Backstage Players Present The Producers

L to R: Mark Gilchrist, Chelsea Kelle, Jim Kane

Backstage Players is proud to be bringing the hilarious Mel Brook’s Comedy, The Producers to stage this March. Shows are scheduled for Thursday, March 26 at 7:00, Friday, March 27 at 7:00, Saturday, March 28 at 7:00 and Sunday, March 29 at 2:00 at Andrews Memorial Theater at Clinton Town Hall. Tickets are $22/adult, $18/Seniors and students. Purchase tickets.

The Producers follows the adventures of Max Bialystock, a less than reputable, down-on-his-luck Broadway Producer and his withdrawn, milquetoast accountant, Leo Bloom. Their scheme is to put on the worst Broadway Musical ever, close it in one night, and run off with all of the project’s investment money. They need to find the worst musical ever written and the worst director on Broadway, not to mention some equally ridiculous characters that they meet along the way. The title page of the play selected reads, “Springtime for Hitler, A Gay Romp with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden.” Mr. Brooks takes this premise of a musical glorifying Hitler and proceeds to destroy the Nazis and their Third Reich with unparalleled sarcastic humor.

Along the way, audiences will be treated to some of the most beautiful music ever written for the stage, “The King of Broadway”, “I Want to be a Producer”, “Keep it Gay”, “When You’ve Got It, Flaunt It”, “That Face”, “Springtime For Hitler” and many others.

The Producers features many Backstage regulars, including Mark Gilchrist and Jim Kane, who play the two leading men, Max and Leo, respectively. Kane will also double as director for the production.

“I’m incredibly excited to be working on The Producers in as many aspects as I am, said Kane. “It’s been my favorite show since it hit Broadway years ago and I’m honored to be given the chance to bring Mel Brooks’ genius alive on stage.”

We are proud to introduce two Backstage Players newcomers, Chelsea Kelle from Manchester, who plays Ulla, Max and Leo’s love interest and David Kaminski, a great stand-up comedian in his own right, as Franz, the totally insane Neo-Nazi playwright.

The Producers is a marked departure from Backstage Players’ usual fare.  It is a quintessential Mel Brooks comedy.  It features an all adult cast, save some mature teenagers, and is rated PG-13 by Music Theatre International, still appropriate for most young people, but not all.

“We are taking somewhat of a leap of faith with this production.  It has an edge to it, which is a good thing.  Good theater is not meant to be comfortable”, said Ed Hobson, BPC president.  “Its Brooks being an “equal opportunity offender”.  Its really, really funny, chocked full of silliness from beginning to end.  Its Brooks fighting the Nazis the only way he can, through humor.  Our audience has come to expect excellence from us and this will be the biggest and best we’ve done, so far.”

Backstage Players Company (BPC), originally called Backstage Theater, is a non-profit theater company that was started in 2004 by a small group of parents and volunteers. BPC’s mission is to develop and produce social, recreational and educational theater arts experiences for the shoreline community.
Previous productions include 101 Dalmatians Kids, The Sound of Music, Scrooge’s Christmas Carol, Fame, the Musical, Annie, Oklahoma!, Oliver!, Bye Bye Birdie, The Coney Island of Dr. Moreau, Wagon Wheels West, Rock around the Block, The Lady Pirates of Captain Bree and Hansel and Gretel.

The New Haven Symphony Orchestra (NHSO) will host Grammy Award nominated and internationally beloved jazz musician and composer Chris Brubeck as its 2015 Artist-in-Residence beginning in late February through May 2015.

Grammy-nominated composer Chris Brubeck continues to distinguish himself as an innovative performer and composer. Brubeck has created an impressive body of symphonic work while maintaining a demanding touring and recording schedule with the Brubeck Brothers Quartet and his trio Triple Play. Chris has worked with many diverse artists, including Frederica von Stade, Ben Luxon, Dawn Upshaw, Bill Crofut, Meryl Streep, Willie Nelson, B.B. King, Gerry Mulligan, Bela Fleck, Bobby McFerrin, Stephane Grappelli, Bobby Womack, Tower of Power, and Patti Labelle. His compositions have been performed by orchestras all around the world, including the prominent U.S. orchestras of Boston, Houston, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Washington as well as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, and the Singapore Chinese Orchestra.



