November 28, 2009

A Civil War Christmas - Choirs thru Dec 6th

The Huntington is welcoming over 30 choirs to the Boston University Theatre to perform before each performance of A Civil War Christmas. In case you missed it - there was a nice write up in the Globe just last week. Click here to read more...

Boston Choral Ensemble

Here's the roster of choirs performing today through Dec 6th . I'll post the next round at the end of the week. If you would like to see the entire roster click here.
Each Choir will perform starting one half hour prior to the curtain times listed above so show up early to listen in!

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A Civil War Christmas - An American Musical Celebration by Paula Vogel. Music supervised, arranged, and orchestrated by Daryl Waters. Directed by Jessica Thebus. At the Huntington Theatre Company's main stage; The Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston MA, 02115. Runs November 13 through December 13, 2009. Box Office 617 266-0800 or buy online at HuntingtonTheatre.org

    November 23, 2009

    A Civil War Christmas - Audience Comments

    Paula Vogel gives us plenty to think about in A Civil War Christmas. What were you thinking about on the way home after you saw the play? Did you attend a post show discussion? What comments surprised you? What elements of the play struck you as most profound or interesting? Race issues, the history, or the style of the production, the music, the design? We would love to hear your thoughts and reactions to other comments. Please join the conversation and share your ideas - click here to comment.




    Uzo Aduba (Hannah) and Alanna T. Logan (Jessa) in the Huntington Theatre Company’s production of Paula Vogel’s A Civil War Christmas: An American Musical Celebration playing now through December 13 at the B.U. Theatre. 


    A Civil War Christmas - An American Musical Celebration by Paula Vogel. Music supervised, arranged, and orchestrated by Daryl Waters. Directed by Jessica Thebus. At the Huntington Theatre Company's main stage; The Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston MA, 02115. Runs November 13 through December 13, 2009. Box Office 617 266-0800 or buy online at HuntingtonTheatre.org

    Paula Vogel: A Civil War Christmas


    Pulitzer-winning playwright Paula Vogel’s newest play, A Civil War Christmas: An American Musical Celebration set in and around Washington, D.C., on Christmas Eve 1864, brings together the Lincolns, soldiers, runaway slaves, and others in a celebration of hope amidst devastation. Here, in a September 2008 interview with Long Wharf Theatre’s dramaturg April Donahower, Vogel discusses joy and tragedy, the public and private, and why it’s imperative that we acknowledge our history.

          AD: This play is a departure of sorts for you [in that it’s written for a family audience]. What has led you in this direction?

          PV: I am always trying to get to a point where I’m sharing something with the community . . . something painful. And the reason I do that isn’t to hurt people or to dwell in the hurt; it’s to get past it. It’s to resolve it. It’s to change it.

          The alchemy of an audience, with issues that hurt us . . . there’s an alchemy that happens and I think we can turn it to gold. And if that gold is hope, if that goal is action, if that goal is leaving the theatre and feeling as if the person sitting next to me in seat D4 is actually now a neighbor, that’s a huge step forward for me.

          The word “family values” has been used so often, but I don’t see why we’re not saying “community values” because it seems to me every family is the community. Out of that — which I think has been in other plays — this thing came to me.

          In the past 20 years, I’ve had children (some of them now are wonderful grown men) say to me, “Aunt Paula,” or “Godmother, when do I get to see one of your plays?” Usually this is a conversation that’s taking place over Christmastime. And I say, “When you’re 30 years old and you can go and talk to a therapist or talk to me afterwards, but you can’t come see my plays until you’ve reached the age of adulthood.” And it’s always been kind of a family joke.

          But if I’m talking about family values, I should write something that I can say to my family, “Guys, I wanted to give this to you when you were five and I know now you’re 27,” or “Rebecca, you know, you’re six years old, and, you know, I just want you to know this and talk about it with you.” So I wrote [A Civil War Christmas] for my family. This is my Christmas gift. My Hanukah/Christmas — we’re very diverse — Kwanzaa gift to the family.

    click here to read the rest:

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    A Civil War Christmas - An American Musical Celebration by Paula Vogel. Music supervised, arranged, and orchestrated by Daryl Waters. Directed by Jessica Thebus. At the Huntington Theatre Company's main stage; The Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston MA, 02115. Runs November 13 through December 13, 2009. Box Office 617 266-0800 or buy online at HuntingtonTheatre.org

    November 20, 2009

    A Civil War Christmas Beard Contest

    We had a pretty good number of contestants in our little Civil Beard War. View the beard contestants in the slideshow, and then register your vote in the poll below. Voting will run through Thanksgiving.




    A Civil War Christmas - An American Musical Celebration by Paula Vogel. Music supervised, arranged, and orchestrated by Daryl Waters. Directed by Jessica Thebus. At the Huntington Theatre Company's main stage; The Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston MA, 02115. Runs November 13 through December 13, 2009. Box Office 617 266-0800 or buy online at HuntingtonTheatre.org

    Civil War Christmas - Thanksgiving week performance Schedule

    Our performance schedule is a little different than usual around the Holiday next week, so I thought I would post it here. Do you have family coming to visit? Bring them to town for the show, and maybe get some shopping done nearby!



