JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Earlier this week, I mentioned summer theater as among the things I look forward to in this season, and I wanted to expand (or expound) upon that. Some of my earliest memories of performances are connected to summer. When we lived in Argyle, NY (the loose basis for my fictional town of Cossayuharie) my mother took me to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center every summer to see the New York City Ballet. As a divorced mom supporting herself as a substitute teacher, we had little to no money, but somehow, I saw all the Balanchine classics sitting on the grassy, gently sloping lawn.
As an aspiring actor in my high school and college years, I spent summers performing in community theater, apprenticing at an Equity house, and working (for pay) as a stage carpenter.
Later, as a parent myself, also with a limited budget, I took full advantage of the opportunities here in Maine. The kids and I have seen Shakespeare performed for free in Portland, Freeport, and Kennebunk, and treated ourselves to tickets to the wonderful Theater at Monmouth (more Shakespeare,) the Ogunquit Playhouse (musicals) and Lakewood Theatre, which claims to be the countries oldest summer theater as it enters it’s 123rd season. Their comedies are wonderful.
In addition, LL Bean sponsors “Summer in the Park,” a free concert series with first-come seating around their open-air stage in Freeport. We’ve seen great jazz, Arlo Guthrie and Matt Nathanson, among others. This summer they’ve got Melissa Etheridge!
Reds, what are the summer performances - free or otherwise - you look forward to?
JENN McKINLAY: So many memories of attending concerts (more than plays) in the park. When I was in high school, I volunteered at Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford, CT where they had a concert series that ran all summer long. This wasn’t for the peasants. We’re talking full orchestras and choirs (I was a choir kid, which is how I ended up there) and dining at cloth covered tables with full sets of china. Very bougie and just beautiful - definitely a glimpse into another world for me.
As a college student, I loved the free summer concerts on the New Haven Green, my favorite being Spyro Gyra - so fun!!! Not much in the way of outdoor concerts/performances in AZ in the summer - our jam is really in the winter where there is almost too much to do.
LUCY BURDETTE: I can’t think of too many outdoor performances, but this is perfect timing for what John and I did this week: take the grandkids to a nearby matinee of THE SOUND OF MUSIC. I was in this musical in high school so it’s dear to my heart–and I know the two kids have seen the movie at least twice. (They are 5 and almost 7.) I think they will remember this outing in the future, though it was a little long for their attention spans. And we, Grammy and Grampy, enjoyed taking them so much!
But here was my favorite performance during the past week they have stayed with us!
HALLIE EPHRON: When I was newly married and fresh out of college and living in Manhattan (rent controlled apartment!) Jerry and I went to Shakespeare in the Park - free tickets that you lined up to snag, plays directed by Joseph Papp. The most memorable performance was a very young Meryl Streep and equally young and raw Raoul Julia in a hilarious and wondrous production of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. SO SEXY.
So that sort of spoiled me for most summer theater (and for any subsequent production of that play) can’t begin to match.
Amazingly there are videos of parts of their performance online. ENJOY! You’ll never see that play in the same way…
I always attend Marin Shakespeare in an outdoor amphitheater . We saw a fun Midsummer Night’s Dream last year. Not so thrilled about Hamlet this year. My favorite was seeing South Pacific in a vineyard, including real WW2 planes flying overhead.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, Hallie, I just started watching Raul and Meryl and they are so young and gorgeous..thank you for that! Gosh, in Rome we saw TOSCA performed at an abbey, outside, with parapets and balconies and you could see the battlements of the Castel Sant'Angelo. And oh,we went to the Concert of the Century on the Champs de Mar—Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras. Amazing.
We saw Edith Wharton one-acts performed in the drawing room of her home, The Mount. And SO much Shakespeare outside from Shakespeare and Co. in Lenox–one performance I remember was Merchant of Venice outside, no stage, it was so powerful.
And of course we ALWAYS go to Symphony at Tanglewood, in the Shed, with such a wonderful atmosphere of the gathered music lovers. We heard Beethoven’s Ninth there, which was transporting, and one summer also saw James Taylor AND Jackson Browne. It was so funny. My Dad was there, and when Jackson Browne started Running on Empty, my theme song, and I got up and sang at the top of my lungs (along with everyone else like me), my dad turned to Jonathan and said: “I think that song means something to her. “
(And I know, I’m awful, but I am not fond of sitting on the lawn, though.)
JULIA: Now it's your turn, dear readers. What are the summer performances you remember or look forward to?
