All The World’s a Stage

Good morning and welcome to Thursday! Another beautiful fall week is coming to a close; I hope you’ve been getting out and enjoying the mild temperatures and colorful leaves – though not as colorful as I would like, I have to say. Does it seem a little duller to you this year? It does to me.

One thing I love about the fall is the start of the theater season, and we’re lucky to be swimming in it here in town. For starters, The Concord Players open their season with a Tony-award-winner, Mister Roberts. This was also a movie starring Henry Fonda, James Cagney and William Powell, among others. All the action takes place aboard a cargo vessel in the South Pacific during WWII. The set alone is reason enough to see this show: Carlisle resident Allen Bantly has designed and built an amazing replica of a ship. One side shows the deck, and when it miraculously turns on a turntable built onto the stage, you’re in one of the bunkrooms. It’s an engineering feat.

The play is based on a book of short stories by real-life sailor Thomas Heggen, describing his exploits on the USS Virgo in the 1940s. It’s a group of bored and randy sailors longing for shore leave, their tyrannical captain and the one man, Mister Roberts, who risks it all to make it possible. It’s hilarious, and the cast includes a number of guys who have graced this stage before: Gordie Ellis, John Alzapiedi Craig Howard, Jay Newlon and Chuck Holleman, among others.

At $20 a ticket, this is the best bang for your buck you can get for live theater, and if you really want to have a total night out, come opening night, when they serve appetizers and drinks. It’s a whole lot of fun, I’ll tell you. I plan to be there!

The show opens next Friday, Nov. 2, at 8 p.m., and runs for three weekends, through Nov. 17. For all the good details, including how and where to order your tickets, go to www.concordplayers.org and click on Tickets. And go support our local theater!

Let’s Do the Time Warp Again!

Halloween is coming up fast and furious, that night when ghosts, goblins and Lady Gaga roam the streets demanding free candy. And what better way to celebrate than with a showing of Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show. Yes, I discovered that this is playing on stage over at Emerson Umbrella – to my horror, I had no idea they staged theatrical productions of this nature over at our venerable art studio.

And yes, it’s theater, not the movie, so live people will be performing this cult classic.

For those of you not in the know, this wacky musical tells the story on an engaged couple who get caught in a storm and find themselves at the home of a mad transvestite scientist getting ready to unveil his new creation, a muscle man named Rocky Horror.

A number of the cast were part of the production in 2010, for which the Umbrella won a DASH award, meaning they are very talented and won’t disappoint. The show opens tomorrow night, Oct. 26, at 8 p.m., and runs through Nov. 3 – Saturdays will have two shows, at 7 and 10 p.m. There will even be special Halloween performances on Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 30 and 31, at 8 p.m. Sounds like a rollicking good time! For all the good info on tickets and such, click here; if you already know you want to buy tickets, click here.

I wonder if they’ll let you sing along?

Do you have something you would like to share? Contact me at stefanieac@comcast.net and I will be happy to help you spread the news. And follow me on Twitter: @stefanie3131.