The New Haven Symphony Orchestra’s Artist Residency will place Chris Brubeck in the schools, civic centers, and concert halls of the Greater New Haven community, lending his unique artistic voice and educational perspective to enrich the scope and effectiveness of music learning in New Haven and beyond. He will serve in roles as varied as: Young People’s Concert presenter to more than 8,000 students; in-school resident artist and community concert leader; mentor to the NHSO’s Junior Board; lecturer and activist for music education in Greater New Haven.


On Thursday, March 12, the NHSO will feature Brubeck in “Ansel Adams, Bernstein & Brubeck” at the Shubert Theater in New Haven. Central to the residency, this multimedia concert will include a world premiere performance of Chris’ newest composition, Time Changes for Jazz Combo and Orchestra, which he will perform side-by-side with the Jazz Band students from Guilford High School and the NHSO. The performance also will feature the Connecticut premiere of Chris and Dave Brubeck’s Grammy nominated Ansel Adams: America, a work accompanying 100 of Ansel Adams’ majestic images projected above the orchestra. The piece was nominated for a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition in 2013 and was the last piece on which Chris and his father collaborated. For tickets click here.



Chris Brubeck says, “I am honored to work with the NHSO and music director William Boughton; I have the highest regard for their commitment to music education. The marriage of jazz and classical music kicks down doors for young listeners and musicians, especially when high school musicians are featured alongside the orchestra. This is the inspiration for my newest work and the residency as a whole. It is my hope that students will see themselves in the musicians onstage and imagine a future full of music.”


NHSO Music Director William Boughton says, “We are delighted to follow our 2013 artist-in-residence, hip hop violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain, with jazz trombonist and composer Chris Brubeck. A personal highlight of the residency will be featuring Chris, the NHSO, and high school musicians in a world premiere performance at the Shubert Theater. This work will expand the orchestral genre into the world of jazz and provide inspiration to young performers and audience members for years to come.”
 

A Unique Art Studio-Retail Opportunity

Chroma Gallery, an art studio/gallery, is for sale by owner. It is located just off the Guilford Green at 20 Church Street sharing the building with Perk on Church and Off the Green businesses.

Barbara Shulman-Kirwin, (BSK) created Chroma with the desire to have a place where she could create and exhibit in the same space. This is an unusual opportunity for any artist who wants to take their talents to the next level and have a retail space that is open to the public 6-7 days/week. Located on the historic downtown Green of Guilford, CT., Chroma is an architecturally designed, open, colorful gallery with studio space in the back area and a beautifully lit, open gallery space for exhibition. The back studio area is where BSK designs and constructs her glass design pieces. Customers have the opportunity to watch the creative process as well as participate in creating and designing commissioned work. This unique space has a loyal customer base, built over the past 12 years, with lots of foot traffic, and a lively coffee shop next door. Chroma has two additional designated spaces for artist/retailers to share, enabling the business to split staffing hours and utilities. Each studio space (partner) staffs the gallery only 2 days a week in order for the gallery to be open daily.  Sharing the utility bills helps in keeping the expenses down. This is a beautiful space in the vibrant center of Guilford, CT. You can view the gallery at www.bskdesign.net. For more information, contact Barbara Shulman-Kirwin at 203.314.3250 or email at bsk@bskdesign.net. Read more

BSK is offering to teach glass fusion to the person interested in purchasing her studio/gallery. If you are an artist of any other medium, and are interested in learning about glass fusion, the mentoring is part of the sale.

Picasso at the Lapin Agile

What happens when Picasso and Einstein walk into a bar? No, this isn't the opening line of a joke!  It is the Intellectual fireworks, verbal gymnastics, amorous intentions, and the arrival of a mysterious man in blue suede shoes. On an October evening in 1904, Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso end up at the same small bar in Paris—the Lapin Agile. Einstein will publish his special theory of relativity in 1905 and Picasso will paint Les Demoiselles d'Avignon in 1907. The two young geniuses, joined by an eccentric cast of characters, spar over art and science, their respective libidos, where inspiration comes from, and the promise and dreams of the 20th century.  Steve Martin brings his zany and profoundly intelligent brand of humor back to Long Wharf Theatre. No joke is too lowbrow and no idea too highbrow to be considered in this crowd-pleasing comedy.

Picasso… follows Long Wharf Theatre’s successful run of Steve Martin’s The Underpants during the 2013-14 Season. “The play is a comic celebration of genius and ingenuity at the dawn of the 20th century. With brilliant comic arias and surprises at every turn, it is Steve Martin’s homage to the genius and amazing thought that will be born in the 20th century,” Edelstein said.

