by Mark G. Auerbach
Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood in 1981. Photo by: Walter H. Scott
Tanglewood Celebrates The Leonard Bernstein Centennial: Five Staged Productions of Bernstein’s Musicals, Operas, and Ballets Featured
As part of its season-long Bernstein Centennial Celebration,Tanglewood is bringing five of the master composer’s works for musical theatre, opera, and ballet to the stage. Bernstein and his frequent collaborator, the theatre director and choreographer Jerome Robbins, were both born in 1918. Bernstein was associated with Tanglewood for most of his professional career.
The Boston Pops, with Keith Lockhart on the podium, performs Bernstein’s On The Town, directed by Broadway’s Kathleen Marshall, on July 7. A collaboration with choreographer Jerome Robbins and the writing team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Bernstein’s On the Town—the story of three sailors on shore leave in New York City—arrived on Broadway in December 1944. It’s best known for its exuberant anthem to The Big Apple, “New York, New York”. The cast includes Broadway veterans Brandon Victor Dixon, Andrea Martin, Andy Karl, Laura Osnes, and Marc Kudisch. On The Town was based on Bernstein’s and Robbins’ ballet, Fancy Free, which will be performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra with The Boston Ballet, on August 18.
Jamie Bernstein will stage Bernstein’s one-act opera Trouble in Tahiti on July 12, with a BSO ensemble conducted by Charles Prince, and soprano Alexandra Silber and baritone Nathan Gunn. Trouble in Tahiti, with its jazz infused score, premiered in 1952. The program also includes selections from the Bernstein Songbook. It’s sequel, A Quiet Place, will be performed on August 9, with Stefan Asbury conducting and Peter Kazaras directing.
A fully-staged production of Bernstein’s Candide, performed by The Knights, Eric Jacobsen, conductor, and Alison Moritz, director, will be performed August 22 and 24. Based on Voltaire’s satirical novel, it featured a libretto by Lillian Hellman, and many lyrics by the late Richard Wilbur, a long-time WMass resident. Besides its overture, a staple in the symphonic repertoire, its known for its dazzling aria, “Glitter and Be Gay”, introduced by Barbara Cook, and often performed by Kristin Chhenoweth.
For details: 888-266-1200 or www.tanglewood.org.
Of Note
Kevin Rhodes, the peripatetic Maestro, having finished the seasons of the Boston Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, our Springfield Symphony Orchestra, and the Traverse Symphony Orchestra in Michigan, is back in Vienna. He’s conducting a triple bill of famous dances created by British choreographers for the Vienna State Opera Ballet. On that bill is Margeurite and Armand, created by Sir Frederick Ashton for Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. Then, Maestro Rhodes conducts the Vienna State Opera Ballet season finale, The Rudolf Nureyev Gala, one of the most important dance events in Europe. For details: http://kevinrhodesconductor.com/
Rob Ruggiero
Christiane Noll
TheaterWorks will honor Artistic Director Rob Ruggiero on his 25th Anniversary with the Hartford-based theatre on June 16 with a benefit performance at the theatre. Broadway star Christiane Noll, who starred in TheaterWorks acclaimed Next To Normal performs, singing some of Rob’s favorite songs. Connie Shulman better known to audiences as Yoga Jones on Orange is the New Black will also be on stage to share memories of working with Rob. Audiences might be surprised to learn that Connie has been seen in two TheaterWorks productions including Rob’s first at the theater, Remembering Brad in 1993. The evening also includes cocktails, dinner, and after-party. Proceeds benefit TheaterWorks’ new works development program. For details: 860-527-7838 or www.theaterworkshartford.org
Keep in Mind
Arts Beat Radio airs every Friday at 8AM, on 89.5fm/WSKB. On June 15, Mark G. Auerbach chats with Sevenars Music’s Riorianne Schrade about their 50th milestone season, and Beryl Jolly from the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, where you can see dance, music, pops, and more… Start your weekend with ArtsBeat Radio. Tune in live on the airwaves, on Comcast ch. 15, or www.wskb.org
Keira Naughton
Graham Rowat
Church & State, Jason Odell Williams’ provocative, fast-paced and witty topical look at a politician, whose belief system gets shaken to the core, opens the Berkshire Theatre Group’s summer season at The Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge, June 14-30. Charlotte Cohn, founding producer of the New York Music Theatre Festival and Mainstreet Musicals, directs. Judy Jerome, Keira Naughton, Graham Rowat and Andy Talen co-star. Rowat, who returns to BTG after co-starring with Amy Schumer in Meteor Shower on Broadway, starred in BTG productions of Constellations, Bells Are Ringing, and A Little Night Music. Naughton, who starred on Broadway in The Rivals, staged Cedars at BTG. For details: 413-997-4444 or https://www.berkshiretheatregroup.org/
In The Heights, Lin-Mannuel Miranda’s breakthrough Broadway musical, and winner of the 2008 Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Score, Best Choreography and Best Orchestrations, rocks Playhouse on Park in West Hartford, June 13-July 29. With a book by Quiara Alegria Hudes, In The Heights tells the universal story of a vibrant community in New York’s Washington Heights neighborhood – a place where the coffee from the corner bodega is light and sweet, the windows are always open and the breeze carries the rhythm of three generations of music. It’s a community on the brink of change, full of hopes, dreams and pressures, where the biggest struggles can be deciding which traditions you take with you, and which ones you leave behind. See it before Hamilton, and savor the meteoric rise of the talented Miranda. For details: 860.523-5900 Ext. 10 or http://playhouseonpark.org/index.html
Honor Killing by Sarah Bierstock is next at WAM Theatre’s Fresh Takes Play Reading Series, June 10, at No. Six Depot Roastery and Café in West Stockbridge. Molly Merrihew will direct this hard-hitting political play that recently completed its premiere production at Florida Studio Theatre. In Honor Killing, Allisyn Davis, an American reporter for The New York Times, heads to Pakistan to cover the honor killing of a young woman. Denied entrance, she conducts her investigation remotely from Dubai. Through a series of cultural collisions, candid interviews, and dangerous encounters, she learns the horrifying details of this murder. These circumstances cause Allisyn to re-examine troubling details of her own past. For details: http://www.wamtheatre.com/honor-killing/
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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.