    Performances:
    Friday      11/20  8PM
    Saturday  11/21  2PM, 8PM
    Sunday    11/22  2PM, 7PM
    Monday   11/23 7:30PM
    Tuesday   11/24 7:30PM
    Weds       11/25 no performances
    Thursday  11/26 no performances (Thanksgiving)
    Friday      11/27 2PM, 8PM
    Saturday  11/28 2PM, 8PM
    Sunday    11/29 2PM

    (Choirs start 1/2 prior to the scheduled performance)



    A Civil War Christmas - An American Musical Celebration by Paula Vogel. Music supervised, arranged, and orchestrated by Daryl Waters. Directed by Jessica Thebus. At the Huntington Theatre Company's main stage; The Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston MA, 02115. Runs November 13 through December 13, 2009. Box Office 617 266-0800 or buy online at HuntingtonTheatre.org  Photo by T. Charles Erickson

    November 17, 2009

    A Civil War Christmas - Jessica Thebus

    Jessica Thebus, the director of A Civil War Christmas, spoke to the company on the first day of rehearsal - now a month past. It is interesting to read this again within the frame of the work we have done over the last few weeks. Here is the text of Jessica's greeting:

    "I usually read something that I write on the first day. I like to do it for a few reasons. One is to share some of my thoughts in the time I have been living with the play, what I see as our map of where we are going, and to give as at least a starting place for our work together."

    "Another, more important reason is to celebrate the gathering together of people in a room and launch a new journey, because one is never exactly like another. We are starting a journey, following a star, in celebration of our own, multi-denominational nativity."

    "The story of the nativity—why, I wonder, do we as human beings love to hear the same story told over and over? With all our natural love of plot and suspense, we gather in homes and places of worship, and theaters, to hear again and again of the nutcracker, or of Scrooge and the spirits, or the birth of a child in a stable." Read the rest here...

    or listen here

    Click here to comment


    A Civil War Christmas - An American Musical Celebration by Paula Vogel. Music supervised, arranged, and orchestrated by Daryl Waters. Directed by Jessica Thebus. At the Huntington Theatre Company's main stage; The Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston MA, 02115. Runs November 13 through December 13, 2009. Box Office 617 266-0800 or buy online at HuntingtonTheatre.org

    A Civil War Christmas - Choirs thru 11/22

    The Huntington is welcoming over 30 choirs to the Boston University Theatre to perform before each performance of A Civil War Christmas. In case you missed it - there was a nice write up in the Globe just last week. Click here to read more...

    Here's the roster of choirs performing tonight through Thanksgiving. I'll post the next round at the end of the week. If you would like to see the entire roster click here.

    Each Choir will perform a half hour prior to the curtain times listed above (so, for instance, if you want to see Boston University a capella group In Achord get your tickets and be in your seat by 7:30pm).


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    A Civil War Christmas - An American Musical Celebration by Paula Vogel. Music supervised, arranged, and orchestrated by Daryl Waters. Directed by Jessica Thebus. At the Huntington Theatre Company's main stage; The Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston MA, 02115. Runs November 13 through December 13, 2009. Box Office 617 266-0800 or buy online at HuntingtonTheatre.org

    November 14, 2009

    A Civil War Christmas - Video



    A Civil War Christmas - An American Musical Celebration by Paula Vogel. Music supervised, arranged, and orchestrated by Daryl Waters. Directed by Jessica Thebus. At the Huntington Theatre Company's main stage; The Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston MA, 02115. Runs November 13 through December 13, 2009. Box Office 617 266-0800 or buy online at HuntingtonTheatre.org

    November 11, 2009

    Inbox: Civil Beard War for "Christmas" Opening

    On occasion I'll forward something straight from my inbox that doesn't need much explanation. Last week our Scene shop foreman, Brian Sears, wrote the following:

    In the scene shop we have decided to get into the spirit of A Civil War Christmas with some good old fashion facial hair. I encourage all in the company that is capable of growing some facial hair to join us in our adventure. Two weeks from today is opening night and we are hoping for a nice showing, after that it can be over and you can shave off your new look. So please stop shaving today and join us.

    Here is photo of approved scene shop facial hair styles



     There are plenty of beards sprouting here on Huntington Ave  - the contest has taken root (sorry) across the company. I should mention that a fair  percentage of the staff is female and many were eager to participate. Come back in a few weeks for photos!  Audience members coming to Opening night are also encouraged to participate.

