The Mikado and Royal Court to travel from Cohoes, NY to Pittsfield, MA

The Mikado is a sparkling and lavish comedic operetta written by Gilbert & Sullivan at the height of their creative genius. Yum-Yum, Nanki-Poo and other charming and absurd characters will amuse and entertain both long time fans and first time explorers of this Victorian forerunner to musical comedies.

The Mikado tells a tale of preposterous carryings on in the mythical Japanese village of Titi-pu. A Japanese prince will do just about anything to win the hand of the national executioner's daughter, for she is his one true love. Over a century later, the themes of The Mikado still resonate with modern audiences with references used in films and television from "Chariots of Fire" to "The Chipmunks". The ultimate classic love story set in the most famous Savoy Opera continues to captivate audiences.

This is the Hill Country's own production, initially mounted in Cohoes, New York at their Victorian Music Hall by C-R Productions and then moved, cast, sets and orchestra to Pittsfield where Berkshire audiences can easily enjoy it. If this is half as good as their sell out production of The Producers last year which played the Colonial under similar arrangements, then we are all in for a real treat, especially if the company's legendary Jim Charles plays The Lord High Exectioner in full over-the-top costume.

Before there was Saturday Night Live, there was Gilbert and Sullivan spoofing the norms and conventions of the time, and drawing other countries and cultures in caricature. Considering the size of this production, the ticket prices are very reasonable.

Performance Schedule:

AT THE COHOES MUSIC HALL IN COHOES, NY:

February 18-28
Thursday-Saturday at 8:00pm
Saturday and Sunday at 3:00pm
Tickets: $25-$35
Box Office: 518.237.5858
http://www.cohoesmusichall.com/

AT THE COLONIAL THEATRE IN PITTSFIELD:

Saturday March 6, 2010
Performances at 3 PM and 8 PM
Tickets $25-$45
Box Office: (413) 997-4444
www.thecolonialtheatre.org

February at the Colonial - Coming Attractions

This Romeo and Juliet is not your embalmed version, but set more recently, with stunning action and comedy sequences.
Tickets: www.thecolonialtheatre.org

Mike Dugan’s Men Fake Foreplay
Sat 2/06/10 8pm
VIP: $65 preferred seating with post-show Artist meet & greet
A: $35 B: $25
“It was never about finding the right woman. It was about becoming the right man.” Men Fake Foreplay is a hilariously funny, yet pointed commentary on relationships and the battle of the sexes, written and performed by Emmy-winning writer and Tonight Show comedian Mike Dugan.
www.menfakeforeplay.com

The Balcony Scene is as touching as ever.
Romeo & Juliet
Presented by The Acting Company and The Guthrie Theater
Fri 2/12/10 8pm
A: $45 B: $25
The Acting Company, the most respected and praised touring repertory theater in America, and the renowned Guthrie Theater proudly present Romeo & Juliet. It opened last month for a healthy run in Minneapolis, and is currently on a short 25 city tour. Pittsfield is among the lucky cities it will visit. This production presents another approach to Shakespeare. Young love has never been so delightful, or as dangerous, as in this stirring, full-length production. This production comes with our personal recommendation for its thoroughly contemporary reading of Shakespeare's classic lines. Though unchanged, this staging has an impact and is staged for twenty-somethings as well as lovers of the Bard.
www.theactingcompany.org

Love Me Tender: The Ultimate Elvis Valentine Bash
Starring Mike Albert, Scot Bruce and the Big “E” Band
Fri 2/19/2010 at 8PM
A: $45 B: $25
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with the ultimate Elvis tribute show starring two of the world’s finest Elvis impressionists. Mike Albert is second to none in bringing to life the Elvis of the '70s, while Scot Bruce looks like, sounds like—and swings his hips like—Elvis in his younger days. Many hit songs made famous by the legendary entertainer are featured in the show, including “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Burning Love,” “Love Me Tender,” “Jail House Rock” and more.
http://www.mikealbertsings.com/
http://www.scotbruce.com/

Corbian The Dinosaur: A Glow In The Dark Adventure
Sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union
Sat 2/27/10 3pm
All seats: $15
Truly unique and visually dazzling, Corbian is an innovative theatrical experience that sparks imagination and inspires creativity. Audiences will be awed as electroluminescent crayon-like creatures and characters light up the stage in this heart-rending tale of a dinosaur that discovers the true meaning of love.
Recommended for ages 7 and up
www.iancarney.com

