As originally published in The Berkshire Eagle

By Jeffrey Borak, Berkshire Eagle Staff

May 11, 2012

From screen to stage and back to screen. That’s been the crazy journey for Mel Brooks’ “ The Producers.” This weekend, Brooks’ inspired musical comedy about a con man producer and his unlikely partner in crime, a mildmannered accountant, comes back to the stage.

“ The Producers,” which won 12 Tonys and ran for over 2,500 performances in New York, opens tonight in a BCC Players production at the Robert Boland Theater at Berkshire Community College’s Koussevitzky Arts Center, where it is scheduled to run this weekend and next.

Adapted from Brooks’ 1968 film comedy, which co- starred Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, “ The Producers” focuses on a scheme by a down-on-his-luck Broadway producer, Max Bialystock, to separate his investors — primarily elderly widows — from their money by producing the worst Broadway musical ever seen, “Springtime for Hitler.” Instead of a disaster, however, “ Springtime for Hitler” becomes Broadway’s hottest ticket.

Brooks wrote the music and lyrics. Thomas Meehan cowrote the book with Brooks.

The Broadway production starred Nathan Lane as Max and Matthew Broderick as the accountant, Leo Bloom — roles they reprised in the 2005 film version of the Broadway musical.

“All the characters work. Brooks is so precise,” said Corey Doucette ( who plays Max), during a backstage prerehearsal interview where he was joined by his onstage partner, Cody Lee Miller, who plays Leo; the production’s director, Tom Towne; choreographer Andrea Borak (no relation to the writer of this article); and music director Carlton Maaia II.

“ I’m in love with Mel Brooks, his facility with language, how he makes things work,” Towne said. “ It’s so incredibly filled with visual shtick. And Brooks isn’t afraid to make fun of his own, and society’s, foibles and failings.”

Miller and Doucette have big shoes to fill. While Miller has seen the 2005 film musical and Doucette has seen both Brooks’ original 1968 film comedy and a recent PBS special about conductor Michael Tilson-Thomas and the rich tradition of Yiddish theater and humor in his family, Miller and Doucette are determined to cast these roles in their own images.

Towne has helped the process along by asking everyone in his cast to fill out character background forms; creating back stories about the characters they are playing.

“Brooks makes these characters so lovable,” Borak said. “The relationship between Max and Leo is so wonderful. They pay their dues in the end but even then they are so lovable.”

Max looms just about larger than life. “(He’s) not afraid to go a mile when he only needs an inch,” Towne said.

The key in creating him, Doucette says, is to start small. The relationship between Max and Leo stands at the center of a musical that has its zany, antic way with a variety of film and theater traditions, styles and genres. That spoofing sensibility is reflected in Brooks’ score — his first ever for Broadway.

“( Brooks) quotes styles of music that exactly fit the moment,” Maaia said. “(The music) has been put together by a number of Broadway arrangers but Brooks knows how it all goes.

“His real genius is that musically he quotes all these styles but the score is never derivative.” In preparing the dance numbers, Borak says she began with Susan Stroman’s original steps and then worked backward.

The cast — a blend of BCC students and older, more experienced performers from the broader Berkshires community — covers a range of ages and dance skills.

“Time (in terms of rehearsal) is a factor for us,” Borak said, “So the goal is to make the dancers look comfortable doing what they’re doing.

“ She’s brilliant at making that work,” Towne said.

Towne says he’s had “The Producers” on his wish list for some time. Because of its equal- opportunity- offensive nature, “The Producers” is not a show he can do at Wahconah High School, where he teaches and directs.

Towne believes the time couldn’t be more right for “The Producers.”

“In this day and age, we need to laugh,” he said. “We need to be way over the top and get away from our trials and tribulations.

“It’s been a thrill working on this with Andrea, with Carlton and especially with this cast, (who) put out a lot and put up with a lot. It’s just a thrill for me to watch them take the bull by the horns and make this happen, make it their own.”

As originally published in The Berkshire Eagle

By Derek Gentile, Berkshire Eagle Staff

May 11, 2012

Classic country, anyone?

