Feature: Lucky To Be Me: MSMT Singers Perform Around the State
“We perform in parking lots, restaurants, tents, bandshells, and lovely venues like this one,” declares Maine State Music Theatre’s Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark. He is addressing a full house in the Lunt Auditorium at Oceanview at Falmouth on May 30. It is only one of over 95 free public outreach events that MSMT offers in the course of each year, but today is special because it introduces the new 2024 crop of MSMT Singers in their second public performance since arriving in the state.
An outgrowth of the company’s former intern program, the MSMT Singers are an elite group of young (college age) professionals selected by Clark in an annual nationwide search that has holds over 3000 auditions for eight spots. “These young artists have to sing, dance and act on a scale of at least an 8 out of 10 when they come here,” Clark explains, “and when they leave, I expect that they will have grown into the stars they are going to be.”
MSMT Mourns the Passing of Legendary Star, Bernard Wurger
Maine State Music Theatre was saddened to receive news of the passing of one of its legendary stars – an actor whose career was inextricably interwoven with the history of Maine’s premier musical theatre. “Bernie” Wurger was a mainstay of MSMT summers from 1962 until 2000, playing 195 leading and supporting roles and winning an indelible place in the hearts of his public. His long and versatile career spanned opera, musical theatre, directing, and film not only in Maine but in New York and leading regional theatres across the country.
Good Theater Presents First Special Event of the Season
Good Theater kicks off its second stage series with Blueberries Broadway & Brian 2.0. This is Artistic Director Brian P. Allen's one-man comedy show about his wacky life and crazy family. The 75-minute production opens Saturday November 10 at 12:30 for an early afternoon matinee. Performances are Saturdays 12:30, Sundays 5:00 and Tuesdays at 7:00 from November 10-December 1. Thanksgiving week, Allen will give performances on Wednesday November 21 and Thursday (Thanksgiving) November 22. Both of these shows will be at 7:00. Tickets for all performances are $20 each and can be reserved by going to the Good Theater website, www.goodtheater.com, or calling the box office at 207-835-0895.
BWW Interview: 'What a Glorious Feeling': MSMT Panel Celebrates SINGIN' IN THE RAIN and Anniversary Concerts
In the midst of what has proved to be an extraordinary week for the company, Maine State Music Theatre fans turned out in a capacity crowd at the Curtis Memorial Library's final Peek Behind the Curtain panel to celebrate the concluding events of this Diamond Jubilee season. In the Brunswick season's penultimate week, MSMT presented nine performances of its smash hit, Singin' in the Rain, as well as two sold-out gala 60th anniversary concerts and a free Concert on the Mall that drew close to 2500 people. The panel, moderated by BWW's Carla Maria Verdino-Sullwold, featured Nicolas Dromard, Kate Fahrner, Brian Shepard, and Kim Sava, the stars of the production, two returning stars closely associated with MSMT's history, Sue Cella and K.K. Preece, as well as Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark. The resulting discussion, which focused on the joyful new staging by Marc Robin of Singin' in the Rain and the special anniversary events, was filled with warmth, laughter, and substance.
BWW Review: MSMT Throws Big, Beautiful 60th Birthday Bash
Anniversaries are times to reflect, to evaluate, but also to celebrate. Yesterday with its 60 Years of Musical Theatre: The Best of Maine State Music Theatre gala concert, the Brunswick theatre pulled out all the stops with a big, beautiful Diamond Jubilee gala that proved a stunning culmination to this milestone season. And indeed, six decades after Victoria Crandall launched her dream at the Pickard Theater on the Bowdoin College campus, MSMT can boast numerous reasons to celebrate its history, as well as its present accomplishments and future aspirations.
In a matinee and evening stagings that featured musical performances by twenty-one soloists and an ensemble of ten, as well a number of spoken tributes, Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark architected a program that was classy, heartfelt, and rich and deep in the talent it showcased. As with any commemorative event, the program tapped into nostalgia and memory but blended these with a strong sense of the vigorous, energetic, imposing presence this company has become - not only in Midcoast Maine but also as a force in national regional theatre.
BWW Interview: Laughter That Cures All Ills: Dan Goggin and the Enduring Phenomenon of NUNSENSE
' 'If laughter cures all ills, Nunsense will make doctors obsolete.' That is one of my favorite all time review quotes,' says Dan Goggin. 'Hearing an audience laugh and knowing you had something to do with it is one of the most rewarding experiences I can think of.' Despite the enduring international sensation Goggin's brainchild has become, the writer, director, and creator of a thirty-five-year musical theatre phenomenon and franchise that embraces seven musicals, three spin offs, television specials, a possible upcoming new television series, recordings, and an entire line of merchandise remains a bit bemused and amazed at his runaway success.
