Barrington Stage Company Announces Season
Sweeney Todd Brings Blood and Guts to Pittsfield
By: Charles Giuliano - Dec 19, 2009
Given the challenges, financial and weather, of the past season it is widely acknowledged that Barrington Stage Company , in Pittsfield, emerged with the strongest program of the four major Berkshire theatre companies. They started with a hit revival of "Carousel" one of the most enduring and popular musicals and never looked back.
They had solid hits with "Sleuth" and "Streetcar Named Desire" as well as a heart warming community based run of "The Laramie Project." In addition to Cabaret evenings, the Musical Theatre Lab, staged readings and youth productions they also featured new and experimental works on its Stage 2.
The biggest surprise of the 2009 season was a runaway hit for the new Mark St. Germain two man play "Freud's Last Session" with Mark H. Deld and Martin Raynor. The audience just loved the play which is an invented argument between Freud and C. S. Lewis about the nature and proof of deity. There is also something about World War Two and the fact that Freud was at that alleged meeting suffering the final phase, leading up to suicide, of cancer of the mouth. The show was extended and then brought back. Audiences just couldn't get enough of the play. It was the longest running play in the history of the company.
During a press conference yesterday to announce the coming 2010 season I asked Julianne Boyd, artistic director of BSC which is coming into its 16th season, to put a spin on the success of "Freud" and its impact on the company.
"It saved our butts" she exclaimed to the surprise of the assembled media. While it was anticipated that "Freud" would bring in some $47,000 with extensions it actually earned $130,000. The play is scheduled to open in New York this summer with its original cast.
Despite the unanticipated windfall of that new, low budget play, in the smaller Stage 2, Boyd announced that overall the company is ending the year with a $100,000 shortfall on an operating budget of $2.4 million. Of that about 50% reflects earned income. Final figures are not available but for all of the shows audiences ran at about 50% capacity. For the Main Stage balcony seats are harder to sell.
For the coming season the budget is slightly higher at $2.6 million but after all kinds of cuts. Right now BSC, like everyone else, is running lean and mean while also struggling to maintain the quality of the program.
Boyd always likes to start the season with a hit musical. But last year critics were sharp to criticize the decision to have two pianos for "Carousel" rather than a pit band. They also complained about the sound balance and amplification that often drowned out the instruments. This was also a criticism of the too short, hit run of "The Fantasticks" during the fall season. We never really heard the harp which was combined with a grand piano.
Responding to this criticism Boyd announced that the opening production of Sondheim's gory "Sweeney Todd" will have a seven piece band. But she noted it will have a smaller cast than the 25 on stage during "Carousel." She described this as a matter of balancing out factors.
She was also thrilled to announce a $25,000 grant in support of the Musical Theatre Lab. This year it will feature "Pool Boy" by Nikos Tsakalakos (music and lyrics) and Janet Allard (book and lyrics). Boyd explained that musicals are expensive and typically cost about $100,000 to mount. So the grant covers about a quarter of the cost.
Although BSC came inches close to meeting its nut for 2009 it is difficult to describe the wear and tear involved. She stated that "If you have a bad season it takes two or three years to catch up."
In making the move to Pittsfield the company took on a debt of $7 million four years ago. That has been now reduced to $1.3 million. But running a deficit, however modest, means that you are still servicing the debt while trying to assure the long term stability of the company. It takes energy away from projects such as naming of seats. So far some 200 seats in the Main Stage Theatre have been named. The lobby has been named by Berkshire Bank and some 250 seats are yet to be sold at $1,500 for an orchestra seat and $750 for a mezzanine seat.
In addition to producing plays, its primary mission, BSC is committed to education and community outreach. During the fall, for example, it will present Arthur's Miller's "The Crucible" which is widely read in schools. This kind of connection to the curriculum occurred previously when BSC staged "To Kill a Mockingbird."
In staging Yasmina Reza's conceptual play "Art" (July 22 to August 7) she hopes to create links and programming to the Berkshire's expanding community of visual artists. The play focuses on arguments among three friends when one of them purchases a white on white painting. We saw the London production of the play and it will be interesting to see how Boyd stages it in Pittsfield.
Regarding reaching out with this project to the local Storefront Artists, Megan Whilden, of Cultural Pittsfield, commented that "Julianne has always been a team player." Whilden was one of the community members who performed a role in "The Laramie Project" last fall. Seth Rogovoy, editor of Berkshire Living Magazine, was the narrator. BSC is always striving to create links and threads with the arts community.
Boyd continues to be committed to making theatre accessible and affordable. In addition to reduced price, same day tickets that are offered at noon, last season, the company initiated rush tickets. These reduced price tickets drew an average of 20 daily patrons. It was intended mostly for working individuals looking for a performance that evening. They are also doing more to market to younger audiences.