The Spurs USA, based in Great Barrington,will be the first country band to play at Guitar Jam, which is in its fourth year.

The Spurs will perform at the event on Saturday, May 19, at the Colonial Theatre along with three other local groups.

According to lead singer Dwight O’Neil, the Spurs play “classic country” — music by such artists as George Jones, Tammy Wynette and Hank Williams Sr.

The other band members are Andy Gordon, who plays pedal steel guitar, plus drummer Bob Jones, bassist John Barrett and singer Dona Federico.

There’s a difference between classic country and country, as O’Neil and band co-founder Barrett explained in a recent interview with The Eagle.

Q:Explain “classic country” music.

O’N:

It’s basically country music before 1972.

George Jones, Patsy Cline, Merle Haggard and that group of artists.

B:Country music took a hit in the 1960s when The Beatles came along. Popular music became a lot more ‘rocky and rolly,’ so to speak. And so did country music.

O’N:

It got more pop-like.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Obviously, there are a lot of people who enjoy it. But we enjoy the kind of music that was played before that.

B:Country music originally had a lot of these little stories in the songs. And the stories all had these twist and turns. We enjoy playing those songs.

Q:OK, that’s cleared up, probably. How long have you been together?

O’N:

John and I were working together about two years ago, and I guess I sang a country song one day and he liked it.

B:Dwight knew all these cowboy songs, and he sang them really well.

And I was working with Andy, so we got together and played.

And right away, it just sounded tremendous. We said, ‘Man, we have to start a band.’ Eventually, we got Bob to drum, and then Dona came along.

Q:Are there any local venues you enjoy playing?

O’N:The Gypsy Joynt in Great Barrington is fun, and we have a great audience at the Dalton VFW.

B:Yeah, the VFW is great. We get a ton of people in there, and they love us.

They dance and really have a good time. They love our music.

Q:Any thoughts about a classic country band jamming with three other more rock and blues-based bands in the encore at Guitar Jam?

O’N:

Well, there is a feeling that we’re the banana in a bowl of apples. But [the four bands] have been communicating, and we’ve been working on a song. And I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.

B:We all know how to jam. It should be great.

As originally published in The Berkshire Eagle

By Jeremy D. Goodwin, Special to the Eagle

May 11, 2012

Tap dance exhibition, live concert, theatrical revue — the Minnesota- based touring ensemble Rhythmic Circus aims to be all of this and perhaps a bit more.

Incorporating a seven-piece band, four tap dancers, and a seemingly indefatigable wellspring of energy, the troupe brings its road- honed show “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now!” to the Colonial Theatre on Saturday. The mainstage show is followed by a dance party featuring the beats of DJ BFG and projections by Drew Suto.

The ensemble came together in 2007 when tap dancing friends Ricci Milan, Nick Bowman, Eddie Strachan and Kaleena Miller were looking to create for themselves a project that could be exciting and more artistically fulfilling than some of the other jobs available to young dancers. (It was also an outgrowth of their previous company Ten Foot Five, which was more of a side project in- between other jobs.) “ We started putting it together for no reason other than to put it together. We didn’t know why. We were like the Blues Brothers: we were on a mission from God,” recalled Milan, also the artistic director of Rhythmic Circus, on the phone from the lobby of a New Jersey theater a few hours before that night’s performance. “ We didn’t have a gig, we didn’t have anything lined up, we just knew we needed to work on something.”

Milan had been friends for years with musician Alex Rossi, guitarist and vocalist for a Twin Cities band called Root City. The dancers and the musicians mixed and the idea was born to do something all together.

“We were dancing all the time,” Milan explained of the project’s origin, “ and they were playing music all the time. That’s what we did, that’s what they did. So should we do something together?”

Rhythmic Circus was more an outgrowth of the natural artistic tendencies of this group of friends than a careful feat of alchemy, Milan said.

“ It was never conceptually designed. It was just brought to us by our gifts and our ability and our approach to life. That’s where we got super lucky, and it’s the magic behind Rhythmic Circus.”

