Music Hall sees increased attendance

COHOES , N.Y. >> Since the Palace Performing Arts Center took over the historic Cohoes Music Hall last year, the fourth oldest active music hall in the country has since seen an increased number of guests visiting the hall for many different kinds of performances.

“Just a short time ago, this stage was quite bare and the seats were very empty and the lights were pretty dim,” said Mayor Shawn Morse during an announcement at the Music Hall Thursday afternoon. “The city of Cohoes recognized that this music hall was one of the most important parts of the community and we needed to figure out how to resurrect it.”

In the first six months since the Palace took over management of the Music Hall, Morse indicated that, since that time, over 7,000 patrons have enjoyed a show at the revitalized hall. The Palace management team has exceeded their goal of hosting over 60 live events in the Hall in this first year of management.

“The Palace Theatre has certainly exceeded our expectations and has become our economic engine that drives success to our downtown,” said Morse.

During the news conference, the Palace management team also announced new information about upcoming programming initiatives at the Hall. Palace Executive Director Holly Brown announced a new partnership with Comedy Works.

Comedy Works is owned by Tommy Nicchi, and for years they have been bringing local, regional and national names in comedy to the Capital Region. Brown noted that Comedy Works will bring a regular series of comedians to a “Comedy Works at the Cohoes Music Hall” series.

Nicchi announced that the comedy series will kick off with three events: Nick DiPaolo on March 25, Hacksaw Jim Duggan on April 22 and Gilbert Gottfried on May 13. Palace officials hope to see at least one live comedy event at the Cohoes Music Hall on average each month.

“We have been working hard to bring in events to this gorgeous space,” said Brown. “I am very excited to discuss this announcement because I know Tommy will be bringing in great comedians into the music hall.”

“The Comedy Works is completely blown away that we are able to make this happen,” added Nicchi. “When I found out that this was a possibility, I jumped on. We have the ability to bring first class talent into this room right here.”

In addition to the new comedy initiative, Brown also announced the Palace team’s excitement at bringing musical theatre back to the Cohoes Music Hall through an on-going partnership with Park Playhouse.

Playhouse Producing Artistic Director Owen Smith said that the first of these musical theatre presentations will kick off this weekend with the classic rock musical “Godspell,” to be performed by students in the Park Playhouse II training program, and later next month with the Sondheim classic” Into the Woods”, also to be performed by Playhouse students.

“The Cohoes Music Hall provides us with a venue in which to significantly grow our programming outside of the summer season,” Smith said, “and especially allows us to engage our students with performance opportunities year-round.”

Smith said that Park Playhouse plans to bring four musical presentations to the Music Hall next season, two of which will be performed by students, while two will be performed by professional casts. Production titles and dates will be announced later in the spring, ahead of the Playhouse summer season.

Tickets for all these upcoming shows are now on sale at the Cohoes Music Hall Box Office, the Palace Theatre Box office, or by calling 465-4663.