Seventy six trombones came marching into Woodstock this past week, or at least the rousing Meredith Willson song of the same name from his classic musical The Music Man, which opened last weekend at the Woodstock Playhouse as the repertory theater’s second offering of what’s shaping up to be another spirited season.
For culture fans, it isn’t really summer without live theater, whether it’s performed under the stars, in a tent or a shed or a converted barn or an air-conditioned former vaudeville house.
Artistic director Matt Mitler said he is fascinated by the mythological archetype of the trickster, an entity who destroys to make way for the new. “In some spiritual practices, it’s considered ‘holy destruction,’” Mitler explained, “from Baldr in the Norse myths to Jesus.” In the search for a text that would embody destruction leading to creation, the company turned to Macbeth. They approach the play’s violence as a kind of ritual combat, designed to create a purifying catharsis for actors and audience. Dzieci Theater Company will present Makbet, their Eastern European-flavored version of the Shakespeare tale of ambition and revenge Saturday, July 7.
His show, while constantly reinforcing messages that helped children feel secure and loved and valuable, was anything but “safe.”
Friday-Sunday, July 6-8: A gravity-defying, family-friendly performance by the Brooklyn-based company known as the Streb Lab for Action Mechanics, a/k/a SLAM or just Streb.
Four Quartets is the first authorized dance performance ever to be based on T. S. Eliot’s career-crowning work.
Saturday, July 7: The audience follows the performers around Opus 40 during the “Scottish play,’’ and the scenes take on different auras as they move through different parts of Harvey Fite’s sculpture.
Friday-Sunday, June 29-July 1: Lumberyard’s Under Construction Summer Festival begins with Urban Bush Women musical at Helsinki Hudson
Bard SummerScape runs from June 29-August 19: Peter Smith and Erin Markey, who play Peter and Wendy respectively, are both trans performers, which should add an interesting metaphorical dimension to this beloved tale of magically extended prepubescence.
Saturday, June 30: Gal Gadot is just about perfect in the title role, and Chris Pine as Steve Trevor holds up his end of the romantic angle with persuasively raffish charm.