“Feet Don’t Fail Me Now!” premiered in 2008, and since then has toured nationally and even ventured to Europe for dates including the prestigious Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It features original songs, costume changes, a bit of comedy, a narrative element and a seamless blend of the percussive possibilities of tap dance with a band including guitar, keyboards, drums, bass, saxophone, trumpet and even a beatboxer.

Milan said Rhythmic Circus has secured investors interested in launching an Off-Broadway run next season, and the organization is investigating potential locations.

This innovative project was just what Milan was looking for when he returned from a job tap dancing in a show at Tokyo Disney. He was a veteran of similar hi-glitz gigs, like dancing during halftime at Minnesota Vikings games or at NCAA tournament basketball games. These were good professional opportunities, he said, but not the sort of longterm artistic project he was looking for.

“’I was playing the role of ‘the tap dancer,’ with the bow tie and the whole bit. It was awesome to be able to do tap dancing for a living and learn about entertainment and working with professionals at that level. It was really fascinating and interesting, but at the same time not artistically fulfilling. I felt like we just gave them a piece of candy, it was nothing that could sustain you, or the audience either.”

His path toward this sort of career was lain early. As a young child he was fond of dancing on the front steps to the tunes from Michael Jackson’s “Off the Wall” album, imitating MJ’s moves. The idea came up to send the six-year old to a dance class, and he immediately felt at home there.

“As soon as I saw a mirror in front of me and they turned on music I thought this was the coolest thing ever. My first class, of course, I wanted to teach the teacher my Michael Jackson moves. It took me a year as a little kid to understand the concept that there’s a lot of different approaches.”

He stuck for years with classes focused on jazz dance, ballet, and other movement-based forms, and only at age 17 did he fall in love with tap dancing. Later, after seeing percussiveoriented shows like “Stomp,” he realized that tap dancing could be adapted to other theatrical forms and absorb contemporary influences.

“(I realized) you can be edgy and hip and do tap,” Milan said. “You can have more of a percussive edge, a street edge.” The route toward Rhythmic Circus was paved.

Sixth Year of the Free Family Friendly Street Festival Series

The largest free event series in western Massachusetts kicks off its sixth year on Thursday, May 17 in downtown Pittsfield. 3^rd.Thursdays, a free, family-friendly street festival is held on the third Thursday of each month from May through October in the hub of Berkshire County from 5pm-8pm. The newly designated Upstreet Cultural District of Pittsfield will come alive with music and performance, afterhours shopping in downtown’s unique shops and studios, new art, great dining and more. Upwards of 10,000 people attend each month to enjoy the best of the Berkshires.

“I worked on North Street for many years, so I was a captive audience to Third Thursdays right from the start,” said Mayor Daniel L. Bianchi. “There was nothing better than walking out of my office, stepping into a big street fair, and reconnecting with all kinds of friends and neighbors I hadn’t seen in a while. I’m looking forward to the start of this year’s event, and another summer of showcasing downtown Pittsfield at its best.”

The theme of the May 17 3^rd.Thursdays is Celebrating Youth, featuring performances by talented young musicians, dancers, singers, actors and more, including the Youth Alive Step Team and Band, the Catholic Youth Center All Star Cheerleaders, Kids 4 Harmony & the Sunshine Singers, the Hillcrest Drummers led by Aimee Gelinas and many more. The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts will host the opening reception for its annual show, Art in The Schools, which features art work by middle and high school students from Pittsfield’s public schools.

Berkshire Rocks, a local organization that provides opportunities for young musicians and singers to perform will feature an evening of young performers including Ella Sears, Genie and The Barncats, Sarah Elizabeth Rayner, Christine Bile and the Interlopers. The Rock On Workshop for Young Musicians will be celebrating its tenth anniversary at 3rd Thursdays starting on the stage in front of Spice Dragon at 297 North St. Performers will include faculty and student groups plus special guests.

