Westfield News Group ArtsBeat 2/28/18

Westfield News Group ArtsBeat for 2/28/18. News about Goodspeed Musicals, Hartford Stage, Barrington Stage, CT Repertory Theatre's Nutmeg Summer Series, WAM and more. http://thewestfieldnews.com/arts-beat-214/

News from Mark G Auerbach Public Relations / March 2018

We’re proud to share our clients’ activities.

The People

Kevin Rhodes conducts The Springfield Symphony in his Star Wars & Star Trek Sci-Fi Spectacular on March 3. The Maestro then returns to the Vienna State Opera Ballet for the first of four programs, a return of the full-length ballet Raymonda. His spring season in Vienna includes a repertory program of works by Balanchine, Neumeier and Robbins; a repertory program highlighting British choreographers; and the annual Nureyev Gala, which commemorates Nureyev’s 80th birthday. For details:http://kevinrhodesconductor.com/

Jeanne Yocum, publisher of the award-winning blog Succeeding in Small Business, releases her new book, The Self-Employment Survival Guide: Proven Strategies to Succeed as Your Own Boss. Published by Rowman and Littlefield, the book is available for pre-order on Amazon prior to its launch date on April 8. Jeanne will premiere the book in Durham, NC on April 10. For details: https://www.succeedinginsmallbusiness.com/the-self-employment-survival-guide/

Zasco Productions in Chicopee, MA provides.fully-integrated, turn-key creative and technical production solutions for corporate, educational, non-profit, theatrical, entertainment, and broadcast events  For details: http://www.zasco.com/  Zasco also owns BigVideo Screen. http://www.bigvideoscreen.com/

The Events

The Big Broadcast!, The Jazz Ensembles of Mount Holyoke’s 13th annual recreation of a live swing era radio broadcast, returns to Chapin Auditorium on Saturday, March 3. The program includes a 100th Birthday salute to Ella Fitzgerald. Mark Gionfriddo conducts and directs. WWLP’s Brian Lapis stars as emcee Fred Kelley. Tickets are on sale  at the UMass Fine Arts Center Box-Office and Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley. Snow date is March 4..For details: 413-545-2511 or www.fineartscenter.com

The Capitol Steps return to Western New England with their 2018 Cheaper Than Therapy Tour, with performances April 20 at Northampton’s Academy of Music, and April 21 at The Warner in Torrington, CT. Produced by The Mike Thornton Agency. For Northampton tickets: https://www.aomtheatre.com/  For Torrington tickets:. https://www.warnertheatre.org/  

My Lai, the opera commissioned and performed by Kronos Quartet, features score by Jonathan Berger and libretto by client Harriet Scott Chessman. After performances in New York, My Lai tours to Berkeley, CA on March 4; Los Angeles on March 9, and Ames, Iowa on March 21. For details: http://harrietchessman.com/events/.

More Shameless Self-Promotion

89.5fm/WSKB. ArtsBeat Radio will return to airwaves weekly in late May. Meanwhile, the next program airs on Wednesday, March 21 at 9AM,. And, for the month of March, I’m producing and hosting The Westfield News Show on 89.5fm/WSKB. Tune in Thursdays 6AM-8AM on Comcast Ch.15 in Westfield, or streamed via www.wskb.org or www.westfieldtv.org

My ArtsBeat columns and theatre reviews for Westfield News Group, Succeeding in Small Business and Take Magazine are catalogued at Random Notes From a P.R. Guy: http://mgauerbach.blogspot.com/

Here’s to Spring!