In the midst of the all of the fun, the play invites its audience to consider serious questions about the intersection of art and science, the very nature of genius and innovation, and human beings who often seem to be conduits for changing the world. “Focusing on Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity and Picasso’s master painting, ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon,’ the play attempts to explain, in a light-hearted way, the similarity of the creative process involved in great leaps of imagination in art and science,” Martin said in a published letter.

The play debuted in 1993 at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, featuring Long Wharf Theatre veterans Mark Nelson as Einstein and Tim Hopper as Picasso. Martinwas inspired by a 1904 Pablo Picasso painting, titled “At the Lapin Agile.” Martin saw a photo of the painting hanging unstretched and unframed on a wall – a simple bit of wall decoration. “And that year, whenever it was, 1992, the painting was hanging at the Metropolitan Museum, all stretched out, with a $40,000 frame on it. And I knew it had recently sold for $1 million, and it just sent me back to those days when nothing had any (monetary) value and everything was just about ideas,” Martin said in an interview.
The show runs through December 21.  For tickets click here.

The cast includes Penny Balfour (Germaine), Grayson DeJesus (Picasso), Tom Riis Farrell (Freddy), Ronald Guttman (Sagot), David Margulies (Gaston), Dina Shihabi (Suzanne/Countess/Female Admirer), Jake Silbermann (A Visitor), Jonathan Spivey (Schmendiman), and Robbie Tann (Einstein.)

The creative team includes Michael Yeargan (sets), Jess Goldstein (costumes), Don Holder (lights), and David Budries (sound). Rebecca Monroe is the stage manager. Click here for cast and creative team bios.

The Mystery of the Magi's Gold

It's "CSI: Bethlehem" in this holiday mystery extravaganza Sister takes on the mystery that has intrigued historians throughout the ages - whatever happened to the Magi's gold? ("We know that Mary used the frankincense and myrrh as a sort of potpourri - they were in a barn after all.") Retelling the story of the nativity, as only Sister can, this hilarious holiday production is bound to become a yearly classic. Employing her own scientific tools, assisted by a local choir as well as a gaggle of audience members, Sister creates a living nativity unlike any you've ever seen.With gifts galore and bundles of laughs, Sister's Christmas Catechism is sure to become the newest addition to your holiday traditions.  "A gift-wrapped holiday treat, this Catechism should be opened early!" says the L.A. Times.  This production is presented by Legacy Theatre and show times are December 5 at 7:30pm and December 6 at 2pm and 7pm.  All performances take place at Tabor Stage, 45 Tabor Avenue, Branford.  For tickets click here.

Legacy Theatre is a professional theatre company that enhances the Connecticut Shoreline's economy, educational opportunities and quality of life through live theatre and related programs. The Legacy strives to be a premiere Arts house for local artists, professional companies, and to ensure ongoing seasons of uplifting, inspiring, and challenging professional theatre and theatre training for all.

World Class Opera Voices Headline Master Works Concert

Cappella Cantorum MasterWorks Chorus is indeed most fortunate to have two outstanding operatic female voices headlining the production of Bach Magnificat & Vivaldi Gloria, December 7. Performance takes place at St. Mark The Evangelist Catholic Church in Westbrook at 3pm.

Soprano Patricia Schuman has performed previously with Cappella Cantorum MasterWorks Chorus, most recently with our production of Poulenc Gloria and Bass Christmas Ornaments in 2008.
Recently, Miss Schuman made her role debut as The Duchess in Thomas Ades’ Powder her Face with the Opera Company of Philadelphia to great critical acclaim.  Preceding that, she appeared at the Glimmerglass Festival in a double bill as Estelle Oglethorpe in John Musto’s Later the Same Evening and as Carlotta O’Neill in a world premiere of A Blizzard at Marblehead Neck by Jeanine Tesori.  Miss Schuman made her debut with the Houston Grand Opera in the title role of Florencia en el Amazonas by Daniel Catàn, which she also recorded for Albany Records.  She can be seen on video as Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Donna Elvira(Don Giovanni) from the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, and Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) from Madrid Opera.  In the last few years, Miss Schuman has concentrated on recital and chamber music.  In January of 2013, she appeared with husband, David Pittsinger, in recital at the Essex Winter Series.  Following that, she premiered a new oratorio, Letter from Italy, by composer Sarah Meneely-Kyder and Connecticut poet Nancy Meneely, led by Joseph d’Eugenio and the Greater Middletown Chorale.