If you are going to market to young people you have to give them something that want to see.
The answer this year is "Sweeney Todd" largely based on the appeal of Johnny Depp in the hit movie. While audiences were riveted by his performance this summer she hopes to bring in audiences for the wonderful music and lyrics. In celebration of Sondheim's 8oth birthday BSC will also offer a fully staged version of "Into the Woods" with the BSC Youth Theatre. She described their excitement as well as her commitment to stage the entire musical and not just the first act.
We asked for her comments on the growth and progress of Pittsfield as a destination for the arts. The Beacon Cinema has now opened and is bringing more visitors downtown. There has also been a growth of restaurants. Several years ago was she concerned about moving to Pittsfield?
The answer was emphatic and positive. She described years of looking for the right venue and location for a permanent home. You sense that she has never looked back although assuming and paying off debt continues to be a challenge. She found a generic and serviceable theatre that did not take expensive "gilding" and renovation. It appeared to be a reference to the $20 million plowed into the Colonial just up the street.
Balancing the books comes with the common sense of putting on shows that people want to see. In the Main Stage last year critics described the schedule of "Carousel" "Sleuth" and "Streetcar Named Desire" as "conservative." She acknowledged that this was valid criticism but added that "We put on the shows which we believe in" and described the Stage 2 as a mandate to present new and experimental works.
It is significant that Mark St. Germain has been invited back and will present a staged reading of a new work, yet to be named, in September. Forming a family of like minded artists is another way of defining a company.
The media pressed Boyd for specifics of casting as well as gaps in the program yet to be better defined. Will there be more Cabaret nights such as the successful programs with Amanda McBroom? She assured that will happen but added that these tend to be last minute bookings when artists have organized tours.
We asked whether having James Taylor and Carole King slated for Tanglewood on Fourth of July weekend will help to jump start the season? Last summer, Taylor "saved" the season with his late August, five night series. Boyd observed that it will help having all those people in the Berkshires. Families will be looking for something to do on the nights when they do not attend Tanglewood. Hopefully families coming early in the season will plan a return visit.
She begged off providing further detail by informing us of her scheduled jury duty commitment in January. Accordingly, she wanted to announce the season earlier than usual and will fill out the details in the coming months.
It is the equivalent of the blockbuster trades in baseball that involve "a player to be named later."
What follows is the BSS press release.
BSC MAINSTAGE
As previously announced, Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Tony Award-winning musical thriller Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, will open BSC's 16th season from June 17 to July 17, 2010 (Press Opening, Wednesday, June 23 at 7pm). Presented in celebration of Sondheim's 80th birthday, Sweeney will be directed by BSC's Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, with musical direction by Darren R. Cohen. Adapted from Christopher Bond's play, Sweeney Todd will star Broadway and BSC veteran Jeff McCarthy (Mack and Mabel and Follies). Sweeney marks the fourth Sondheim musical mounted by Julianne Boyd who directed A Little Night Music, Company and Follies to popular acclaim.
Art, the international award-winning comedy by Yasmina Reza (God of Carnage, The Unexpected Man), translation by Christopher Hampton, runs from July 22 to August 7, 2010 (Press Opening, Sunday, July 25 at 5pm). Three men's friendships are tested in extraordinary and hilarious ways when one of them buys an expensive white on white painting. Art has received more than 125 productions in 30 translations worldwide.
Absurd Person Singular, Alan Ayckbourn's comedy, will play on the Mainstage from August 12-29, 2010, with a Press Opening Sunday, August 15 at 5pm. Jesse Berger, who directed last summer's hit production of Sleuth, returns to direct. One of England 's greatest playwrights, Alan Ayckbourn, is best known for such noted classics as Bedroom Farce and The Norman Conquests. Absurd Person Singular is an uproariously funny comedy that follows the fortunes of three couples on three successive Christmas Eves in three different kitchens. The couples, all obsessed with social climbing, spin out of control to a darkly hilarious ending.
Complete Mainstage casting and designers will be announced in April.
BSC STAGE 2
Receiving its New England premiere from May 27 through June 13 (Press Opening Sunday, May 30 at 7:30pm) is the new play by Matthew Lopez, The Whipping Man, directed by Broadway and BSC veteran Christopher Innvar (director, The Collyer Brothers At Home; actor, A Streetcar Named Desire, Private Lives, etc.). At the end of the Civil War, a Jewish Confederate soldier returns home to Richmond to be greeted by his two black servants, reared Jewish and now free men. When it premiered at New Jersey 's Luna Stage in 2007, The Star Ledger called The Whipping Man "must see theaterÂ…a spellbinding production."