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    A Civil War Christmas - An American Musical Celebration by Paula Vogel. Music supervised, arranged, and orchestrated by Daryl Waters. Directed by Jessica Thebus. At the Huntington Theatre Company's main stage; The Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston MA, 02115. Runs November 13 through December 13, 2009. Box Office 617 266-0800 or buy online at HuntingtonTheatre.org

    November 10, 2009

    August Wilson's Neighborhood

    One of the more interesting things we heard at our post show discussions for Fences was that many people really thought they had seen the play here before, even though we had never done it. The world of this play was a very familiar place for our patrons, as we have now staged 9 out of the 10 plays.

    Several weeks ago I received the following comment:

    lgalen said...
    "I've been watching August Wilson's neighborhood evolve at the Hungtington since Joe Turner in the mid 80's. I've been fascinated by the scenic design. Am I imagining it, or is there an attempt to reconstruct or reconfigure some of the past Huntington Wilson sets, in the more recent plays? IIRC, Radio Golf's set seemed to be a recreation of Jitney's. Fence's backyard seemed reminiscent, maybe of Seven Guitars, or maybe another of the plays? Is my mind playing tricks? Is it just a function of the plays occuring in a specific neighborhood, or is this (as I believe) a conscious device?"

    I wrote lgalen back to let him know that, over the years, we've had many different designers and several different directors and yet the plays certainly all had a feeling of the same place. We did not share any past designs or photos with the current team and we don't save our sets. So there was certainly no conscious device on our part to place elements of previous productions into the newer ones. You're giving us a lot of credit - I wish we had thought of it! There certainly might have been a few of the same props - we've been building our stock for 27 years now. And each design team did extensive research on the Hill District.

    I thought I would post a few photos from our past August Wilson productions. We don't have too many that show a lot of set - but I found what I could. Do they seem like reconfigurations of each other? What elements do they share.Can you name the productions? I'll give a free pair of tickets to A Civil War Christmas to the first person who emails me with the play titles in the right order (my email address is on the comment form, click below). Scroll to the end for a few hints.


    Photo 1


    photo 2


    photo 3


    photo 4


    photo 5

     
    photo 6


    photo 7


    photo 8


    Hints: 
    Photo 1: Hassan El-Amin and James A. Williams
    Photo 2: 1990-1991 season. Bonus tickets if you can name all three actors in this photo
    Photo 3: Reuben Santiago-Hudson and LisaGay Hamilton
    Photo 4: Eugene Lee and John Beasley
    Photo 5: Tony Todd and Russell Andrews
    Photo 6: Charles Dutton and Rocky Carroll
    Photo 7: August Wilson and Lloyd Richards
    Photo 8: Not Radio Golf - and Bonus tickets if you can name both actors in this photo.

    Which shows are missing?

    Finding the Calderwood Pavilion - A Long and Winding Road

    I just HAD to share this great story left by one of our patrons who came and saw A Long and Winding Road recently:

    abbygirl said...
    "My husband and I literally traversed "A Long and Winding Road" to reach your theater to enjoy the show - which we did, immensely, by the way. We don't get into Boston frequently, and the traffic and patterns of same are confusing to say the least. Armed with two different sets of directions, we amazingly actually found the theater and began searching for a parking spot. With many one-way streets, we went around in circles several times. Finally, apparently, we did not STOP, when we were supposed to as we were looking at signage, etc. and one of Boston's finest just happened to be right in front of us. He got out of his car and approached our vehicle, saying we did not STOP."

    "My husband just started to relay our problem - that we were were lost looking for the Huntington Theatre, etc. I tried to intervene and tell him we were looking for a parking spot and had found the theater, but no one heard me. The policeman was so very helpful and said he would guide us and to follow him. We followed him in, around, and through Boston at a mighty clip - I might add - ending up at the OTHER Huntington Theater [the Boston University Theatre] on Huntington Ave. OH my God - we were going to be late. I had to tell him it was the wrong theater."

    "He then offered to guide us again - back to the Calderwood Pavilion and showed us where to park. We really had a grand tour of Boston - and did not get a traffic ticket. We made it to the show, very stressed - but just in time. As soon as Maureen McGovern started to sing, we relaxed, enjoyed her perfomance, laughed and reminisced. Well, we know where you are now and where to park. Hopefully, that will never occur again."

    "Boston has great officers - maybe it was our gray hair that had an effect on him. He probably was cursing "senior citizens"."

    Thank you for sharing your experience, Abbygirl

    The Huntington Theatre Company performs at two venues - The Boston University Theatre, and our second stage (The Virginia Wimberly Theatre) in Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA.

    Patrons should check the venue information for the show that you are coming to see... we would hate to hear that you arrived at the wrong theatre and missed the show. If you buy your tickets online - the venue info is on your order confirmation. It's also on your tickets, and on our main website.

    We continue to refine our venue information, directions and parking, and dining data on our websites even as we continue to hear stories about people ending up in the wrong place after five years of becoming bi-venue.. We're about to launch a new "plan your visit" section on our website too - which should help us all - I'll let you know when that is up and running. If you have any ideas for us - please let us know.

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