Review: Murder on the Orient Express at Hartford Stage

My Westfield News Group Review: Murder on the Orient Express at Hartford Stage. http://thewestfieldnews.com/review-murder-orient-express-hartford-stage/

ArtsBeat Radio on 89.5fm/WSKB 2/21/18

ArtsBeat Radio on 89.5fm/WSKB. Mark G. Auerbach interviews Brian Lapis from "The Big Broadcast!", Matthew Pugliese from the Nutmeg Summer Series at Connecticut Repertory Theatre, and Darron R. West, Tony Award winning sound designer on his work with Hartford Stage's "Murder on The Orient Express". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d4hGdIDeQM&feature=youtu.be

Westfield News Group Arts Beat 2/21/18

Westfield News Group ArtsBeat for 2/21/18. Maestro Kevin Rhodes conducts a Star Wars/Star Trek Pops at the Springfield Symphony before heading to the Vienna State Opera Ballet, and The Big Broadcast! returns to South Hadley. http://thewestfieldnews.com/arts-beat-213/

Review: "The Bodyguard" at The Bushnell

My Westfield News Group review of "The Bodyguard" at the Bushnell. A stage version of the movie with Whitney Houston, with a fabulous score and a stellar performance by Jasmin Richardson standing in for Deborah Cox. http://thewestfieldnews.com/review-bodyguard-bushnell/

Westfield News Group ArtsBeat Extra: Berkshire Theatre Group Season

Westfield News Group ArtsBeat Extra: Berkshire Theatre Group announces its 90th season. http://thewestfieldnews.com/arts-beat-extra-berkshire-theatre-group-announces-90th-season/

Westfield News Group ArtsBeat 2/14/18

Westfield News Group ArtsBeat for 2/14/18. "Cabaret" plays the UMass Fine Arts Center, "The Wolves" at Smith, "The Crucible" at CT Rep and more. http://thewestfieldnews.com/arts-beat-212/

Westfield News Group ArtsBeat Extra 2/12/18

Westfield News Group ArtsBeat Extra 2/12/18. Longmeadow Chamber Music Society and Springfield Symphony Orchestra partner to bring chamber music series to Longmeadow. http://thewestfieldnews.com/arts-beat-extra-longmeadow-chamber-music-society-springfield-symphony-orchestra-announce-two-chamber-concerts-longmeadow/

February Column / Succeeding in Small Business

My February column for Succeeding in Small Business: a profile of Dramatic Health CEO Sean Moloney. https://www.succeedinginsmallbusiness.com/small-business-success-38-sean-moloney-ceo-at-dramatic-health/#.WnyFaSMrJaV

Westfield News Group ArtsBeat 2/7/18

My Westfield News Group ArtsBeat for 2/7/18. "Murder on The Orient Express" at Hartford Stage, "The Bodyguard" at The Bushnell and more. http://thewestfieldnews.com/arts-beat-211/

Media Release: The Big Broadcast! Returns to Mount Holyoke on March 3

“THE BIG BROADCAST!” RETURNS TO MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE’S CHAPIN AUDITORIUM ON SATURDAY, MARCH 3, FOR TWO PERFORMANCES AT 2PM & 7:30PM

The Big Broadcast! Now Moved to Saturdays

The Jazz Ensembles of Mount Holyoke College present the 13th edition of The Big Broadcast! on Saturday, March 3 at 2PM & 7:30PM at Chapin Auditorium, Mount Holyoke College, in South Hadley, MA. Created and directed by Mark Gionfriddo, who is also onstage as “Matt Morgan”, The Big Broadcast!  is a re-creation of a live 1940's radio show featuring the Mount Holyoke College Big Band, Vocal Jazz, and Chamber Jazz Ensembles performing well-known tunes from the swing era and the American songbook. WWLP-TV meteorologist Brian Lapis is emcee “Fred Kelley” for his 11th consecutive season.

By popular request, The Big Broadcast! is now scheduled for the first time on a Saturday. Snow date is Sunday, March 4.

Mount Holyoke College music faculty member Mark Gionfriddo originally created The Big Broadcast! for a small cabaret group he directed, and incorporated it into the concert season at Mount Holyoke College. It has since been designated as a Signature Event at the college.

