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That done, Doyle, a 2006 graduate of Woodstock Union High School who grew up in Bridgewater, started listening to the inner voice of the 1930s character who befriends American Clifford Bradshaw before revealing himself as a Nazi.
“Now it’s beyond the dialect,” Doyle said last week. “It’s trying to figure out the emotional dimension. He’s this incredibly interesting, bizarre person. A comedic, fun effervescent young man who turns out to have issues.”
It’s the kind of role that Doyle has been looking for since returning to the Upper Valley two years ago, after attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and mixing occasional small acting roles with work in film production and promotion. This opportunity arose when Cabaret music director Josh Smith remembered the young guy who played Avram the Bookseller in Pentangle’s 2015 production of Fiddler on the Roof.
“He reached out to me and said, ‘I think this is a good role for you,’ ” Doyle recalled. ” ‘You should audition for it.’ ”
Smith sent the recording of the ensuing on-camera tryout to New York-based director Joel Murray, who eventually added Doyle to a cast that includes Broadway veterans Nicolette Hart and Joey Calveri as lead characters Sally Bowles and The Emcee, respectively, and Woodstock resident Tesha Buss as Fritzie. The cast also includes Quechee resident Mike Backman as Herr Schultz and a parade of Upper Valley actors as Kit Kat girls and boys.
“Everybody has been really fantastic to work with,” Doyle said. “Great and friendly. With this show, Pentangle’s setting a new bar, a higher bar for theater. They’re bringing in people who are seasoned and have done a lot of shows.”
Doyle first answered the siren call of the stage during his years at WUHS, where he performed with the Yoh Theatre Players and eventually earned a scholarship from Pentangle Arts to attend the academy.
“I was able to do challenging roles that I did well in,” Doyle said. “That gave me the confidence to go to New York.”
In addition to his film and stage work in New York, Doyle also got the idea to return to the Upper Valley to work in a variety of media, from stage roles (including Pentangle’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 2014) to the promotion of stand-up comedy. This past year, he started the Woolen Mill Comedy Club at the mill building in Bridgewater, bringing comics from New York and Boston and promoting comedy sessions at venues around the Upper Valley.
“Putting those comedy nights together and making them work is almost more nerve-wracking than being on stage,” Doyle said. “The play, I have no worries. We’re in good hands.”
And with the guidance of Murray and Smith as well as members of the cast, Doyle is fine-tuning his character for Cabaret’s run to the closing date of Halloween.
“It’s an actor’s dream to get a role like this,” he concluded. “You can keep doing the role and discovering new things, trying new things. It’s as good an experience as I’ve ever had.”
Pentangle Arts stages the 1998 Sam Mendes/Rob Marshall adaptation of
Five members of the cast of Choir Boy, which JAG Productions will stage in White River Junction in November, sing a cappella selections from the Tarell Alvin McCrany play this afternoon at 5 at Woodstock’s Norman Williams Public Library. The play explores the lives and motivations of members of the gospel choir at an elite prep school for young black men. Admission is free. To learn more and to reserve tickets ($18 to $30) to the production, which will run from Nov. 3 to 20 at the Briggs Opera House in White River Junction, visit artistreevt.org or call 802-457-3500.
The Briggs Opera House in White River Junction screens Christine, director John Carpenter’s 1983 film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel about a possessed, self-driving and self-repairing car running rogue, on Friday night at 8:30. Before the screening, a 1958 Plymouth Fury used in the movie will be displayed in Fred Briggs Park, across from the Tuckerbox in White River Junction from 2 to 5 in the afternoon, filling up with smoke and showing off her self-locking doors, self-starting radio and green glow from the movie. Christine then will parade with other vintage cars down Main Street to Freight Alley, where she will hold court from 5:30 to 8.
The movie will start rolling at the theater after a panel discussion among Bill Gibson, the car’s current owner, Dartmouth film professor Bill Phillips, who wrote the movie’s screenplay, and professor Steve Bissette from the Center for Cartoon Studies. To learn more, visit christinemoviecar.com/events.
Author Joe Citro shares his picks for the strangest things to have happened in the Green Mountain state, during two presentations in the Upper Valley. He appears Saturday night 7:30 at the First Congregational Church and Meeting House in Weathersfield Center, during the annual meeting of the Weathersfield Historical Society. His next presentation is Monday night at 7 at the Windsor Diner. .
Flutist Nicole Mitchell and saxophonist/pianist/drummer Peter Apfelbaum join Dartmouth College’s Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble for a concert at Spaulding Auditorium in Hanover on Saturday night at 8. To reserve tickets ($9 to $10) and learn more, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
The Plainfield Historical Society and the Meriden Bird Club show a selection of slides from its archive of photographs by early-20th-century naturalist and Plainfield resident Ernest Harold Baynes on Sunday afternoon at 3 at Plainfield Town Hall. While admission is free, donations are welcome. To learn more, visit phsnh.org.
Salt hill Pub in Lebanon hosts its final open-mic session of 2016 for stand-up comedians on Monday night starting at 8:30. Open to performers at all levels of experience.
With pianist Thomas Ades, British tenor Ian Bostridge shares his interpretation of Franz Schubert’s 24-song cycle Winterreise, based on poems of Wilhelm Muller, on Tuesday night at 7 at Dartmouth College’s Spaulding Auditorium in Hanover. For tickets ($17 to $50) and more information, visit hop.dartmouth.edu.
Northern Stage lowers the curtain on its production of Macbeth at the Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction, with performances this afternoon at 2, tonight and Friday night and Saturday night at 7:30 and the finale on Sunday afternoon at 5. At the end of Saturday’s show, jazz singer Cyn Barrette, pianist Bob Merrill and bassist Peter Concilio will perform. For tickets ($14 to $54) and more information, visit northernstage.org or call 802-296-7000.
