Two years after starring as Dorothy during Pentangle Arts’ production of The Wizard of Oz, Hanover High School sophomore Iva Wich returns to the stage of Woodstock’s Town Hall Theatre the next two weekends to navigate another fantasy world.
Only this time, Cats, which opens on Friday night, presents an entirely different challenge.
“I grew up being trained how to sing, so Dorothy wasn’t hard for me,” Wich, who lives in Strafford, said this week. “With Cats … man, it’s a lot of dancing, and of being something else.
“We are cats.”
For this production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Broadway blockbuster that Pentangle is staging in collaboration with the ArtisTree Community Arts Center, director/choreographer Susan Lamontagne cast some 20 Upper Valley performers of various levels of experience. In addition to Wich taking on the role of the nimble and equal-parts dignified and tortured Demeter, Wich’s mother Laura Corcoran is stepping outside her comfort zone as Jellylorum, whom catsthemusical.com describes as “practical, affectionate and maternal” with a strong soprano.
It’s a far meow from Corcoran’s days as a Boston University undergraduate, during which “I used to sing Memories on the tour boats.”
“I hadn’t actually been in the show or seen it onstage,” said Corcoran, who has acted with the Parish Players and Opera North and sung solos for the Thetford Chamber Singers. “I had no idea how much dancing I’d be doing. I thought I’d be singing.”
The dancing for the role of Cassandra is coming naturally enough to Cristia Johnson, a native of Windsor who performed with Lebanon’s City Center Ballet and then with the Ohio Dance Theatre and in circus acts during her college years.
Trading verses and dialogue and glances with other performers is another matter.
“I used to be involved in acting in high school (Mid-Vermont Christian in Quechee), mostly Shakespeare plays, but Cats is the first actual musical I’ve participated in,” Johnson, who teaches recreational gymnastics at the Northern Lights studio and works as a paraprofessional with seventh- and eighth-graders at Plainfield Elementary School, wrote during an exchange of emails this week. “I auditioned for Cats knowing it was a dance-heavy show, and Susan encouraged me to do it, even though I’m not much of a singer.
“All aspects of this show, the physical and vocal demands, learning lines, and the acting aspect, have been challenging. It’s not an easy show.
“It’s certainly a challenge for someone like me who feels most comfortable dancing.”
Wich, Corcoran and Johnson all credit Lamontagne, who played Demeter during a national tour, with preparing them for the production through rehearsals that began in February, and the professional performers leading the cast, especially Cats veteran Ken Prymus as top cat Old Deuteronomy, for their generosity in the homestretch. Prymus played the role on Broadway, around the country and at Northern Stage.
“The New York people were pretty impressed when they got here, because we already knew everything,” Wich said. “They don’t treat us like locals. It’s cool to get that respect from people. They’re really fun to be around, and they’re really gracious.”
Pentangle Arts and the ArtisTree Community Arts Center kick off their production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical
The young ensemble The Bombadils plays its Canadian-inflected blend of chamber and folk music at the Sunapee Community Coffee House on Friday night at 7. While admission is free, donations are welcome. For more information, visit sunapeecoffeehouse.org or call 603-763-2668.
The Northern New England Repertory Theatre Company stages Tom Stoppard’s translation of the Gerald Sibleyras comedy Heroes at Whipple Memorial Town Hall in New London on Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 and at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Playing a trio of World War I veterans are Lake Sunapee-area residents Charley Freiberg, Mike Gregory and Kevin Tarleton. Tickets ($24 for adults, free for students) are available in advance by visiting the Tatewell Gallery at the New London Shopping Center or NNERTC.org. For more information, email info@NNERTC.org.
Under the direction of Ellen Satterthwaite, the Freelance Family Singers perform at the First Congregational Church in Woodstock on Saturday night at 7 and Sunday afternoon at 3. The chorus’ repertoire will range from Haydn’s Sing to the Lord a New Song and the Shaker hymn Bow Down Low to Ain’t She Sweet. While admission is free, donations of nonperishable items for the community food shelf are welcome.
For its spring concert on Sunday afternoon, the Dartmouth College Glee Club sings Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil at Rollins Chapel in Hanover. Rachmaninoff wrote Vigil, with inspiration from the Russian Orthodox Church’s all-night vigil ceremony, during the first year of World War I. For tickets ($10) to the concert, which starts at 2, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
Grammy-nominated organist Gail Archer plays a mix of works by German masters and 20th-century women composers at the Church of Christ at Dartmouth College in Hanover on Sunday afternoon at 4. The recital is part of the church’s Mary Ives concert series. Admission is free.
