THEATER REVIEW

By Richard Duckett TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts’ production of “A Christmas Carol” is staged to very good effect.

In addition to some terrific acting, the special effects really helped to bring this production home as it opened a six-performance run Friday night.

THEATRE REVIEW

By Richard Duckett TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Cosby’s conversation is much like his comedy routine, taking a central theme and then taking interesting asides and side roads before returning to the main path.

Does Cosby have a set script in his head for his comedy performances, or is it more spontaneous and improvisational?

“There’s the tricky part to your question,” he said in measured terms. “It was ‘the head.’ They’re both in the head. I don’t have a set set.

Cosby, 71, will be performing two shows at 5 and 8 p.m. Feb. 21 at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts. He was available for an interview last week because he wants to get the word out early.

THEATRE REVIEW

By Jorge Bannister TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Touring in support of her upcoming HBO special “Long Live the Queen” which will air Jan. 31, Lampanelli was on top of her game during her show at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts — ripping on every race and ethnicity in the building, showing the audience why she is indeed the “Queen of Mean.”

There’s no denying that winter is here!

In the spirit of “the show must go on!,” we fully intend for all performances to proceed as scheduled. The only exceptions would be if a state- of-emergency were declared by the governor, or if the performer(s) were unable to get to the theatre (this would be extremely rare.) If a situation occurs where we know that we will not be able to give a performance as scheduled, we will email and/or call all ticket holders for that performance in advance of the scheduled curtain time. We will advise you at that time as to whether the performance has been cancelled, and what options are available to you. It will be very difficult to reach us by telephone in this situation; we ask that you instead visit our website at www.thehanovertheatre.org, where we will immediately post notice of any show cancellation or postponement.

'Christmas Carol’ adaptation spreads out for Hanover stage

By Richard Duckett TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
rduckett@telegram.com

By now Troy Siebels has walked through the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts scores of times. As executive director of the theater that opened last March, he has stood on the stage before numerous shows to make various announcements.

But last Friday, he was taking in the space for the first time from the perspective of the director of “A Christmas Carol,” his own adaptation of the Charles Dickens holiday classic that will have a six-performance run beginning Dec. 19.

Lisa Lampanelli keeps the insults coming

By Richard Duckett TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
rduckett@telegram.com

Lisa Lampanelli is, as she says, “an insult comic.”

So guess what happened to this reporter when he conducted a telephone interview with Lampanelli last week?

Yes, he was insulted. Yet at the same time one had to laugh, which is probably all you need to know as to why Lampanelli is one of the country’s top comics.

Fun, fun, fun with revived Beach Boys

MUSIC REVIEW

By Peter Landsdowne Telegram & Gazette reviewer

WORCESTER— Surf’s up! That was the watchword Saturday night at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts on Southbridge Street as The Beach Boys rode a wave of nostalgia into the venue.

WORCESTER— Dakota Schantz, 4, of Sturbridge, is the audience for a quartet from the cast of the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts production of “A Christmas Carol” singing carols yesterday while she was recovering from pneumonia at UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center. The singers serenaded other patients at the pediatric center as well. The singers are, from left, Michael A. Pizzi of New York City, Michael Kaz of Worcester, Barbara Guertin of Worcester and Kathy St. George of Stoneham.

Liz Walker calls businesswomen to a higher purpose
By Rod Lee for d.b.a. Magazine

Liz Walker chats with one of the women in attendance for “An Evening with Liz Walker” at the Hanover Theatre.

Who among us hasn’t heard the “inner calling”—a voice that summons the spirit to a new and potentially more exciting and fulfilling pursuit?

By Rod Lee for d.b.a. Magazine

WORCESTER— Local entertainment guru Christina Andrianopoulos of Dining Out Metro and now City Vibes renown echoed the sentiments of a sold-out house when she pronounced “The Original Stars of American Bandstand” show at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts on November 1st a smash.

Beach Boys’ Mike Love has fond memories of Worcester

By Richard Duckett TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
rduckett@telegram.com

Wouldn’t it be nice if we were younger?

You won’t hear Mike Love singing such a lament, although he does use phrases such as “back in the day” and “those were the days” once in a while.

REVIEW

By Richard Duckett TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
rduckett@telegram.com

WORCESTER— The coming together of a ballet school’s dance company, an orchestra, and a great venue for the first time is a significant artistic occasion on its own.

That occasion takes on even more significance when it might be the beginning of a fine new Worcester tradition.

Last night’s première public production (the first of four shows this weekend) of the “The Nutcracker” ballet by Ballet Arts Worcester in collaboration with the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts saw the stars aligning and pointing in the right direction.

THEATRE REVIEW

By Richard Duckett TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

It was fabulous.

