The “show must go on” ethic means never disappointing the audience, and Syracuse Stage exemplifies this commitment with a last-minute pivot in its December performance schedule.
Just added is “Home for the Holidays,” a digital production directed and devised by Ricky Pak, a new member of the Syracuse University Department of Drama faculty. Pak described the show as “a mix of storytelling and musical performances exploring the theme of what ‘Home for the Holidays’ means to all of us.”
The video on demand is available starting Dec. 15.
The non-profit professional theatre company had originally scheduled a Dec. 7 opening of “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley,” a 2016 play inspired by Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” When Actor’s Equity Association, the union for professional actors and stage managers, heightened rehearsal and performance restrictions as Covid-19 cases increased locally, plans shifted and Pak was called in. A teaching artist with the New York based Tectonic Theatre Project, he’d previously developed original theater works using personal stories. Similarly, Pak said, “Home for the Holidays” also draws from real-life stories “gathered from Syracuse Stage cast members, past and present; Syracuse University drama students who were originally cast in ‘Miss Bennet;’ and several longtime Syracuse Stage patrons” to shape the evening of holiday songs and storytelling. The show was designed so that the cast could rehearse and perform without having to be together in the same space.
Like other arts organizations whose live in-person performances were ended by Covid-19, Syracuse Stage’s 2019-2020 season abruptly closed with the opening night of “Amadeus” on March 13. Since then, Artistic Director Robert Hupp said, “We’ve been committed to finding innovative and engaging ways to continue our work as Syracuse’s storytellers.”
Businesses and nonprofits accustomed to staging big-budget holiday shows between Thanksgiving and New Year walk a fine line between entertainment and empathy in this pandemic-shadowed season. This year’s production, Hupp noted, “highlights what this special time of year means to us now...with a unique and personal theatrical celebration.”
In developing the show, Pak said conversations with the Syracuse Stage community members about holiday traditions, memories, and “what is truly important to each of them” was rewarding. “The students and I...along with our musical director Brian Cimmet... talk[ed] about what parts of the interviews resonate with us and...the commonalities and differences we have in our stories.” The result is “the thread that links us all together.”
Featured performers in “Home for the Holidays” include last year’s holiday musical “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” favorites David Lowenstein (Cogsworth) and Cicily Daniels (Mrs. Potts), and “Amadeus” actress Lisa Helmi Johanson (Mozart’s wife Constanze). Joining them is SU Department of Drama faculty member Rufus Bonds Jr. who performed in “Rent” on Broadway and as Mufasa in the national tour of “The Lion King.”
Tickets are $30 and permit 48-hour access once the purchaser logs in through a link provided by email. They are available at www.SyracuseStage.org and through the box office (315-443-3275; Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.). An email address and device with internet access (desktop, laptop, smart TV or tablet) are required to view the show online.
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December 05, 2020 at 11:01PM
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Syracuse Stage focuses on storytelling with its new show ‘Home for the Holidays’ - syracuse.com
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