Coming back
Cohoes Music Hall to welcome live audience for musical production
Cohoes Music Hall to welcome live audience for musical production.
Playhouse Stage Company will present the Capital Region’s first indoor theater production for a live audience in more than a year when it mounts the musical revue “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” for eight performances from April 30 to May 9 at Cohoes Music Hall.
The show, to be performed with a capacity capped at 50, will include safety protocols that follow recommendations and regulations from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state Department of
Health and county and municipal agencies, said Owen Smith, producing artistic director of Playhouse Stage. He is scheduled to officially announce the show Thursday morning during a news conference at the music hall with U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko and other elected officials at city, county and state levels.
“After more than a year, the arts and entertainment industry is taking important first steps to reopen and begin serving audiences,” Smith said in statement. He added, “As vaccination rates increase and as the rate of cases of COVID -19 continue to decrease, we believe audiences can enjoy live theater in our venue safely and comfortably.”
Performed by four actors who play multiple characters in more
than 20 vignettes connected only by their focus on romantic relationships, “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” has book and lyrics by Joe Dipietro, music by Jimmy Roberts. It debuted off-broadway in 1996 and went on to run for 12 years and 5,000 performances. The material was updated by the authors in 2018 for contemporary audiences, Smith said.
The Playhouse Stage production’s creative team all have long associations with the company, including director Michael Loporto, choreographer Ashleysimone Kirchner and music director by Brian Axford. The cast of four — Marc Christopher, Dashira Cortes, Brandon Jones and Molly Rose Mcgrath — have performed in multiple Playhouse Stage productions at the music hall and its summer Park Playhouse musicals in Albany’s Washington Park.
Performances of “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” run Friday through Sunday on two weekends. They are scheduled for at 8 p.m. April 30 and May 1, 7 and 8, with 2 p.m. matinees on May 1, 2, 8 and 9. Tickets cost $30 and go on sale Thursday. Because of seating restrictions, they are available by phone only, Smith said. The Playhouse Stage box office number is 518-434-0776. The company will extend the run by another weekend if warranted by ticket demand, Smith said, and it also plans to make the show available for streaming after the run ends.
Playhouse Stage expects to announce details of its Park Playhouse shows later in April. Smith said the company is negotiating safety protocols and other considerations with government and health officials.
The last production at the Cohoes Music Hall was Playhouse Stage’s “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill,” about jazz singer Billie Holiday, which had its run cut short by the pandemic last March. It canceled its Washington Park season for summer 2020, and, as the pandemic surged again in late fall, opted to film its four-musical fall and winter season for young audiences at the music hall and stream the shows online.
Playhouse Stage has been performing at the music hall since late 2016. It took over management of the 460-seat, city-owned venue last summer.