The Thetford Chamber Singers embark on a two-weekend spree of concerts on the theme of “Make Our Garden Grow: Seeking, Finding and Building Our Sense of Home” with a performance on Sunday afternoon at 4:30 at the United Church of Strafford. With a repertoire ranging from works of Bernstein and Palestrina and of Vermont composers to two of John Hodian’s compositions on the Armenian diaspora, the ensemble will next hit the road with recitals at the North Universalist Chapel in Woodstock on May 6 at 7:30 p.m., and at the First Congregational Church on Thetford Hill at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. on May 8. Advance tickets cost $8 to $12, and are available at Norwich Bookstore and at Yankee Bookshop in Woodstock, or at thetfordchambersingers.org. Tickets at the door are $15.
Revels North Artistic Director Nils Fredland leads a pub-sing at the Norwich Inn on Sunday night from 6 to 8. Admission is free for members of Revels North and by donation for others. For more information: revelsnorth.org or call 866-556-3083.
The New York-based contemporary-music collective Ensemble mis-en headlines Dartmouth College’s New Music Festival, on the theme of “Music, Soundspace and Architecture.” The festival opens Sunday night at 6 at the Top of the Hop, with a reception and an unveiling of sound installations by Dartmouth artists that will be on view throughout the festival.
Next comes free performances by mis-en on Monday night at 7 in the Hopkins Center’s Faulkner Recital Hall and on Tuesday night at 7 in Spaulding Auditorium. The Tuesday show features works of established and aspiring composers at Dartmouth and performances by the Dartmouth Wind Ensemble, the Dartmouth Glee Club and individual undergraduate musicians. And after a closing reception at the Top of the Hop Tuesday night, Dartmouth undergraduates and master’s students will perform an improvisational concert in the underground space of the Collis Center.
Next Thursday night at 7 in Dartmouth College’s Loew Auditorium, the Hopkins Center will screen Peabody Award finalist Thomas Allen Harris’ new film, Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People. The documentarian is serving a Montgomery Fellowship at Dartmouth, and will lead a discussion after the screening. For tickets ($5 to $9) and more information, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
Guitarist-songwriter Robby Krieger, co-founder of The Doors, will lead his current band into the Flying Monkey Performing Arts Center in Plymouth, N.H., on May 6 at 7:30. For tickets ($44 to $49) and more information, visit flyingmonkeynh.com or call 603-536-2551.
Singer-songwriter Chris Isaak will bring his “First Comes the Night” tour to the Lebanon Opera House on May 7 at 7:30. For tickets ($59.50 to $98.50) and more information, visit lebanonoperahouse.org or call 603-448-0400.
Northern Stage continues its production of Living Together, the first leg of the company’s collaboration with two other Vermont theater companies on Alan Ayckbourn’s comic trilogy The Norman Conquests, with eight performances over the coming week at the Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction. The production, directed by Peter Hackett, continues through May 8. For tickets ($30 to $55), visit northernstage.org or call 802-296-7000.
The BarnArts Center for the Arts and the Rochester, Vt.-based Bald Mountain Theater troupe presents a new musical adaptation of the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel at Freight House Hall in White River Junction on Friday night at 7 and at Tunbridge Town Hall on Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. For tickets ($8 to $12) and more information, visit barnarts.org or call 802-234-1645 or email info@barnarts.org. Additional information is available at baldmountaintheater.org.
The Sequentia ensemble performs medieval songs of heroes, gods and strong women at Dartmouth College’s Rollins Chapel in Hanover tonight at 7. For tickets ($17 to $20) and more information, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
Folk singer-songwriter Ana Egge leads her trio into the Flying Goose Brewpub and Grill in New London tonight at 8. Reservations are required. For advance tickets and more information, visit flyinggoose.com or call 603-526-6899.
Almost 20 years after they played the rag-tag band to which Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio danced in steerage during Titanic, Gaelic Storm will sweep through the Flying Monkey Performance Center in Plymouth, N.H., on Friday night at 7:30. To reserve tickets ($29 to $39) and learn more, visit flyingmonkeynh.com or call 603-536-2551.
Under the direction of Walt Cunningham and accompanied by a 20-piece band and soloists, the Dartmouth College Gospel Choir will sing traditional and contemporary works at the school’s Spaulding Auditorium in Hanover on Saturday afternoon at 2. For tickets ($15) and more information, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
Faculty members of the Upper Valley Music Center’s Suzuki program perform works of Vivaldi, Boccherini and more during a recital at Hanover’s Our Savior Lutheran Church on Saturday afternoon at 4. Wielding their bows for the school’s tuition-assistance fund are violinists Alicia Casey, Allison McCann and Benjamin Van Vliet; violist/violinist Jennifer Turbes, cellist Benjamin Kulp and bassist Dave Wysocki. Adult admission at the door is by donation of $10 or more. To learn more, visit uvmusic.org or call 603-448-1642.
The Vermont Philharmonic plays its annual spring concert at Chandler Music Hall in Randolph on Saturday night at 7. Conductor Lou Kosma will lead the ensemble through works of Luigi Boccherini, Carl Maria von Weber, Charles Ives and Wallingford Reigger. Cellist Mia Kim Bernard will solo during the Boccherini performance. General admission tickets cost $5 to $15. For more information, visit chandler-arts.org or call 802-728-6464.