While this will be the first time contralto Heather Petrie has performed under the Cappella Cantorum MasterWorks Chorus banner, several members of Cappella Cantorum had the pleasure of singing with Ms. Petrie with the collaborative production by Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Connecticut Lyric Opera Chorus, New Britain Chorale and Paderewski-Polonia Choir where she headlined their production of Verdi Requiem last year.

Ms. Petrie returned last season to debut the role of Mary in Wagner’s der Fliegende Holländer, and was alto soloist in Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater.  In Manhattan, she performs frequently with Musica Sacra, the choir of St. Ignatius Loyola, and Voices of Ascension, and has also sung with the Holy Trinity Bach Vespers series, and at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. This past spring Heather made her Carnegie Hall debut with the American Symphony Orchestra, as alto soloist in Ernst Bloch’s Israel Symphony.  At Symphony Space, she has given concert performances of Suor Angelica(La Zia Principessa) and Hänsel and Gretel (The Witch).  Other opera roles include Larina in Eugene Onegin, Baba in The Medium, Miss Todd in the Old Maid and the Thief, Arnalta in L’incoronazione di Poppea, and Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro.  She has also been a member of the chorus at both Bard Summerscape, and the Princeton Festival.

To purchase tickets click here.

Bach’s Magnificat in D major (BWV 243) is a setting of the Magnificat text by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach first composed a version in E flat major (BVW 243a) in 1723 for Christmas Vespers in Leipzig and then reworked that music in D major in 1733 for the Marian Feast of the Visitation which was celebrated on July 2.  This second version had its premiere at the Thomaskirche on July 2, 1733.
The Latin text is the canticle of Mary, mother of Jesus, as told in the Gospel of Luke.

Vivaldi’s Gloria (RV 589) is the most familiar and popular piece of sacred music by Vivaldi; however, he was known to have written at least three Gloria settings.  Only two survive (RV 588 and RV 589) whilst the other (RV 590) is presumably lost and is only mentioned in the Kreuzherren catalogue.  The two surviving settings were written at about the same time (it is disputed which came first) in the early 18th century.  This piece was composed at the same time during Vivaldi’s employment at the Pieta.  The work remained relatively unknown, until its revival by Alfredo Casella during “Vivaldi Week” in Siena (1939).  Vivaldi’s Gloria (RV 589) enjoys well-founded popularity and has been recorded on almost one hundred CDs.

Cappella Cantorum is the lower Connecticut River Valley and Shoreline’s premiere non-auditioned community choral organization whose primary purpose is to learn, perform and enjoy great choral music while striving for excellence and the enrichment of its singers and audience.

Make.Art.Work.

Making Your Life as an Artist with Andrew Simonet
and Make.Art.Work. 2015 – Preview
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Housatonic Community College

Launching the Make.Art.Work. 2015 series in a special event, headlining artist-author Andrew Simonet discusses the importance of developing professional skills to keep your trajectory as an artist going forward.  Following Andrew, hear from Make.Art.Work. alumni about their experiences growing their professional skills and building their networks in a conversation moderated by Make.Art.Work. 2015 instructors Jeannie Thomma and Ryan Odinak. Learn what’s coming up in this next series and join fellow artist attendees for a networking lunch with table topics of your choice.

Make.Art.Work. is a comprehensive career training program for visual artists in Connecticut taking place in Fairfield, Hartford and New Haven counties. Make.Art.Work. addresses essential business and entrepreneurial skills for artists within a supportive peer environment.  From January to June 2015, artists will meet monthly in three-hour evening sessions, combining learning with coaching and peer support.  The program will consist of a workshop series run concurrently in three regions of the state.  As the culmination, artists will collaborate and implement their skills to curate and produce a group exhibition in their region. 

Andrew Simonet, dancer, choreographer, author and Founder and Director of Artists U, created in Philadelphia in 2006.  Artists U is a grassroots planning and professional development program run by and for artists. He is the author of Making Your Life as an Artist, a guide to building a balanced, sustainable artistic life.  In Andrew’s words, “nothing makes you a real artist except your devotion to making.”  Download his book for free here.

To register for the November 22 workshop click here.