COMEDY ABRIDGED
DAVID KIDWELL
HUBENS BOBBY CIUS
MATT WILKAS
By Mark G. Auerbach
Springfield Symphony Orchestra launches Musicians’ Relief Fund
When the Springfield Symphony Orchestra cancelled the balance of its current season, many of its musicians, mostly free-lancers, who performed with the SSO and other area orchestras were out of luck. With no rehearsals or performances with the SSO or in clubs, cnurches, and chamber music groups, plus shelter-in-place orders curbing their teaching and coaching, the musicians are strapped for cash and monies for basic living expenses.
The Springfield Symphony Orchestra has launched a Musicians’ Relief Fund, an initiative which provides a simple, direct way for the SSO and its patrons, friends, and the greater Springfield Community to support the SSO musicians whose livelihoods have been adversely affected by this unprecedented crisis. All of the monies raised will go directly to contracted SSO musicians on an as-needed basis.
For details: www.springfieldsymphony.org
COVID19 Related Program and Schedule Changes
Cultural Chaos, the annual Easthampton City Arts street festival, originally scheduled for June 13, has been cancelled.
Goodspeed has again revised its season. The previously announced production of Anne of Green Gables will be moved to 2021, and the current season’s only offering will be South Pacific, staged by TheaterWorks’ Artistic Director Rob Ruggiero. Opening night is now scheduled for September 11. Goodspeed’s annual Gala, scheduled for June, will be moved to the fall. For details: www.goodspeed.org
Hartford Stage has moved its productions of Ah Wilderness and The Complete History of Comedy (Abridged), scheduled for May and June, to October. Following the annual holiday production of A Christmas Carol, the plays previously announced for 2020-21 will begin performances in January. For details: www.hartfordstage.org.
The Hartford Symphony Orchestra has postponed its May 3 Sunday Serenades performance of Savory Sounds: Strauss and Beethoven at the Wadsworth Athenaeum. The rescheduled date will be announced soon, and tickets for the May 3 performance will be valid on the new date. The May 8-10 performances of Enigma Variations, part of the Masterworks Series at The Bushnell, has been cancelled, as have the June 5-7 performances of Beethoven’s Ninth. The May 16 performance of The Empire Strikes Back in Concert, has been rescheduled to October 30 (and May tickets will be honored at the rescheduled Pops. For details: www.hartrfordsymphony.org.
The Holyoke Civic Symphony has cancelled the remainder of its 2019-20 season. For details: http://www.holyokecivicsymphony.org/
Shakespeare & Company is postponing its 2020 Summer Season to next summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Company intends to move as many of the productions planned between May and September 2020 as it can to 2021, including King Lear with Christopher Lloyd and the outdoor production of Much Ado About Nothing in the Roman Garden Theatre. In addition to the main performance season the Company is canceling its summer Education and Actor Training programs, including Riotous Youth, Summer Conservatory, and the Summer Shakespeare Intensive. At this time, the Company plans to proceed with The Fall Festival of Shakespeare, the December production of Emma, The Northeast Regional Tour, and the Month-Long Intensive as scheduled. The 2020 Gala has been rescheduled from June 27 to October 10, 2020. .Additional details about Shakespeare & Company’s 2020 fall and winter programming will be announced later this spring. For details: www.shakespeare.org.
Online Events and Performances
Goodspeed Musicals has launched In The Spotlight, a new musical theatre podcast, co-hosted by Michael Fling, Goodspeed Artistic Assistant, and Anika Chapin, Goodspeed Artistic Associate. Episodes are bi-weekly and available on Wednesdays (the next episode is available on April 29). Fling and Chapin will explore musical theatre old and new. For details: www.goodspeed.org.
Hartford Stage presents Scene and Heard Live, every Wednesday at 5PM on ZOOM. Artistic Director Melia Bensussen hosts. For details: www.hartfordstage.org.
TheaterWorks has two ongoing weekly online events. On Wednesdays at 7:30PM live on Facebook (TheaterWorks Hartford) and Instagram (@twhartford.org), LIVING ROOM showcases musicians. On April 22: Hartford-based drummer Dwayne Keith, on April 29, John Cardoza, from TheaterWorks’ production of Next to Normal, and Bandits on the Run on May 6. On Thursdays, Artistic Director Rob Ruggiero hosts Get Sauced from his kitchen (live at 5PM on Instagram). On April 23, Jenn Harris and Matt Wilkas from Christmas on The Rocks, join Rob. For further details: www.twhartford.org.
Learn at Home with Berkshire Theatre Group offers live weekly online classes and talks for people of all ages, presented by BTG artists and alumni. The activities happen on BTG’s Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/berkshiretheatregroup/) and BTG’s website. To receive a weekly schedule: https://www.berkshiretheatregroup.org/join-our-mailing-list/
The Springfield Symphony Orchestra has launched Homegrown, a weekly series of concerts and conversations with Maestro Kevin Rhodes, musicians, and staff. Previous episodes are posted on the Springfield Symphony Orchestra YouTube channel. Some details are available at www.springfieldsymphony.org.
Holyoke Civic Symphony: Up Close and Personal, videos by members of the ensemble. The first episode features music director and conductor David Kidwell. Each week, a new video will be posted on Holyoke Civic Symphony’s Facebook page, and on Maestro Kidwell’s YouTube channel. (David Kidwell). Kidwell’s YouTube channel also features his series Hymns of Comfort and Hope.
Of Note
WAM Theatre’s co-production of Dominique Morriseau’s Pipeline with Boston’s Nora Theatre, has been nominated for two Elliot Norton Awards (Boston’s version of The Tony Awards). Hubens “Bobby” Cius was nominated for “Outstanding Actor, Midsize Theatre” and The Company was nominated for “Outstanding Ensemble, Midsize Theatre). For details: www.ElliotNortonawards.com
Giving Tuesday, the national fundraising initiative usually held on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, will be held on Tuesday, May 5. It’s an opportunity to support the non-profits in the area. https://now.givingtuesday.org/
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 and is a contributor to Pioneer Valley Radio.
