by Mark G. Auerbach
Fiddler on the Roof. Photo by Joan Marcus
“Fiddler on the Roof” is Hartford-Bound
The most recent Broadway revival of the classic Fiddler on The Roof, plays The Bushnell in Hartford on November 6-11. The beloved story of Tevye, the milk man, and his five daughters, created by Sholem Aleichem, was brought to the stage by Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock, and Sheldon Harnick. It became a worldwide classic with its score of now standards, “Tradition,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Sunrise, Sunset,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” and “To Life,”.
Bartlett Sher, who created the lavish production of The King and I, which visited The Bushnell, stages this tour of Fiddler on The Roof. Hofesh Shechter, the Israeli choreographer formerly with Batsheva Dance company, stages the dances, originally choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Yehezkel Lazarov, the Israeli star of stage and screen, plays Tevye.
For details: 860-987-5900 or www.bushnell.org.
NW Dance
NW Dance Project Debuts at UMass Fine Arts Center
NW Dance Project, the cutting-edge dance company from Portland, OR, debuts at the UMass Fine Arts Center on October 30 in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall. Led by acclaimed dancer and choreographer Sarah Slipper, the company brings a mixed rep program of stunning choreography for their debut appearance at the Fine Arts Center.
For its Amherst appearance, the company will perform You Are All I See choreographed by Wen Wei Wang, focusing on movement that is both sharp and cool with athletic emotionality that shows off the dancers’ technical skills; Memory House by Sarah Slipper, is a gripping, passionate duet; and finally, Le Fil Rouge, choreographed by Ihsan Rustem, set to a suite of old and new love/unrequited love songs presents a light and airy work featuring “follies” style vignettes ranging from delightful duets to full-company sections filled with humor, surprise, and tenderness.
For details: .413- 545-2511, 800-999-UMAS, or www.fineartscenter.com/NWDance.
Of Note
MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Awards have been presented to opera composer Matthew Aucoin, a Massachusetts native, and playwright Dominique Morriseau. Morriseau’s Sunset Baby was produced by TheaterWorks a few years ago . Her Detroit ‘67 comes to Hartford Stage on February 14, staged by Jade King Carroll, a production brought to Hartford in partnership with the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ. For details on Detroit ‘67: www.hartfordstage.org
The Barr-Klarman Massachusetts Arts Initiative, a partnership between two Boston-based foundations, Barr and The Klarman Family Foundation, will invest $25 million in 29 arts and cultural organizations from across Massachusetts. Participating organizations receive flexible, multi-year operating support grants, in addition to training and technical assistance from TDC, a nonprofit consulting and research firm. The participants in WMass include: Academy of Music Theatre; Northampton; Barrington Stage Company, Pittsfield; Community Access to the Arts, Great Barrington; Community Musi School of Springfield; Double Edge Theatre, Ashfield; Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington; and Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge; For details: https://www.barrfoundation.org/blog/announcing-barr-klarman-massachusetts-arts-initiative
Call for Submissions: Berkshire Playwrights Lab (BPL) is calling for submissions to its third annual Radius Playwrights Festival, dedicated to the cultivation and celebration of local theater talent. The festival features five or six new short plays created by playwrights who live within a 50-mile radius of Great Barrington. BPL invites to submit short, original plays that are 10 to 15 minutes long and with a maximum cast size of six actors by November 1, 2018. BPL will present fully staged readings of the plays at Saint James Place Great Barrington,February 1-2. For details: 413.528.2544 or https://www.berkshireplaywrightslab.org/
Carolyn Kuan. Photo by Jane Shauck
The Hartford Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2018-2019 HSO: Intermix concert series. HSO: Intermix is intimate, inviting, innovative, and interactive! This series invites classical music amateurs and aficionados alike to experience an evening with the HSO in a relaxed, approachable setting. Get up close with Hartford Symphony Orchestra ensembles and special guests as they perform contemporary compositions and intriguing classical pieces. The season opens with Appalachian Avalanche on November 8 at Upward Hartford; continues at Real Art Ways on February 28 with Dance Card, an concludes on May 1 with Time For Three at Constitution Plaza. Maestra Carolyn Kuan curates the series. For details: 860-987-5900 or www.hartfordsymphony.org.
Keep in Mind
Arts Beat Radio airs every Friday at 8AM, on 89.5fm/WSKB. On October 26, Danny Eaton previews The Majestic Theater season in West Springfield, and MIFA’s Don Sanders catches us up on the Victory Theatre project in Holyoke, MA. Start your weekend with ArtsBeat Radio. Tune in live on the airwaves, on Comcast ch. 15, or www.wskb.org
Capitol Classics Frankenstein
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley’s classic, gets a radio-style staging by Hartford’s Capital Classics at the Mark Twain House and Museum , October 26-28. The performance also includes a radio-style reading of a Mark Twain story. For details: 860-280-3130 or www.marktwainhouse.org.
Ezra Barnes
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Dale Wasserman’s Tony Award winning adaptation of Ken Kesey’s novel, comes to West Hartford’s Playhouse on Park, in a staging by the CT Critics Circle awardee Ezra Barnes, October 31-November 18. For details: 860-523-5900 x10 or visit www.playhouseonpark.org
The Chinese Warriors of Peking bring high-intensity martial arts and breath-taking acrobatics to the UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center Concert Hall on October 25. With an homage to a historical martial arts competition from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) the internationally acclaimed ensemble recreates the festival and the rivalry between the Shaolin and Wu Tang disciplines as they compete to defend the ancient Chinese city of Peking. For details: 413-545-2511, 800-999-UMAS, or www.fineartscenter.com/Warriors.
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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.
