Come Back, Come Back, Wherever You Are
Written and directed by Arthur Laurents
In this webisode….interviews with Alison Fraser, Tony Winner Shirley Knight, and Playwright/Director Arthur Laurents.
Now Playing at George Street Playhouse through November 1st.
September is here…which means summer is over, school is back in session, and the theater season is kicking into high gear. For us at the State Theatre, this also means that our annual New Jersey Blues & Jazz Festival at the Backstage Jazz Club is just around the corner! It’s 3 days of Blues and Jazz by some of today’s top musicians in those genres. And what’s really cool, is that both the artists and the musicians sit on the stage, creating an intimate jazz club setting of only 230 seats. That’s right, you are just inches away from the artists as they perform. To better understand what I am talking about, I have put together a little snippet of video footage (see below) from 2007′s backstage jazz club. This is right before a set began and people are getting to their seats and enjoying some food and drinks.
The 2009 New Jersey Blues & Jazz Festival line-up includes:
Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers
Thu, September 24 at 8pm & 10pm
Marcia Ball
Fri, September 25 at 8pm & 10pm
Yellowjackets
Sat, September 26 at 8pm & 10pm
Earlier in August, the Crossroads Theatre Company was invited to participate in the 20th Edition of the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Festival is a huge gathering of over 1,000 artists performing to audiences totaling 65,000. It’s a huge biennial event.
We presented our recent smash hit revival of IT AIN’T NOTHIN’ BUT THE BLUES, complete with the original Broadway cast from 1999! The show was a huge success complete with thunderous and rousing applause by the completion of the final number.
Like most shows, we did experience some drama off-stage. Veteran stalwart performer, Sandra Reaves-Phillips experienced some voice challenges. At first, she handled the raspy quality of her singing voice with great aplomb, as its tonality was a perfect fit for blues music. (In addition, Sandra was appearing in another show at the festival so her vocal chords were getting quite a work out). By the third performance of our five-performance run, it was evident her throat needed medical attention to be able to do the final two shows.
Emergency notices were issued all over Winston-Salem for medical assistance. Late Friday evening, Dr. Kenneth Maxwell agreed to see Ms. Reaves-Phillips in his office the next day – Saturday morning. He provided Ms. Reaves-Phillips excellent care, acutely diagnosed the problem and provided the appropriate medical relief, however he refused to accept payment. (I could make a comment to fuel the current Healthcare debate but I’ll stick to the story).
Ironically, Dr. Maxwell felt privileged and honored to assist our performer. In fact, he continually thanked me … Huh? Thank ME – what did I do? You saved our show, man!!!
Dr. Maxwell, his partner and their wives attended the final showing. They got to hear Sandra’s heart-wrenching rendition of the haunting Billie Holliday song “Strange Fruit.” They all were extremely moved and overjoyed by the show. They came back stage afterwards for autographs and pictures.
As a new leadership is guiding the National Endowment for the Arts – it’s clear that this little episode reinforces how important the sciences and the arts are as we move forward to have an intelligent dialogue about the need for both. The exclusion of one versus the other (and we know which one is usually excluded) is not in the best long-term interest of our great nation.
Marshall Jones, III - Executive Director – Crossroads Theatre Company
On Saturday, July 25th, the State Theatre presented the 3rd Annual Jersey Summer Beatles Bash with Glen Burtnik & Friends. Every year, Burtnik (a local Jersey musician, formerly of Styx) brings together a talented group of musicians (who have played with the likes of Billy Joel, Elton John, Kelly Clarkson, and Shania Twain, among others) to perform a Beatles album note-for-note as it was meant to be played. Past years, albums have included Sgt. Pepper’s and the White album, this year it was Abbey Road. Every year has been better than the next and this year was no exception. There were many wonderful moments…the quirky performance of Ringo Star’s ”Octopus’s Garden” by a guy who impersonates Ringo for a living…the interesting multimedia footage during “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”…the extraordinary harmonies during “Because” with 9 singers (it was originally recorded featuring the three-part harmonies by Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison, then triple-tracked to sound like nine singers), and the list goes on.
However, I would have to say that the 2 best moments was the last song, which was the ever-popular “Hey Jude” (in which some of us State Theatre folks and other audience members jumped onstage to sing the “na-nas”) and the 8 minutes that is “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).” It was absolutely amazing. The guitar riffs and camaraderie among this group of musicians was really something to watch during this song. So, since words can’t really describe it, here is a clip of it that was posted by a fan on YouTube, enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaOEWBQN0zw&feature=related
The State Theatre is located at 15 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick, NJ. For information or to purchase tickets call 732-246-SHOW (7469) or visit http://www.statetheatrenj.org/. Check us out on Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace.
George Street Playhouse held matinees for local area students May 18 – May 22, 2009. Our educational touring company presented performances of New Kid by Dennis Foon, and In Between and IRL: In Real Life by Princeton playwright R.N. Sandberg. The latter two shows are George Street Playhouse commissions. Here’s a clip of the performance of In Between!