BWW Interview: Tyler Micoleau: Bringing Broadway to Brunswick and Back
Tyler Micoleau wanders among the cast portraits at Maine State Music Theatre's 22 Elm Street offices and studios, murmuring in quiet amazement, as he surveys the years with their colorful productions leading up to the present. He wonders aloud about how is it possible to mount such large-scale productions on the Pickard stage? For the Tony award-winning lighting designer of The Band's Visit, this is a special homecoming for it was in Brunswick at Bowdoin College and Maine State Music Theatre that his theatre career began.
BWW Review: The Revolution of Rock n' Roll: MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET Ignites MSMT Stage
When Rock n' Roll burst onto the scene in the late 1950s, it brought with it a veritable revolution in American popular music. Seen by some as 'the Devil's music,' by others as a passing fad, this vibrant, electric sound proved itself a lasting phenomenon. So perhaps it is fitting that more than sixty years later a musical celebrating four of the greatest legends of early rock should open Maine State Music Theatre's 60th anniversary season. And what an opening this is!
Million Dollar Quartet explodes onto the Pickard stage with the energy of a mega concert and the intensity of a high-stakes drama. It is a tale that is at once about the music itself and the men who made it, about dreams and determination, about stumbling and success. In a dazzling production directed by Hunter Foster, MSMT scores the perfect kickoff to its own milestone season.
BWW Interview: Thinking Forward: Maine State Music Theatre Celebrates Its Diamond Jubilee
Anniversaries are customarily times to reflect on the past, but for Maine State Music Theatre's Artistic Director, Curt Dale Clark, the 2018 gala celebration of the company's sixty years is not only a time to celebrate history, but also to use the significant milestone as an opportunity to look to the future.
'We are thinking forward and not resting on our laurels. We are accentuating what works, trying to fix what doesn't, and trying to find new ways to engage the community and make them happy,' Clark explains his philosophy about the Brunswick-based theatre's upcoming historic season.
BWW Interview: Audience Choice Awards Prove Delightful Antidote to Maine Winter
On a bitter cold blizzard day in January, the Maine theatre community was deriving some warmth and cheer by celebrating its achievements with the 2017 Broadway World Audience Choice award winners. The sixteen theatre artists voted by Maine theatre-goers as the best in each category of performing and technical achievements were selected from a group of 69 finalists, culled from over 9000 nominees rwho epresented less than % of all those in contention for the accolades, and voting for the winners was close and competitive to the very end of the process.
BWW Review: BLUEBERRIES, BROADWAY, AND BRIAN: Storytelling at Its Best
Director, producer, actor Brian P. Allen is a born raconteur with a wicked sense of humor and his latest version of his hilarious one-man show, Blueberries, Broadway, and Brian, which he performed at the Strand Theater in Rockland and will reprise in Springvale, ME, speaks to Allen's wit, turn of phrase, and deliciously outrageous sense of humor.
BWW Interview: MSMT Panel Takes a Look at History: Argentina's and Its Own
History- actual 20th century events and the theatre's own story and legacy - became the joint focus of Maine State Music Theatre's second Peek Behind the Curtain talkback, held on July 7 at the Curtis Memorial Library. The panel examined the characters and forces that formed the basis for MSMT"s thrilling production of Evita, now playing at the Pickard until July 16, and also took several excursions into MSMT's history, which forms the basis of a new retrospective exhibition, MSMT Past, Present, and Future, which serendipitously celebrated a gala opening that same date.
Moderated by Broadway World's Carla Maria Verdino-Sullwold, the panel featured the three stars of the Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical, Kate Fahrner, Matt Farcher, and Nat Chandler, as well as the Artistic Directors of two of the areas leading theatres, MSMT's own Curt Dale Clark and the Good Theater's Brian P. Allen.
Summer Stages: BWW's Top Summer Theatre Picks in Maine
With the start of Memorial Day, hordes of summer visitors flock to Maine for an idyllic summer of sailing, swimming, hiking, kayaking, and reveling in the beauty of the rocky coast, serene lakes and mountains, and pine-scented air. But exploring the outdoors is not the only reason to visit the state whose moniker is 'Vacationland.' For theatre lovers there are some excellent opportunities to experience exciting professional and community theatre productions.