Woodstock Playhouse
Risen from the ashes on the site where it was first built in 1928, at the gateway to the arts colony town where Route 375 runs into Route 212, the Woodstock Playhouse was one of the original theatres in the US to offer a summer stock season. And it’s still doing that with class, offering four high-quality productions of popular shows each summer – mostly revivals of Broadway hits.
This year, the Playhouse will be presenting Les Misérables from June 20 to 30; Fiddler on the Roof from July 11 to 21; Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues from July 25 to 27; and The Who’s Tommy from August 1 to 10. Opening night on June 20 will be a 75th anniversary gala featuring a reception, dinner and a silent auction, with tickets going for $130 with dinner and $79 without; admission prices for all other performances range from $32 to $40.
For more information or to purchase tickets, call the box office at (845) 679-6900 or visit ulsterpub.staging.wpengineplayhouse.org.
Woodstock Playhouse, June 20-August 10, Thursdays-Saturdays 8 p.m., Sundays 2 p.m., $32-$40, Playhouse Lane, 103 Mill Hill Road, Woodstock; (845) 679-6900, ulsterpub.staging.wpengineplayhouse.org.
Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice
Who knew, before this Festival came to be in 2009, that the area around Phoenicia was crawling with opera singers? But those hills are alive with the sound of music, apparently, and topnotch singers from the opera world (and now far beyond) converge on that hill town the first week in August each year to make the mountains ring.
This year’s Festival of the Voice kicks off on the evening of August 1 with a Gospel Celebration, followed by three days and two evenings of lectures, master classes and performances, including full-scale productions of Verdi’s Requiem and Rigoletto. The Festival’s definition of the voice as something worth celebrating has expanded to include, this year, such realms as Latin jazz and bossa nova, Sephardic music, spoken word and storytelling, the art of the cantor in Jewish liturgy and three performances of Terrence McNally’s play about the über-diva Maria Callas.
The venues for these varied events, all within easy walking distance of one another, include the Phoenicia Parish Field, the Phoenicia United Methodist Church, the St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church and the Shandaken Theatrical Society Playhouse. Admission is free to a few events; ticket prices otherwise range from $5 to $55 per event, with a $350 Da Capo Pass getting you into absolutely everything; tickets for all events cost $5 for kids age 18 and under.
To find out more details or purchase tickets, call (845) 688-1344 or visit www.phoeniciavoicefest.org.
Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice, August 1-4, $5-$55, downtown Phoenicia; (845) 688-1344, www.phoeniciavoicefest.org.