Tickets and information:

www.thecolonialtheatre.org
The Colonial Theatre
111 South Street
Pittsfield, MA 01201
P: (413) 448-8084

Romeo and Juliet too "Impure" for Nashville, Shakespeare Censored

Tennessee, home of great ribs and backward thinking, is in the news again. This time its citizens demanding that Shakespeare's classic Romeo and Juliet be censored. Seems the 400 year old play is too racy for its high school students. This was the claim of a group of self-appointed censors who found the Bard of Avon a bit too bawdy for Music City, U.S.A. They requested a number of cuts to Shakespeare's text in order to tone down the play he wrote. The theatre company refused and went with what the Bard wrote instead of a watered down version to please the nabobs.

Most of the upset is was about some of the bawdier scenes with Mercutio and the Nurse. But Romeo and Juliet also shows two teenagers disobeying their parents, and this gets some of the Nashville fundamentalists in a tizzy. A woman who identified herself as Val, a home-school teacher complained that she "struggled being here with my son. The sexuality was too much. Our children need to be more pure." The full story is in The Toronto Star.

If you want to see what all the fuss is about, you can enjoy The Acting company's splendid production of the classic at the Colonial Theatre on February 12.

Meantime, chalk up another one for Tennessee where the Butler Act was passed by fundamentalist Christians in 1925 banning the teaching of the theory of evolution in all public schools and colleges. This of course led to the famous Scopes (Monkey) Trial which made the state a laughingstock, and the anti-evolutionists haven't stopped trying to turn the clock back to the dark ages since.

Romeo and Juliet Berkshire Bound February 12 at the Colonial

Hamish Linklater and Heather Robison in The Acting Company's production of Romeo and Juliet at the Colonial February 12. Photo by Susan Johnson.
The Acting Company, a highly praised American touring repertory company and the renowned Guthrie Theater proudly present Romeo & Juliet. It's been some time since we saw a professional production of this masterpiece in the Berkshires. Young love has never been so delightful, or as dangerous, as in this stirring, full-length production.

Since its founding in 1972 by the legendary John Houseman and Margot Harley, The Acting Company has performed 133 productions touring to 48 states and ten foreign countries. Slated for Friday, February 12 at 8 PM, tickets are $45 and $25 and can be purchased in person at the Colonial Ticket Office at 111 South Street Monday-Friday 10AM-5PM, performance Saturdays 10AM-2PM, by calling (413) 997-4444 or online at www.TheColonialTheatre.org 

There will also be a performance at 9:30AM for students as part of the Performing Arts for Schools Education Program.

The Smithereens, Steven Wright and "Cabaret" at Colonial

"Cabaret" arrives on Saturday, January 30 for just two performances. Carol Rosegg photo.

The midwinter doldrums are here, but things sure are popping at Pittsfield's Colonial Theatre which offers three outstanding programs for late January.


The Smithereens play The Who’s “Tommy,” The Beatles’ B-Sides
Fri 1/22/2010 at 8PM
A: $45 B: $25
Brandishing heavy guitars and a shameless fetish for British Invasion Pop, The Smithereens carved their niche on rock radio and earned a reputation as a huge concert attraction with songs like, "A Girl Like You,” “Only A Memory,” and "Blood & Roses.” Now the all original-member group are touring their greatest hits and paying homage to the music of The Who and The Beatles.
http://www.officialsmithereens.com/


Steven Wright
SUN 1/24 7PM • A: $55 B: $35
When Steven Wright says “I put tape on the mirrors in my house so I don’t accidentally walk through into another dimension,” you know his trademark comedy comes from an off-center perspective. Wright is an Oscar winning comedian with dry wit and a deadpan delivery. He is one of the hottest acts to catch today, selling out venues worldwide. Here are a few of his classic quotes:

"All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand."

"The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."