Pianist Daniel Weiser and violinist/violist Timothy Schwarz perform two concerts of chamber music by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Bernstein this weekend. “The Bs in Spring” tour begins Saturday night at 7:30 with a home concert in Hanover, for which reservations are required for limited seats; to order tickets ($40), visit classicopia.org/schedule.aspx, call 603-643-3337 or email marcia@classicopia.org.
On Sunday afternoon at 1, the duo, who used to live in and perform chamber music in the Upper Valley, plays at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon, where advance tickets cost $9 in advance and $10 at the door for church members, and $18 in advance and $20 at the door for others. To reserve tickets for the Sunday show, visit classicopia.org/schedule.aspx.
The North Country Chorus collaborates with St. Johnsbury Academy’s Hilltones in a performance of Franz Schubert’s Mass in G and of Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living on Saturday night at 7:30 in the Bradford Congregational Church. Keyboardist Jan-Piet Knijff and a chamber orchestra will accompany the singers, under the direction of Alan Rowe. For advance tickets ($5 to $10), visit catamountart.org. Admission at the door is $5 to $12. The program also will be presented at the First Congregational Church in Littleton, N.H., on Friday night at 7:30 and at the North Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury, Vt., on Sunday afternoon at 2. For more information, visit northcountrychorus.org.
Blending the verses of the likes of Rudyard Kipling, Robert Burns, Octavio Paz and William Blake with the musical arrangements of composers such as Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Eric Whitacre and Moses Hogan, the Bel Canto Chamber Singers perform two concerts on the theme of “The Poet Sings” this weekend at the United Methodist Church in Lebanon. Shows are scheduled for Saturday night at 7:30 and Sunday afternoon at 4. Admission is $10 to $15 for ages 13 and up.
Acclaimed young saxophonist Hailey Niswanger and keyboard wizard Caili O’Doherty swing through Woodstock Union High School and Middle School for a jazz concert on Tuesday night in the school auditorium. The concert begins at 7 with opening performances by the schools’ jazz ensembles. Donations to the visiting musicians can be made during the meet-and-greet that follows the concert.
The Sensible Shoes trio of Tim Utt, Barbara Blaisdell and Pooh Sprague play and sing at the Canoe Club in Hanover tonight at 6:30. Following them to the microphone with 6:30 to 9:30 shows over the coming week are guitarist Ted Mortimer on Friday, pianist Randall Mullen on Saturday, pianist Bob Lucier on Sunday and guitarist Tom Pirozzoli on Tuesday. On Monday night starting at 5:30, Marko the Magician performs his weekly, tableside sleight-of-hand.
The Stringfield Springers pull into Windsor Station tonight from 7 to 10 for a set of bluegrass. Next up over the coming week are Soulfix on Saturday night at 9:30 and singer-songwriter Chris Powers on Tuesday night at 6.
Bluesman Arthur James sings and plays at Bentley’s restaurant in Woodstock tonight at 8, followed next Thursday night at the same hour by singer-songwriter Grayson.
Seth Barbiero of The Tricksters performs at Jesse’s restaurant in Hanover on Friday night starting at 5.
The Friday night line-up at the Upper Valley’s Salt hill Pubs feature Mark and Deb Bond with a set of acoustic rock in Lebanon, acoustic rocker Michael Spaulding in Hanover and Flew-Z in Newport. On Saturday, the choices are acoustic rocker Brooks Hubbard in Newport, Frydaddy frontman Carlos Ocasio in Hanover and The Tricksters in Lebanon. All shows start at 8, except for Brooks Hubbard, who steps to the mic in Newport at 7 on Saturday.
The Chris Kleeman Blues Band sets the rhythm for dancing on Friday night at 9 at Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corners.
The Freightyard Dogs duo of guitarists Tom Pirozzoli and Kit Creeger pick and croon their way through original and popular music and “whatever comes to mind” at the Farmers Table in Grantham on Saturday night at 7.
Ramunto’s Brick & Brew Pizza in Bridgewater hosts an open mic starting at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays. Participants get a free large cheese pizza.
String players of all ages and abilities are welcome at the weekly acoustic jam session at South Royalton’s BALE Commons on Friday night from 6:30 to 10.
Joe Stallsmith leads a weekly hootenanny of Americana, folk and bluegrass at Salt hill Pub in Hanover on Monday nights starting at 6.
Bradford’s Colatina Exit holds an open mic on Tuesdays at 8 p.m.
The Seven Barrel Brewery in West Lebanon runs an open mic on Tuesday nights, beginning at 8.
Jim Yeager hosts an open mic at Hartland’s Skunk Hollow Tavern, at 8:30 on Wednesday nights.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304.