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by Mark G. Auerbach

Hartford Stage Announces 55th Season

Hartford Stage has announced its 55th season, the final one with Darko Trenjak at the helm as Artistic Director. Featured plays include Shakespeare’s historic masterpiece Henry V and Dominique Morisseau’s powerful drama Detroit ’67. Compelling new plays Make Believe by Bess Wohl and The Engagement Party by Samuel Baum will make their world premieres at Hartford Stage. The Flamingo Kid – a new musical based upon the 1984 Garry Marshall coming-of-age film, with book and lyrics by Tony Award-winner Robert L. Freedman (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) and music by Tony Award-nominated Scott Frankel (Grey Gardens and War Paint) – will also make its world premiere at Hartford Stage. Tresnjak will direct. A sixth mainstage production will be announced shortly. Hartford Stage will also present its annual production of A Christmas Carol.  For details: www.hartfordstage.org,

WAM Theatre Announces 2018 Season 

WAM Theatre’s Artistic Director Kristen van Ginhoven announced plans for the company’s 2018 season, its ninth. The eagerly awaited mainstage production, a co-venture with the Dorset Theatre in Vermont, will present Holland Taylor’s portrait of feisty Texas governor Ann Richards, called Ann, which will star Jayne Atkinson, the Berkshires-based actress from TV’s House of Cards. Ann plays Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, October 19-28, and will be directed by Kristen Van Ginhoven. Ann’s creator, Holland Taylor, is best known for her performance in Two and A Half Men.

The fifth season of WAM’s Fresh Takes Play Reading Series presents a series of ground-breaking plays that are imaginative and thoughtful explorations of complex issues affecting women and girls, and feature local professional actors and directors. Fresh Takes kicks of on April 15,  at No. 6 Depot Roastery and Café in West Stockbridge with Swallow by Stef Smith, directed by Talya Kingston.

On May 4-5,  internationally acclaimed comedienne, award-winning audiobook narrator, and bestselling author of The English American, Alison Larkin premieres her hilarious new show, Alison Larkin LIVE!,  at Shakespeare & Company. Larkin will talk about England, America, adoption, reunion, parenting, life in the Berkshires, and how to brew the perfect cup of tea.

For details about WAM Theatre’s programs, events, and artists: www.WAMTheatre.com.

Of Note

Barrington Stage Company has announced its cabaret line-up at Mr. Finn’s Cabaret, located at the theatre’s Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center in downtown Pittsfield. The season opens June 3-4 with Tina Fabrique, who has thrilled audiences in Ella at TheaterWorks in Hartford. Other programs include composer Jason Robert Brown; cabaret legend Marilyn Maye, playwright and actor Charles Busch, funny lady Leslie Kritzer, Goodspeed’s The Will Rogers Follies star David Lutken with his Seat of His Pants Band, and more. Darnell Abraham, who starred in Barrington Stage’s Ragtime last summer also introduces his cabaret act “Wheels of a Dream”. For details: 413-236-8888 or  or www.barringtonstageco.org.

Anastasia, the Broadway musical hit that had its world premiere at Hartford Stage,  has announced it will embark on a North American tour, set to launch this fall. The tour will begin on October 9 at the Proctors Theatre in Schenectady, before visiting over 30 cities in its first year on the road. Anastasia is directed by Hartford Stage’s Darko Tresnjak. For details: https://www.anastasiabroadway.com/

Todd Trebour, Program Coordinator at the UMass Arts Extension Service for the last four years and former Marketing Director at The Chester Theatre Company, has been named the new Grants to Organizations Program Director at the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. He begins his new role in May.

Keep in Mind

The Silk Road Ensemble, the Grammy Award-winning group of extraordinary musicians from around the globe, perform at the UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center Concert Hall on April 12. The musicians of the Grammy Award-winning Silk Road Ensemble represent dozens of nationalities and artistic traditions, from China and Japan to Spain and Syria and the United States. The ensemble is a musical collective that appears in many configurations and settings, from intimate groups of two and three in museum galleries to rousing complements of eighteen in concert halls, public squares, and amphitheaters. For details: 413-545-2511, 800-999-UMAS or www.fineartscenter.com.

The Stan Kenton Legacy Big Band, directed by Mike Vax, performs a free concert on April 16 at Bezanson Recital Hall on the UMass/Amhert campus, showcasing some of the well-known music of the Stan Kenton Orchestra, plus fresh new material written in the innovative Kenton style. The group brings together alumni from the 1956-1978 Kenton Orchestras for tours, jazz cruises and festivals. Produced by the UMass/Amherst Department of Music and Dance. For details:  https://www.umass.edu/music/

Playing with Food: An Evening with Playwright Jacques Lamarre, celebrates the comic writer, ad the muses who inspired his plays about food. Chef Rossi, who inspired Raging Skillet; Giulia Melucci, Vice President of Public Relations at Harper’s Magazine, and Elizabeth Petruccione, Owner of Losing Weight with Elizabeth. TheaterWorks’ Eric Ort moderates the event on April 18 at the Mark Twain House in Hartford. For details: https://marktwainhouse.org/

Tar2f! an irreverent musical comedy adaptation of Moliere’s Tartuffe, created by Northampton composer and lyricist Jeff Olmsted, has its world premiere as the season opener at Silverthorne Theatre, April 12-21, at the Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center, 289 Main Street, Greenfield.  Peter Ludwig stars in the title role. Chris Rohmann directs. For details: http://www.silverthornetheater.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.