In addition, the local chapter of NAMI is sponsoring a Minds Matter Walk during the May 17 3^rd.Thursdays to raise money for mental health programs. Walkers can register and make a donation at the NAMI booth on North St. at 5pm. An easy, ¾-mile walk begins at 5:45pm, with opening remarks by State Representative Paul Mark. There will be free tote bags to the first 150 walkers and balloon animals for kids. For more information, visit their website at www.namibc.org.

“3^rd.Thursdays is truly a community event for everyone. We are thrilled to work with so many different organizations, businesses and volunteers to create a fun family evening downtown,” said Pittsfield Director of Cultural Development Megan Whilden.

Future 3^rd.Thursdays and their themes are:

Thursday, June 21: Country in the City +the Green Mile footrace

Thursday, July 19: Tropicalismo + the North Street Beach

Thursday, August 16: Call Me Melville+WordXWord Festival

Thursday, September 20: A Passion for Fashion+Walk A Mile in Her Shoes

Thursday, October 18: Halloween+ Children’s Costume Contest & Parade

3^rd.Thursdays is organized by the City of Pittsfield’s Office of Cultural Development in partnership with downtown businesses, arts organizations, civic groups, artists and other city departments. Major sponsors include Berkshire Gas, Berkshire Life, a Guardian Company, Massachusetts Cultural Council, and Greylock Federal Credit Union. Lead downtown partners include Persnickety Toys, Spice Dragon, Berkshire Museum, Beacon Cinema, Barrington Stage Company, and Berkshire Theatre Group.

For more information on participating in 3^rd.Thursdays, visit www.discoverpittsfield.com/3rdThursdays, email thirdthursdayspittsfield@gmail.com or call 413-499-9348. A downtown map and full schedule of performances and specials will be available online next week and distributed throughout downtown Pittsfield.

The Pittsfield Suns Baseball Club (Futures Collegiate Baseball League) will host a job fair and national anthem tryouts at historic Wahconah Park.

On Friday, May 11, people seeking summer employment are encouraged to go to Wahconah Park from 2pm-6pm. The Suns are seeking to fill the positions of ushers, ticket takers and concessions workers among other positions. You will meet Suns employees and fill out the appropriate paperwork.

The Suns are also seeking a public address (PA) announcer for its 27-game home schedule. Applicants should be energetic, moderately edgy and be enthusiastic about ensuring that all in attendance enjoy themselves at each home game.

National Anthem Tryouts

If you have a good voice, you will want to be at Wahconah Park on Monday, May 14 for National Anthem tryouts. Those interested in honoring our country’s national anthem prior to each home game can contact Kevin McGuire at kevin@pittsfieldsuns.com to register or show up between 5pm-6pm.

The Pittsfield Suns open their inaugural season at Wahconah Park on Thursday, June 7.  The first 3,000 fans through the gates will receive a free Suns magnet schedule and after the game, the skies will alight with a great fireworks show.  Tickets may be ordered by calling the Suns office at 413-445-SUNS (7867) or by going online at www.pittsfieldsuns.com.

As originally published in The Berkshire Eagle

By Richard Houdek, Special to the Eagle

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

This city embraced its creators of painting, sculpture, photography, film and other visual expression Friday evening at its first ever Arts Walk, but it also acknowledged its reputation as a center of jazz performance.

Hundreds of curious viewers munched hors d’oeuvres while viewing artists’ works on nearly every available wall, table and pedestal, in boutiques, restaurants and even a barber shop. Scores then convened in Baba Louie’s Backroom where BerkshiresJazz.org offered a live double feature of music.

Elli Fordyce, enjoying her third career as a singer, was the headliner, joined by the Berkshires Jazz Trio — Andy Jaffe, keyboard, Richard Downs, bass, and Peter Coombs, drums — in a set that included reliable standards, often performed in fresh tempos and unlikely harmonies.

Fordyce, candid about being a mid-septuagenarian, displays still-fine vocal support and pitch, she scats easily and she and Jaffe’s instrumental ensemble meshed remarkably, given that they met only a couple of hours prior to the downbeat, and had virtually no rehearsal.

