineartscenter.com/.
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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.