“Preparation for the show began early in January when my students and I researched live radio broadcasts of the 1940's: big band swing music, those great radio serials, and the commercials of the day," said Gionfriddo. “We incorporate all of those elements into our production to give the audience the feel of an authentic radio variety program on a fictitious station named WJAZ."

"This year, much of what we're presenting is all new material to The Big Broadcast!,” says Gionfriddo. “We are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ella Fitzgerald’s birth by performing "A Tisket, A Tasket," her first big hit with the Chick Webb band. Brian and I will definitely perform a buddy song- that will be much fun. And of the things we're bringing back, the most recognizable will be that iconic instrumental of the Swing Era, Benny Goodman's "Sing Sing Sing." 

Mark Gionfriddo (“Matt Morgan”) is well known to area concertgoers as a pianist, accompanist, composer, arranger, and musical director. His versatility and knowledge of many musical styles has brought him together with a wide range of popular and classical artists through the years, among them Mitzi Gaynor, Liberace, Al Martino, Anna Moffo, the Young@Heart Chorus, and Garrison Keillor. Mark's adventures while assistant conductor on board Cunard's MS Royal Viking Sun brought him around the world to 30 countries. Mark received his Bachelor's Degree in Piano from Skidmore College and Master's Degree in Accompanying from UMASS/Amherst.

Mark has been based at Mount Holyoke College since 1986 where he is a Senior Instructor in Classical and Jazz Piano as well as Director and Founder of the Jazz Ensembles. In 2006, he conducted the MHC Big Band during two episodes of the popular public radio quiz show Says You!. Mark is also a music director for Berkshire Theatre Group in Stockbridge and Pittsfield MA during the summer, and has recently served in that capacity for productions of The Music Man, Peter Pan, A Class Act, Seussical the Musical, Mary Poppins, Beauty and The Beast, A Christmas Carol, and the Neil Ellenoff Musical Mondays series. 

Gionfriddo recently released his first book: Good Night, Dear Hart, Good Night, the story of Hart-Lester H. Allen, whose husband brought down the infamous Charles Ponzi of “Ponzi scheme” fame. The book, on the Epigraph imprint, is co-authored by his mother, Jeannie Gionfriddo.

Brian Lapis ("Fred Kelley") joined the 22News Storm Team in 1996. He got his start in broadcasting at the age of 15 at radio station WILI, in his hometown of Willimantic, CT. He's worked as a radio on-air talent for stations in Hartford, CT; Philadelphia, PA; Syracuse, NY; and Providence, RI. Brian has a Bachelor's degree in Television Radio Film Management from Syracuse University. In addition, he holds a certificate in Broadcast Meteorology from Mississippi State University. This is his 11th season as WJAZ announcer and emcee “Fred Kelley”. In 2013, the National Weather Association named Brian “Broadcaster of the Year".

Brian loves performing as “Fred Kelley”. “The combination of the opportunity for me to perform, the creative energy of the students and Mark Gionfriddo, and the great music makes this far and away my favorite event of the year," he said.  "As a 'student of broadcasting’, I am one who appreciates the Golden Age of Radio and just how hugely popular these variety shows were in their day.  I’d like to believe that if I were around back in the 1940s, I would have a gig like Fred Kelley’s." 

Performance sponsors of The Big Broadcast! are: Mount Holyoke College, WWLP-22News & The CW Springfield, The Republican powering MassLive and El Pueblo Latino, and Loomis Communities. Additional support is provided by Mercedes-Benz of Springfield.

Tickets (general admission): $25.00 premium front and center seating.$20.00 regular seating. Senior Discounts: $10.00 in advance and $15.00 at the door. Students: $10.00. Tickets are on sale at The Odyssey Book Shop, Village Commons, South Hadley; the UMass Fine Arts Center Box Office; and at the door (subject to availability). For advance phone orders, call 413-545-2511 or 800-999-UMASS. For online tickets, visit www.fineartscenter.com. Doors open one hour prior to each performance.

For information on The Jazz Ensembles of Mount Holyoke College: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/events/66111/big-broadcast

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