Playhouse Stage to encore musical

“The Marvelous Wonderettes” plays in July

Eight years after expanding to Cohoes, Playhouse Stage Company is adding another community to the places it performs.

The company’s production of the musical “The Marvelous Wonderettes,” running on the Park Playhouse stage at the Washington Park Lakehouse amphitheater in Albany from June 18 to July 14, will move the following weekend for four performances at the Guilderland Performing Arts Center in Tawasentha Park. There will be 7:30 p.m. shows Friday through Sunday, July 19 to 21, as well as a 4 p.m. matinee July 20.

All seating is free and will be available on a general admission basis for “Wonderettes,” a jukebox musical created in 1999 that features popular songs from the 1950s and ’60s. As in Washington Park, GPAC has tiered hillside seating with space above for overflow. Town Supervisor Peter G. Barber estimated the terraced areas hold at least 500, with room for several hundred more farther up the hill.

That represents less than half the capacity of the Washington Park venue, but the GPAC stage has a permanent roof, sides and rear wall, meaning a performance need not automatically be called off because of rain, Barber said. A new modular stage with some roof coverage is being introduced at the lakehouse this summer, said Owen Smith, producing artistic director of Playhouse Stage since 2010.

The Guilderland Town Board unanimously approved the agreement with Playhouse Stage at its meeting Tuesday, agreeing to pay the company $20,000 and provide the standard lighting rig used at GPAC and sufficient power to operate all equipment, according to the contract between Playhouse Stage and the town. Per the contract, PSC will bring its full production of “Marvelous Wonderettes,” from cast and costumes to props, sound system and additional lighting, to GPAC.

Under terms of the contract, the residency could continue in future years if both sides agree and can coordinate schedules.

“We’re thrilled,” Barber said. While community groups and the town’s own summer programs for children use the

GPAC stage for different types of performances, and it hosts a 10-week concert series on Thursday nights from June through August, this is the first formal arrangement with an established company for professional theatrical performances, according to Barber.

“We’re tremendously excited,” Smith said. He said the new partnership allows the company to further its mission of “making the arts accessible to all in the Capital Region community.” Since 2016, it has performed a fall-to-spring slate of shows at the municipally owned Cohoes Music Hall, which Playhouse Stage also operates under contract with the city, in addition to the summer productions it has presented in Washington Park since 1989.

Barber said he would judge the Playhouse Stage residency’s success based on attendance and feedback from residents. He expects both will be positive.

“I think the theater is going to be packed,” he said. “If it goes over well, we’re definitely going to want them back, and we’d like to find a way to expand it.”

Barber and Smith said among the possibilities being discussed are encore presentations at GPAC of both of Playhouse Stage’s summer productions. Starting this year, PSC is mounting one of its major musicals in Washington Park; the other this summer, “Legally Blonde: The Musical,” will be at Cohoes Music Hall instead of both being presented on the lakehouse stage. The change was made earlier this year for financial reasons, because increasing rainouts and other weather factors led to a six-figure deficit for 2023.

Also possible at GPAC is a season-ending two weeks in late August of a production created specifically for the venue, Smith said.

“I could see us having one show in (Washington Park), one at the music hall and a third at Tawasentha. The sky’s really the limit if we can make it work.”

The Park Playhouse season in Washington Park starts about two weeks earlier than in the past, on June 18, with “The Marvelous Wonderettes.” Featuring an all professional cast, it will be performed at 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The starting time, an hour earlier than traditional for Park Playhouse, was moved up because audiences have been requesting it more often in recent years, Smith said.

Park Playhouse has not had Sunday performances since 2015. Reserved seats are available, and hillside seating remains free.

Approximately 150 to 200 free seats will be available, likely via a lottery system, at the 450seat Cohoes Music Hall for the July 17 to Aug. 11 run of “Legally Blonde,” based on the 2001 film comedy starring Reese Witherspoon. The remaining seats will be paid. The performance schedule will be 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. The cast will be a mix of professional actors and Playhouse Stage Academy students.