theater

If ever a show deserved to be termed a “tragic musical,” its “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grille.”  

It’s common to call a puzzling mystery a head scratcher.

“Switzerland” is a mystery, playing at Curtain Call Theatre in Latham through March 14.   The play centers about famed mystery writer Patricia Highsmith.    It’s a head scratcher in a way that is not entirely complimentary.

  Derek McLane is an award-winning production and set designer for stage and screen. He’s designed for The Academy Awards, NBC’s live musical productions, and nearly countless theatrical productions around the country - including on and Off-Broadway.

His work is currently represented on Broadway in the opulent Bohemian-Parisian spectacular of the set for “Moulin Rouge!” at the Hirschfeld Theatre and in Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of “A Soldier’s Play” at The American Airlines Theatre.

The Berkshire Theatre Group has announced its 2020 summer theatrical season, with a casting sneak-peek. And Kate Maguire - Artistic Director, CEO, and new WAMC panelist – is here to tell us more.

The 2020 season – which marks ten years since the announcement of the merger between The Colonial Theatre and Berkshire Theatre Festival – includes classics, three world premieres, and plenty in between.

The play: “Switzerland” by Joanna Murray-Smith opens tonight at the Curtain Call Theatre in Latham, New York and runs through March 14.

Somewhere in the Swiss Alps, grande dame of crime literature Patricia Highsmith lives with an impressive collection of books, and a somewhat sinister collection of guns and knives. The comfort she finds in her solitude, cats, and cigarettes is quickly broken when a mysterious international visitor arrives at her reclusive home, where her love of fictional murders becomes a dangerous reality.

We're joined by Director Aaron Holbritter, Barbara Richards who plays Patricia, and Ian LaChance who plays Edward.

  Shawn Stone joins us to talk about what he's seen lately and what cultural events are coming up this week in our region.

Seen: "The Assistant"

Upcoming:

• Michelle Ellsworth: Work in Progress - EMPAC, Studio 1 - Goodman, RPI, Troy, Thursday 2/27, 7 PM
• Air Supply: The Lost in Love Experience - Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, Thursday 2/27, 7:30 PM
• "Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill" - Cohoes Music Hall, Cohoes, opens Thursday 2/27 at 8 PM, through March 15
• FLEX AVE. - The Egg, Albany, Friday 2/28, 7:30 PM
• Annie & The Hedonists - The Van Dyck Lounge, Schenectady, Friday 2/28, 8 PM
• Blue Man Group - Proctors, Mainstage, Schenectady, Friday 2/28 at 8 PM; Saturday 2/29 at 2 & 8 PM; Sunday 3/1 at 2 PM
• Sam Evian - MASS MoCA, Club B10, North Adams, Mass., Saturday 2/29, 8 PM
• Caitlin Canty, w/s/g Corey Laitman - Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, Sunday 3/1, 7 PM
• Jennifer Block, author “Everything Below the Waist: Why Health Care Needs a Feminist Revolution” in conversation with Elisa Albert - NYS Writers Institute, New York State Museum Huxley Theatre, Albany, Tuesday 3/3, 7:30 PM

New movies: "Seberg," "The Invisible Man," "Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band," "The Traitor"

  Shawn Stone joins us to talk about what he's seen lately and what cultural events are coming up this week in our region.

Seen: "Downhill"

Upcoming:

• "Magic" - GE Theatre at Proctors, Schenectady, Thursday 2/20, 7 PM
• Low Lily - Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, Thursday 2/20, 7 PM
• "Jerry Lee Lewis vs Jerry Lee Lewis" - Cohoes Music Hall, Cohoes, opens Thursday 2/20, 8 PM through March 8
• The National Reserve - Hangar on the Hudson, Troy, Friday 2/21, 8 PM
• Kamasi Washington, Honeycomb - Calvin Theater, Northampton, Mass., Saturday 2/22, 8 PM
• Bindlestiff Family Cirkus - Helsinki Hudson, Saturday 2/22, 9 PM
• Jennifer Frautschi, violin, Jeewon Park, piano, Edward Arron (cello) - music of Schumann, Kodaly, Debussy, Beethoven - Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass., Sunday 2/23, 2 PM
• Trixie Mattel - The Egg, Albany, Sunday 2/23, 8 PM
• "The Princess Bride" - Palace Theatre, Albany, Monday 2/24, 7 PM

New movies: "The Assistant," "The Call of the Wild," "The Lodge," "Olympic Dreams"

Barrington Stage Company’s ninth annual 10X10 New Play Festival will have performances February 13 through March 8 at BSC’s St. Germain Stage in the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The new play festival is part of Pittsfield’s 10X10 Upstreet Arts Festival.

