Adirondack Theatre Festival plans music in all shows, big cast
GLENS FALLS — Adirondack Theatre Festival’s 2023 threeproduction lineup will be the first in its 29-year history to include music in all shows, and the season will close with a musical boasting the largest cast for the company.
According to ATF, the season will feature 27 actors, 18 musicians, 32 costumes and more than 50 songs. The programming was announced over the weekend at ATF’S annual winter gala.
The subscription series starts with “The Last Wide Open,” running June 28 to July 8. A comedy by Audrey Cefaly, with music by Matthew Nielson and a new translations by Juan Francisco Villa, the story takes place at an Italian restaurant after closing time, when a waitress and a dishwasher “seem destined to collide,” according to promotional material. In what’s described as a metaphysical twist, “three parallel realities unfold, (and) fate gives them a last chance at love.”
The author has described the work as “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune” meets “Groundhog Day.”
Next, running July 14 to 16, will be the first American look prior to a Broadway engagement of the new musical “Pump Up the Volume,” presented in a concert version. Based on the 1990 film of the same name that starred Christian Slater, the musical is about a shy teenager who captures his classmates’ sense of alienation as a DJ on a pirate radio station. Directed by Dave Solomon, who directed the national tour of “Tootsie” that plays at Proctors in Schenectady in April, “Pump Up the Volume” has a book by Jeremy Desmon and music by Jeff Thomson.
The final production, running Aug. 3 to 9, is “Tuning In,” a musical by the Tony- and Emmy-nominated creators of ATF’S 2018 production “Front Page Flo.” According to promotional material, “Set in the early 1960s, this spirited romp transports us to the Harmony Hill Retirement Community, where stars of Cincinnati’s golden age of radio still perform on nostalgia station WLK. When a slick CEO threatens the beloved institution, these senior stars team up with spunky college interns for an epic radiothon.” The show features 13 actors and a band of three trumpets, three saxophones, trombone, drums, bass and piano. With more than musical numbers, the show was written by Larry Kass, George Pinney, Ron Newell and Sara Kass, with music and lyrics by Larry Kass.
Three-show subscriptions cost $130 and are available online as well as by calling the box office of ATF’S home, the Charles R. Wood Theater in Glens Falls, at 518-480-4878 or in-person at the theater, 207 Glen St.. The box office is open noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
“These shows all tackle big themes: the longing for human connection, the multiplicity of immigrant experiences, the tough truths of being a teenager (and) the struggles of a community against corporate greed,” Producing Artistic Director Miriam Weisfeld said in a statement accompanying the season announcement. “(They) inspire us to reflect on big topics while dazzling us with humor, heart, and great tunes.”