"I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met."

www.stevenwright.com


Cabaret
Sat 1/30/10 3pm & 8pm
A: $65 B: $45
Wilkommen!, Bienvenue!, Welcome!, sings the Emcee of the Kit Kat Club through painted lips, as the people of 1929 Berlin join him. Whatever your troubles, you will forget them at the Cabaret. Songs include, “Wilkommen,” “Cabaret,” “Money Makes the World Go Round,” “Don’t Tell Mama” and “Two Ladies.” Cabaret is the winner of 12 Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Revival.
www.windwoodtheatricals.com

Further information on tickets and availability: Box Office: (413) 997-4444 or visit Colonial Theatre.

Tap Dancing Nazis Plan to Take Pittsfield by Storm

Springtime for Hitler - Berlin succumbed last week, Pittsfield is next!
Last week The Producers - the musical - arrived at the Admiralspalast, Berlin, and the city surrendered to it. However, it was not without problems. The show lampoons both the Nazis and the Nazi insignia. However, in Berlin as in all of Germany, the swastika is a no-no because of its historic implications. Besides, Hitler himself sat in this very theatre, in the Führer's box, and so the twisted cross symbol was replaced with a verbogener logo, that of a twisted pretzel.

A pretzel replaced the swastika in Berlin
Now this show - the first collaboration between the Berksire's Colonial Theatre and C-R Productions (an arm of the Cohoes Music Hall) - will tap dance its way into the heart of the Berkshires as it arrives in Pittsfield. And what an undertaking it is!

500 Costumes, 70 wigs, 30 volunteers, 28 actors, 8 musicians, 4 fly operators, 2 spot lights all in one theatre for one show. This recipe makes the largest, most extravagant musical in C-R Productions six seasons. We have our fingers crossed that this is the start of a beautiful long-term marriage for those of us who are the audience.


C-R Productions brings its version of Mel Brooks’ The Producers to the Colonial in just a matter of days, since it opens on June 4th for four performances. Dates include: June 4 at 7:30PM, June 5th at 8PM and June 6th at 3PM and 8PM. Tickets for the performance are $25-45 and can be purchased in person at the Colonial Ticket Office at 111 South Street Monday-Friday 10AM-5PM, performance Saturdays 10AM-2PM, by calling (413) 997-4444 or online at www.TheColonialTheatre.org.

Matt Wade played Leo Bloom in the National Company of The Producers 2007-8.
Jerry Christakos is hilarious as Roger DeBris.
Jen Davis has an enthusiastic local following.
David Beditz as Max Balystock
If you have been playing Rip Van Winkle, you might wonder what this strange show is about. Nazis? Well actually it's about two producers, named Bialystock and Bloom. Those names should strike terror and hysteria in anyone familiar with Mel Brooks' classic cult comedy film. Now as a big Broadway musical, The Producers once again sets the standard for modern, outrageous, in-your-face humor. It is a truly "boffo" hit, winning a record twelve Tony® Awards and wowing capacity crowds night after night. And it lampoons everything in site, from greedy producers to gay directors to elderly widows waiting to be fleeced.

The plot is simple: a down-on-his-luck Broadway producer and his mild-mannered accountant come up with a scheme to produce the most notorious flop in history thereby bilking their backers (all "little old ladies") out of millions of dollars. Only one thing goes awry: the show is a smash hit! The antics of Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom as they maneuver their way irresponsibly through finding a show (the gloriously offensive Springtime For Hitler), hiring a director, raising the money and finally going to prison for their misdeeds is a lesson in broad comic construction. At the core of the insanely funny adventure is a poignant emotional journey of two very different men who become friends.

Make note of Ryan Lammer, a member of the ensemble, and a veteran of D.C.'s Arena Stage (we love that company!) where he was in I Love A Piano
The cast is filled with both familiar and unfamiliar singers, dancers and actors and is one of the youngest I can remember in these parts. My friend Gail Burns has told me to keep an eye out for David Beditz as Max Bailystock and Matthew Wade as obsessive-compulsive-depressive accountant Leo Bloom. She also reports that Jennifer Elise Davis is gorgeous as Ulla Inga Hansen Benson Yansen Tallen Hallen Svaden Swanson. To quote a line from her Cohoes review, "No one seems to be having more fun in this show than Jerry Christakos as the ridiculously gay and completely incompetent director Roger De Bris. Whether he is charging around looking butch in a sequined gown and heels, or skipping about as a hopelessly effeminate Führer, he is hilarious."

I plan to go opening night and will write a report the next day for Berkshire Fine Arts.