The new play festival is part of the 2020 10X10 Upstreet Arts Festival which is a collaborative effort spearheaded by Barrington Stage Company and the City of Pittsfield, and coordinated through a steering committee that includes the Beacon Cinema, Berkshire International Film Festival, Berkshire Museum, Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, and the City of Pittsfield.

Actor Peggy Pharr Wilson is performing in 5 of the 10 news plays on offer this year. She has acted often at Barrington Stage - as well as at many other theaters - and is one of Barrington Stage’s newest Artistic Associates.

  Shawn Stone joins us to talk about what he's seen lately and what cultural events are coming up this week in our region.

Seen: "The Gentlemen"

Upcoming:

• 1st Friday Albany - Albany Institute, African American Cultural Center of the Capital Region, Opalka Gallery, Albany Center Gallery, Friday 2/7, 5-8 PM
• Cheap Trick - Palace Theatre, Albany, Friday 2/7, 8 PM
• Southern Avenue - The Hollow Bar + Kitchen, Albany, Friday 2/7, 8 PM
• Cyrille Aimee - Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, Saturday 2/8, 8 PM
• Jump the Line Film Series - "In Our Time" (Studio 1—Goodman); "Luanda-Kinshasa" (Concert Hall); "A Hundred Schools of Thought" (Theater); "What Are We Doing Here Together?" (Theater) - EMPAC, RPI, Troy, Saturday 2/8 through February 14th, various times
• Dianne Reeves - Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, Sunday 2/9, 3 PM
• Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia: "The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Other Eric Carle Favorites" - The Egg, Albany, Sunday 2/9, 3 PM
• Jeremy Denk, piano: Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 - Capital Region Classical at Union College, Memorial Chapel, Schenectady, Sunday 2/9, 3 PM
• ABBA Mania - Calvin Theater, Northampton, Mass., Sunday 2/9, 7 PM

New movies: "Birds of Prey"

“The New Colossus” tells the true stories of twelve refugees from twelve different time periods, fleeing from violence and oppression in a journey toward freedom. In the play -- which will be at Proctors in Schenectady, New York on Friday, February 7 and Saturday, February 8 -- a group of actors from all over the world tell their ancestors' stories, all woven into a single narrative about escaping their homeland and coming to America.

“The New Colossus is co-written by The Actors’ Gang Ensemble and their Artistic Director and Co-Founder Tim Robbins who also directs. The Actors’ Gang was founded in 1981 and is based in Culver City, California.

Academy Award winning actor, Tim Robbins is best known for his films “Bull Durham,” “The Hudsucker Proxy,” “Mystic River,” and “The Shawshank Redemption.” He directorial film credits include “Cradle will Rock” and “Dead Man Walking.”

In the book, “Beyond Broadway: The Pleasure and Promise of Musical Theatre Across America,” Stacy Wolf examines the widespread presence and persistence of musical theatre in United States culture.

Those two words: “musical theatre” evoke images of The Great White Way - glitz and glamour on a few short blocks in New York City -- but what truly keeps the art and industry alive is the creating, watching, and listening that happens all over the country in high schools, community theaters, afterschool programs, summer camps, and dinner theaters and regional festivals.

“Beyond Broadway” - it is published by Oxford University Press. Stacy Wolf is Professor in the Program in Theatre in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University.

Celebrating its 18th season, Modfest 2020 is Vassar College’s annual exploration of the arts of the 20th and 21st centuries. This year’s theme, “reflect to project,” looks backward to move forward. All events are free and open to the public.

On Saturday, February 1 at 3 p.m., Modfest 2020 presents “Reflect: An Artist’s Life, Onstage and Off” featuring Tony Award-winner Celia Keenan-Bolger sharing stories about Broadway, acting, and art. This event is sponsored by The Capotorto-Mulas Family Lecture Fund and will take place in The Martel Theater at the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film on the Vassar campus in Poughkeepsie, New York. Keenan-Bolger will be in conversation with actor and Vassar Drama Professor Shona Tucker.

Celia Keenan-Bolger’s works includes both plays and musicals, on and off-Broadway. She made her Broadway debut as Olive Ostrovsky in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” earning her first Tony Award nomination. Her other Broadway credits include Eponine in “Les Miserables,” Molly in “Peter and the Starcatcher,” Laura in “The Glass Menagerie,” Varya in “The Cherry Orchard,” and, most recently, Scout in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” She won her first Tony Award for her portrayal of the willful and reflective Scout Finch and was also nominated for “The Glass Menagerie” and “Peter and the Starcatcher.”

“Your Best One,” which is playing at Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany, through February 9, is the kind of play that almost makes you long for the days when theater was not only about making huge profits.

Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany, New York is currently presenting the East Coast premiere of Meridith Friedman’s “Your Best One,” directed by Gordon Greenberg.