•

Earlier, Eli Neuberger’s Jazz Tuber Trio — Neuberger on tuba, Jimmy Mazzy, vocals and banjo, and Ted Casher on reeds — produced some persuasive Dixieland sounds.

Their repertory was filled similarly with standards, but their instrumentation, punctuated by Neuberger’s tuba, bombastic as well as occasionally surprisingly sensuous, created fascinating textures. Mazzy’s flexible high baritone is reminiscent of the favorite old jazz masters of song Fordyce and the two trios, all of whom contributed their services for the evening as a presumed benefit for BerkshiresJazz and the Arts Walk, returned to wind up the evening with a couple of numbers that also were unrehearsed. Casher noted that he had not played with Jaffe’s group for more than 30 years before Friday’s gathering. But such risks are what make the art of jazz exciting, both for the players, and certainly for their listeners.

Jeff McCarthy

As previously reported, Barrington’s Fiddler on the Roof will feature Tony nominee Brad Oscar as Tevye with Joanna Glushak (Sweet Smell of Success) as Golde. It runs June 13-July 14 under the direction of Gary John LaRosa.

Other productions include Duncan Macmillan’s Lungs, directed Aaron Posner, which runs May 23-June 10. Brooke Bloom and Ryan King star. Mark St. Germain‘s Dr. Ruth, All the Way, starring Debra Jo Rupp under the direction of Julianne Boyd, will be presented June 19-July 15. Boyd will also stage All My Sons, with McCarthy (The Pirate Queen, Side Show), running July 19-Aug. 4.

Giovanna Sardelli will direct Joseph’s The North Pool, running July 26-Aug. 11; followed by Philip King’s See How They Run, directed by Jeff Steitzer, Aug. 9-26. The Joe Iconis-Robert Maddock rock musical The Black Suits will be directed by John Simpkins Aug. 16-Sept. 2. The final production will be Nigel Williams’ stage adaptation of Lord of the Flies, directed by Boyd, Oct. 3-21.

Additional highlights include Joe Iconis & Family May 25-26; The Niko Songbook July 6-7; Hello, Gorgeous! Leslie Kritzer Sings Jule Styne July 30; a staged reading of Tom Stoppard’s Travesties Aug. 13; Songs By Ridiculously Talented Composers And Lyricists You Probably Don’t Know But Should Aug. 31-Sept. 1; and Brel in the Berkshires!, featuring Amanda McBroom, George Ball and Michele Brourman, Sept. 20-23.

Tickets, priced $15-$62, are currently on sale by calling (413) 236-8888 or visiting barringtonstageco.org.

As originally published in The Berkshire Eagle

By Derek Gentile, Berkshire Eagle Staff

Monday May 7, 2012

Perhaps the first indication that this weekend convention wasn’t your average corporate get-together was the sign on the front door of the Crown Plaza Hotel.

“No Real Weapons Allowed Inside!”

This wasn’t because BAM Con 2012 was expected to be violent. But over the past three days, a host of people dressed as elves, Ninja, assassins, wizards and other assorted heroes passed into the Crown Plaza lobby to the second floor convention area. And “live steel” as real swords and spears are called by fantasy conventioneers, is frowned upon.

BAM Con is billed as the “first” Berkshire Anime and Manga Convention, although organizer Jon Wynn admitted that there was an earlier one-day Manga convention in the city a few years ago. But this convention, Wynn clarified, is certainly the first three-day affair.

Manga are comics created originally in Japan, conforming to a style actually developed there in the 19th century. Since the 1950s, manga has become a large part of the Japanese publishing industry. In the United States alone, the manga market is estimated at more than $250 million a year. Anime is the abbreviated version of “animation” and refers to a particular style of animation characterized by colorful graphics and often featuring themes aimed at a more adult audience.

“I think the difference between manga and American comics is that there is more focus on how the pictures and the story flows,” said Christine Chong, an animator and storyboard artist from New Jersey. Chong had a table in the convention’s art room, selling her latest book, “Two Masters.”

“In manga, illustration is second to the story line,” said Chong.