BSC MUSICAL THEATRE LAB
BSC's acclaimed Musical Theatre Lab will kick off its 5th season with the world premiere of Pool Boy by Nikos Tsakalakos (music and lyrics) and Janet Allard (book and lyrics) running July 13 through August 8 (Press Opening Wednesday, July 21 at 7:30pm). The production tells the story of a pool boy whose summer turns upside down when he's seduced by L.A. glitz and glam and a sexy older woman. The story is based on the composer's real-life experience as a pool boy at the Hotel Bel-Air.
A second MTL musical, TBA, will run from August 18-29.
Back for its 5th edition is the wildly popular Songs by Ridiculously Talented Composers and Lyricists You Probably Don't Know But Should, hosted by William Finn, for two performances on Labor Day weekend Friday, September 3 and Saturday, September 4, both at 8pm on the Mainstage.
"I am thrilled that BSC will be extending its season in 2010. It will be an exciting year for us: we will be producing one of the greatest musicals written in the second half of the 20th century on our Mainstage, we will be working with schools and the community with our fall and holiday productions and we will be giving birth to two new musicals in our Musical Theatre Lab," said Artistic Director Julianne Boyd in a prepared statement.
BSC YOUTH THEATRE
Barrington Stage Company's Youth Theatre will present Stephen Sondheim's and James Lapine's Into the Woods with performances from July 14 through August 15, at St. Joseph 's High School, 22 Maplewood Avenue , Pittsfield . Into the Woods is a brilliant, fractured retelling of several well-known fairy tales (Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Little Red Riding Hood). The beloved fairy tale characters enter the woods, each looking for something – they are granted their wishes and then, in a clever turn of events, must face what it means to live "happily ever after." Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning score includes "No One Is Alone" and "Children Will Listen." Auditions for local youth ages 13-19 will be held in March 2010.
BSC FALL MAINSTAGE
One of the greatest plays of the 20th century, The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller in response to Joseph McCarthy's House Committee on Un-American Activities' vilifying and blacklisting people suspected of being Communists in the 1950s. Set in 1692, the play uses the Salem , Massachusetts witch hunts as a parallel for what was happening in the U.S. at that time. The Tony Award-winning play will run on the Mainstage October 6-24, 2010 (Press Opening Sunday, October 10 at 3:00pm).
BSC HOLIDAY MAINSTAGE
The beloved Christmas movie, A Christmas Story, comes to life at BSC next holiday season. Adapted for the stage by Philip Grecian and based on the motion picture screenplay by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown and Bob Clark, A Christmas Story tells the story of Ralphie, a small-town boy growing up in the forties, who has only one wish for Christmas: a Red Ryder BB gun (with the unforgettable line: "You'll shoot your eye out, kid!"). The classic and hilarious story of Christmas shenanigans will run in December 2010, schedule TBA.
SPECIAL EVENTS
On February 6, 2010, BSC brings the sizzling Brazilian celebration of Carnivale to the Berkshires. The event will include exotic food and cocktails, dancing and live music by multicultural Latin band Los Sugar Kings. A special pre-party dinner will be held at 6pm, followed by the Carnivale at 8pm on the second floor of Jae's Spice in downtown Pittsfield ( 297 North Street ). Tickets for the 6pm pre-party dinner and 8pm Carnivale are $125 per person; tickets for just the 8pm Carnivale are $35 per person in advance, $40 at the door.
BSC will hold its Annual Summer Gala on Saturday, June 26, 2010, featuring a performance of Sweeney Todd followed by a spectacular party with dinner, dancing and a silent auction.
An Evening with Judy Collins will be held at the Mainstage on Monday, July 26 at 7pm. For more than 40 years, Judy Collins has thrilled audiences worldwide with her unique blend of interpretative folksongs and contemporary themes. Collins won the 1975 Grammy for Song of the Year with her version of Stephen Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns." Tickets for the concert are: VIP $65 (includes post-show reception and premium seating), Adults $45, Seniors $40, Youth $35.
A Staged Reading of a new play by Mark St. Germain will be held on Stage 2 September 4 and 5. Mark St. Germain is the author of the critically-acclaimed Freud's Last Session, BSC's longest-running production, which played to sold-out houses throughout the summer and fall 2009.
AFFORDABLE THEATRE FOR ALL CONTINUES IN 2010
BSC will once again offer the popular Pay What You Can Performances for each Mainstage and Stage 2 show during the summer season. Low-priced previews continue at $15 and $20 for the first two performances on the Mainstage and $15 on Stage 2. For the Mainstage, $35 Senior tickets will also continue for matinee performances. $15 tickets for youth 21 years and younger will be offered again for all performances except Saturday evenings. Single tickets, priced from $15-$58, go on sale March 1, 2010. FlexPass subscriptions are currently available at discounted prices – with no handling fees through December 31, 2009. Groups of 15 or more should contact Group Sales Manager Monica Bliss at 413 997-6112. For information on shows, FlexPasses and tickets call 413-236-8888 or Barrington Stage Company