Shaker Bridge Theatre in Enfield continues its production of Bathsheba Doran’s The Mystery of Love and Sex, with performances at 7:30 tonight, Friday night and Saturday night at 7:30 and at 2:30 on Sunday afternoon. The production runs through Oct. 30. To reserve tickets ($16 to $32) and learn more, visit shakerbridgetheatre.org or call 603-448-3750.
The Asheville, N.C.-based Bright Star Children’s Theatre troupe stages It Takes Courage, a play about Americans who overcame bullying, health problems and other obstacles to evolve into role models, at the Claremont Opera House on Friday morning at 10. Tickets cost $5 at the door; school groups are encouraged to reserve seats in advance. To learn more, visit claremontoperahouse.org or call 603-542-4433.
The Parish Players open a three-weekend run of the Anthony Shaffer thriller Sleuth, at the Eclipse Grange on Thetford Hill, with 7:30 shows on Friday and Saturday nights and a matinee at 3 on Sunday afternoon. The production concludes on Nov. 6. For tickets ($10 to $15) and more information, visit parishplayers.org or call 802-785-4344.
The Vermont Symphony Orchestra plays a Halloween-themed concert for kids at Chandler Music Hall in Randolph on Friday morning at 10. The performance includes narration from the Steve Schuch book A Symphony of Whales. For tickets ($6) and more information, visit chandler-arts.org or call 802-728-6464.
The Thetford Hill Church Extravaganza at the First Congregational Church on Saturday night at 6:30 features an eclectic mix of homegrown music to benefit the church’s upkeep and its Floyd Dexter Fund, which aids the needy.
While admission is free, donations are welcome. To learn more, visit thetfordhillchurch.org, call 802-685-4353 or email dhooke1588@gmail.com.
The folk trio Larks in the Attic sets the rhythm and callers Robin Russell and Martha Kent teach dances from the village traditions of the British Isles, Ireland, Scotland and France on Saturday night, during a community dance party in the Upper Gallery at Randolph’s Chandler Center for the Arts. The doors open at 6 for participants in the acoustic workshop, and the dancing runs from 7:30 to 10:30. Admission is $10 to $15. To learn more, visit chandler-arts.org.
The Bradford-based Wild Roots Trio plays at the Lyme Inn tonight from 6:30 to 9:30. For dinner reservations, call 603-785-4824.
Singer-songwriter Timothy Gurshin performs at the Canoe Club in Hanover at 6:30 tonight. Appearing at the club over the coming week with shows from 6:30 to 9:30 are pianist Gillian Joy on Friday, guitarist Ted Mortimer on Tuesday and pianist Will Ogmundson on Wednesday.
Australian country singer-songwriter Grayson and troubadour Tadd Davis pull into Windsor Station tonight at 7. Following them to the venue over the coming week are Rumblecat, with its blend of rock, funk and blues on Friday night at 9:30, the alt-rockers of Binger on Saturday night at 9:30 and singer-songwriter Lisa Piccirillo on Tuesday night at 6.
Arthur James sings and plays the blues at Bentley’s Restaurant in Woodstock tonight at 8, followed Friday night at 7 by Australian country singer-songwriter Grayson.
The folk trio Ulster Landing performs traditional music of Ireland, Scotland, Brittany and England at the Flying Goose Brewpub and Grill in New London tonight at 8. To reserve tickets ($25) and learn more, visit flyinggoose.com or call 603-526-6899.
Singer-songwriter Chris Powers performs at the tavern at Jesse’s in Hanover on Friday night starting at 5.
Bassist Peter Concilio and pianist Bob Merrill play jazz at the Silo Distillery in Windsor on Friday night from 5:30 to 7:30.
Royalton singer-songwriter Alison “AliT” Turner performs at the Inn at Weathersfield in Perkinsville on Friday night at 7.
Americana singer Kate MacLeod steps to the microphone at the Sunapee Community Coffeehouse on Friday night at 7.
Singer-guitarist David Greenfield ranges across genres from folk and pop to rock and back on Friday night at 8, at Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corners.
The weekend of live music at the Upper Valley’s Salt hill Pubs begins at 9 Friday night with a performance in Lebanon by acoustic rocker Bob Rutherford; Saturday night brings The Party Crashers to the venue.
The lineup in Hanover features the Adam McMahon Trio with a set of danceable classic rock at 9 on Friday night and the Americana duo of Jimmy Swope and Duane Mark at 9 on Saturday night.
Newport hosts bluesman Arthur James at 9 on Friday night and the rock band Tirade at 9 on Saturday night.
Soulfix performs at the Farmer’s Table in Grantham on Saturday night at 7.
Off the Rails plays the Bluegrass Brunch at the Skinny Pancake in Hanover on Sunday afternoon from 12 to 3. And on Wednesday night at 7:30, Bow Thayer performs his weekly set of Americana at the venue.
Vermont folk singer-songwriter Jon Clinch, also a novelist, performs at the Norwich Bookstore on Sunday afternoon, as part of a “Sunday Salon” benefiting Lebanon Opera House. While admission is free, the bookstore will donate a percentage of sales of books to the opera house.
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 Tuesday nights at 8
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.
Jim Yeager hosts an open-mic at the ArtisTree Community Arts Center in South Pomfret next Thursday night at 7.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.comand at 603-727-3304.
Correction
Saturday evening’s Thetford Hill Church Extravaganza features an eclectic mix of homegrown music to benefit the church’s upkeep and its Floyd Dexter Fund, which aids the needy. Also, Off the Rails plays the Bluegrass Brunch at the Skinny Pancake in Hanover. Listing for those events in Thursday’s Entertainment Highlights column contained incorrect information