In addition to manga and anime, the weekend convention also showcased American comics, science fiction and gaming, according to Jon Wynn, one of the promoters.

Wynn, a Pittsfield native, in the head of MediaCrash.com, a small media studio that, according to its website, specializes in music/audio production and engineering. Media-Crash was one of the major sponsors of the event. Wynn, Amelia Ritter of Pittsfield and Crystal Howcroft of Adams are members of the Berkshire Anime and Manga Club, a club devoted to studying, reading and watching Japanese comics and animation.This weekend’s convention was largely planned by the three.

In addition, there were gaming tournaments sponsored by the comic shop Fantasy Realms, a longtime host for gaming events in the area.

Wynn explained that manga conventions have popped up all over the country. There are, for example, conventions in Connecticut, the capital region in New York and Boston.

“There just seemed to be a gap, and we wanted to fill it,” he said.

The event featured anime and manga celebrities such as Rob ” Lord Zedd” Axlerod, who starred in the television series “Star Trek Voyager” and “The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.”

There were, throughout the weekend, a host of individuals dressed as various manga, anime, gaming and comic book characters. Laura, a gaming fan from central New York state, was dressed as the elfinlike “Link”, the protagonist of Nintendo’s “Legend of Zelda” series, first created in 1986.

Laura, a young woman in her late 20s, explained that she visits several manga conventions every year, dressed as her favorite character.

“It’s a way to network with people who enjoy anime,” she said. “And it gives you a chance to check out new anime and games.”

As for coming to the shows in costume, she explained that “some people come to enter contests. I just do it for fun.”

As originally published in The Berkshire Eagle

By Tony Dombrowolski, Berkshire Eagle Staff

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Record draw for Shaker event

It can be viewed as either a promising start to the local tourism season, a pleasant surprise, or just an isolated incident.

Whatever the perspective, Hancock Shaker Village got its 2012 season off to a good start when it set an attendance record for its popular Baby Animals on the Shaker Farm event. A total of 14,600 people traveled to Hancock Shaker Village to visit the baby lambs, piglets, calves, goats, ducklings and chicks on display in the Round Stone Barn during the 10th annual event’s 22-day run between April 7 and 29.

That total was 12 percent higher than the previous attendance record, which was set two years ago. Hancock Shaker Village is in its 52nd season of operation.

“This is our signature spring event,” said Lauri Klefos, the president and CEO of the Berkshire Visitors Bureau. “If they’re starting their season out strong, that’s great for all of us.”

Laura Wolf, Hancock Shaker Village’s director of operations and marketing, said attendance at this year’s Baby Animals event benefited from the use of social media as visitors posted photographs, videos and their own reviews.

“I don’t think it was a surprise because the event itself is such a huge attraction,” Wolf said.

She said last month’s good weather combined with more teachers bringing student groups to the village also helped bolster the attendance figures.

“We certainly hope that it’s a sign of what the season will bring,” Wolf said. “ We did have a significant number of visitors from outside the area. The more that come and spread the word, the better we do.”

The highest one-day total for this year’s Baby Animals event was on Saturday, April 14, when nearly 1,700 visited the village, according to Wolf. That day’s event coincided with a concert by popular local musician David Grover and a children’s story time session, and took place during the three-day Sheep Shearing weekend.

The good weather allowed Grover to hold a rare outdoor concert at the village.

“ David Grover has given concerts here in the past, but it’s always been inside the barn,” Wolf said. “Allowing him to do it outside let the children run around. It was the perfect situation for us.”

HSV’s Behind the Scenes Farm Tours also drew 350 participants last month, up from the 250 who attended in April 2011.

The Berkshire County tourism season doesn’t really get under way until Memorial Day weekend. Klefos said it’s too early to tell if April’s attendance record at Hancock Shaker Village means anything.

“All I’ve seen is national stuff so far,” she said. “The national trends look good for the summer. There’s a small increase over last summer.

“I think the best news will be if gas prices continue to go down,” she added. “The more we see that happen, the more we will see those numbers go up.”