Eight-years since the death of their beloved matriarch, the Hoffman family rallies together – and against each other – when one of their own is confronted by a sudden health crisis. With their trademark wit and inherited neurosis, they wage battles over health insurance, child custody, inheritance, and superfoods.

Kate Wetherhead plays Laura in “Your Best One.” Wetherhead is the co-creator, writer, director and star of the popular theater-based web series "Submissions Only." She has appeared on and off Broadway in shows such as "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," "Legally Blonde" and "Ordinary Days." Kate has also performed regionally at theaters like the Guthrie, Paper Mill Playhouse, Goodspeed Opera House, George Street Theater and the Dallas Theater Center.

  Shawn Stone joins us to talk about what he's seen lately and what cultural events are coming up this week in our region.

Seen: "Bad Boys for Life"

Upcoming:

• We Banjo 3 - Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, Thursday 1/23, 5 and 7:30 PM
• National Geographic Live - "Spinosaurus: Lost Giant of the Cretaceous" - Proctors, Mainstage, Schenectady, Thursday 1/23, 7 PM
• Eclectic Rock Showcase featuring Brasskill, The Wild Weeeds, Burt Murder - Helsinki Hudson, Hudson, Thursday 1/23, 8 PM
• Ben Butler - Curtain Call Theatre, Latham, preview Thursday 1/23 at 7:30 PM; through Feb. 8
• The Lawn Sausages 30th Anniversary - Hangar On the Hudson, Troy, Saturday 1/25, 5 PM
• Courtney Barnett w/s/g Hachiku - Iron Horse Music Hall, Northampton, Mass., Friday 1/24, 7 PM Levon Helm Studios, Woodstock, Saturday 1/25, 8 PM
• M.A.K.U. Soundsystem - MASS MoCA, Club B10, North Adams, Mass., Saturday 1/25, 8 PM
• The Lift Concert Series: Cellist Ashley Bathgate - Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Wednesday 1/29, 6 PM
• Greensky Bluegrass - The Egg, Albany, Wednesday 1/29, 7 PM

New movies: "The Gentlemen," "Les Miserables," "The Turning," "The Last Full Measure"

Hubbard Hall Center for the Arts and Education in Cambridge, New York presents “Stupid F*%king Bird,” a new adaptation of Chekhov's “The Seagull” by Aaron Posner, weekends January 24 through February 2. The show is produced in partnership with Bennington College.

An aspiring director rampages against the art created by his mother’s generation. A young actress wrestles with an aging Hollywood star for the affections of a renowned novelist. And everyone discovers just how disappointing love, art, and growing up can be.

We were joined by Director Kirk Jackson, actor Jesse Pennington, and Executive and Artistic Director of Hubbard Hall David Snider.

Playwright Bess Wohl is making her Broadway debut with “Grand Horizons” - a co-commission from The Williamstown Theatre Festival and Second Stage Theater - now in previews at The Hays Theatre in New York City and officially opening on Thursday, January 23.

Wohl’s other plays include “Small Mouth Sounds” “Make Believe” “Continuity,” “American Hero,” “Barcelona,” “Touched,” “In,” “Cats Talk Back” and “Pretty Filthy.” She is an associate artist with New York based investigative theater troupe The Civilians and her plays have been produced at theater companies around the country. She is the recipient of the 2015 Sam Norkin Special Drama Desk Award for “establishing herself as an important voice in New York theater” and the John Gassner Outer Critics Circle Award. She is a MacDowell fellow and an alumna of Ars Nova’s Play Group.

“Grand Horizons” is directed by Leigh Silverman and stars Jane Alexander and James Cromwell as a couple navigating divorce after being married for 50 years. Ben McKenzie and Michael Urie play their adult sons. The cast is rounded out by Priscilla Lopez, Maulik Pancholy, and Ashley Park.

The Tour of The Tony-Award winning revival of the musical “Once on this Island” will be at Proctors in Schenectady, New York on Friday, January 17 and Saturday, January 18.

The Lynn Ahrens/Stephen Flaherty musical, directed by Michael Arden and choreographed by Camille A. Brown, tells the story of the orphaned Ti Moune and four competitive Gods who make a wager over her life and her love. “Once on this Island” is a celebration tinged with sadness that emphasizes the importance of telling everyone’s stories.

Tyler Hardwick joined us. He plays Daniel and he joins the tour after playing a storyteller and understudying roles during the show’s Broadway run.

  Shawn Stone joins us to talk about what he's seen lately and what cultural events are coming up this week in our region.

Seen:"Bombshell"

Upcoming:
"The Simon & Garfunkel Story" - Proctors, Mainstage, Schenectady, Friday 1/10, 7:30 PM

Tommy Davidson - Funny Bone Comedy Club, Crossgates Mall, Guilderland, Friday-Saturday 1/10-11, various times

Miro Quartet (music of Mozart, Gliere, Frank, Servais, Schubert) - Friends of Chamber Music, Emma Willard School, Troy, Saturday 1/11, 7:30 PM

Elvis Birthday Bash with Johnny Raab & The Tichy Boys - Hangar On the Hudson, Troy, Saturday 1/11, 8 PM

Albany Symphony’s Clara Schumann Festival:
“Clara, Dear Clara…” Brunch and Song, Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy, Saturday 1/11, 11 AM
Clara Schumann Chamber Music Recital, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, Saturday 1/11, 3 PM
Albany Symphony with pianist Harmony Zhu, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, Saturday 1/11, 7:30 PM
Clara Schumann Chamber Music Recital, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, Sunday 1/12, 11 AM
Albany Symphony with pianist Harmony Zhu, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, Sunday 1/12, 3 PM

2020: We Hear Freedom Calling (presented by the Four Freedoms Coalition) - Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield, Mass., Sunday 1/12, 2 PM (City Hall march at 1:30 PM)
"Flash Gordon" - Palace Theatre, Albany, Monday 1/13, 7 PM
Carla Fisk, soprano - Music at Noon Concerts, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, Tuesday 1/14, noon

New movies: "1917," "Just Mercy," "Like a Boss," "Underwater"

SCHENECTADY - “The Band’s Visit” which is at Proctors Theatre through Sunday, January 5, is a special theatrical experience. No matter how much you love it, and I do very much, you understand why it would not appeal to everyone.

If you love the Frank Capra film, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” (and who doesn’t?) you will truly appreciate the staged radio version of the material playing at Capital Rep in Albany through December 22.

LATHAM – “Greetings” is a holiday play that is not a typical holiday play.  Yes, it takes place on Christmas Eve, there’s a Christmas tree in the living room, and there’s a lot of talk about religion.   However, despite the trappings, the play has little to do with the holidays.

Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany, New York presents “It’s a Wonderful Life: Live from WVL Radio Theatre” through Dec. 22.

Adapted from the classic Frank Capra film by W.V.R. Repoley this story comes to life as a live, 1940s radio broadcast. Five actors give voice to all the memorable Bedford Falls characters, accompanied by sound effects and music created live on stage.  

We are joined by actor Wynn Harmon.

Ancram Opera House in Ancram, New York is mounting an original musical theatre adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen.” The staged reading will have performances December 7-15.

The production features book and lyrics by Barbara Wiechmann, music by Lisa Dove, and is directed by Jeffrey Mousseau.

The Berkshire Theatre Group presents its adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” on stage at The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Massachusetts December 7 -21.

A holiday classic, “A Christmas Carol” celebrates the import of empathy and community connection – and BTG’s production of the story does the same.

The story was adapted for the stage by Eric Hill, who stars as the miser-who-makes-good, Ebenezer Scrooge.

Eric Hill joined us along with BTG’s Artistic Associate of Education Travis Daly, who directs “A Christmas Carol” and actor and high school student, Kate Goble – who plays Belle.

Jasmine Cephas Jones is starring opposite Peter Dinklage in The New Group’s “Cyrano” which is running at the Daryl Roth Theatre in New York City through December 22.

In the new musical version of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” the 1897 play-in-verse by Edmond Rostand, Dinklage plays the brilliantly eloquent and love-struck cadet Cyrano, pining after Cephas Jones’ beautiful and willful Roxanne - who in turn loves the handsome and witless Christian.

This new version is adapted from the original and directed by Erica Schmidt and features original music by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of the rock band The National with lyrics by Matt Berninger (also of The National) and Carin Besser.

Jasmine Cephas Jones originated the dual roles of Peggy and Maria Reynolds in Hamilton at The Public and subsequently on Broadway, earning widespread recognition and acclaim along with her castmates, and a Grammy Award for the cast recording. She co-starred in the film “Blindspotting” which starred and was written by her “Hamilton” co-star Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal. A television series based on the movie is in development. In addition to being an actor and performer, Cephas Jones writes music and will have an EP of her original music coming out soon.

Nobody is better than Disney at turning a beloved animated film into a live theater experience. Just think of “The Lion King” or “Beauty and the Beast.”

Wallace Norman is directing the Performing Arts of Woodstock production of Will Eno’s "The Realistic Joneses." The play takes place in the rural Southwest.

Shortly after one couple moves into town, they meet their neighbors who share the same last name. As their lives intertwine they learn that they share much more as the two couples struggle to survive in their imperfect worlds.

The show will runs at the Mescal Hornbeck Community Center in Woodstock, New York from November 15 through December 1.