And even though things would slow down after the Fab Four showed up, Fabian has a reflective, sanguine sort of fatalism about things.

And he still gets fan mail.

COMING UP

There they are, right in the middle of the lineup of national acts coming to the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts: it’s Zonkaraz!!

MUSIC
Have a little respect for the Queen of Soul ladies and gentlemen...

I first heard jazz icon Dave Brubeck’s music about ten years ago.

Nostalgia for Neverwas debuts at Hanover

If the Hanover Theatre’s extensive renovation has plunked the historic building into the heart of the 21st Century like a trip in Doc Brown’s DeLorean, then the ARTSWorcester Gallery at the Hanover has kicked it into hyper drive with Joseph Farbrook’s Nostalgia for Neverwas exhibit.

Joseph Farbrook’s new show promises to be eclectic, electric and thought-provoking. Called “Nostalgia For Neverwas,” his exhibition of video art and virtual installations opens with a reception from 5:30 to 7:30 Friday night in the ARTSWorcester’s gallery at the Hanover Theatre, 2 Southbridge St.

The Hanover Theatre will conduct auditions for its upcoming production of “A Christmas Carol” on October 5 and 7; and is seeking Equity, non-Equity and youth performers for a range of ensemble roles. The theatre’s executive director, Troy Siebels, will direct; with choreography by Judith Chaffee and music direction by Tim Evans. Some roles have been pre-cast, including Ebenezer Scrooge, Jacob Marley and Bob Cratchit. About 18 roles are available. Rehearsals will begin November 24, and will be 2-10pm weekdays and 11am-7pm weekends. Auditions will run Sunday October 5, 1-8pm; and Tuesday October 7, 5-9pm. Auditioners should prepare a short song and be prepared to read from the script.

For Saturday night’s opening of its first full season, the gorgeously restored Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts gambled that the more than 2,000 patrons, sitting in posh velvet seats, preferred intimacy to extravaganza. It was a gamble that paid off wondrously.

The original "Jersey Boy" and the self-proclaimed "Ultimate Jew" will appear on consecutive nights at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts in Worcester.

The air is getting cooler, but the fall season is heating up.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the Red Barron Pub and Deli proudly presents — Frankie Valli … ”

No, that won’t be happening Tuesday at the pub opposite the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts.

The hype is over. The renovations are complete.

The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts in Worcester launches its first full season on Saturday, September 20th, with a bona fide Broadway Baby, Tony Award-winner Betty Buckley in concert with her quartet.

Betty Buckley does have a couple of cats. But it was a cutting horse that drew the star of the original Broadway production of “Cats” back to her native Texas.

When it comes to dishing it out, local fundraisers usually are big on food. The biennial Gala Military Ball, sponsored by Massachusetts Veterans Inc., won’t disappoint you.

The zany folks at Boston’s popular Improv Asylum ~ billed as “the funniest show you’ll ever be a part of” ~ are bringing their distinctive brand of interactive comedy to Worcester on Saturday, September 6, for a one-night only performance at the Hanover Theatre.

Roger Salloom returns tonight to play the Hanover

The estrogen level of Girls Night: The Musical did everything it could to blow the roof off of the palatial Hanover Theatre Wednesday night.

On Saturday mornings, Louise Roche got some actual time to herself. Her husband would take their three young children all under age 4 out of the house for a while, and Roche would sit at the kitchen table and think about girls night.

The highly unusual combination of crooner Jack Jones and The Count Basie Orchestra made for a musically interesting concert at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts yesterday afternoon.

Jack Jones was thrilled when he got his old job back as a gas attendant.

Betty Buckley, known affectionately as “the voice of Broadway” and the original Grizabella in the Broadway production of “Cats,” will formally open the 2008-09 season of the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts with a concert Sept. 20.

How do you turn a 2,300-seat theater into an intimate speakeasy? Easy. Draw the curtains, close the blinds, lock the front door so it looks like no one's home, open up an otherwise inconspicuous entrance on a side alley instead and be sure to station a couple of hefty looking staffers there to welcome the guests and make sure no revenuers get in.

You could just grab a digital point-and-shoot if you’re weary of always having to set the aperture and shutter speed on your real camera. After all, sometimes you just want to snap a quick photo without having to actually think.

The Ramsey Lewis Trio, clarinetist-saxophonist Paquito DRivera, and the fusion quartet FourPlay joined forces Saturday night at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts for the Legends of Jazz Tour 2008.

Robert N. Yiaski doesnt remember much about his father, who died in a freak accident just days after his third birthday.

Ballet will return as part of the Worcester Music Festival for the first time in many years next March when The Russian National Ballet Theatre of Moscow stages Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts.

Last year, sax and clarinet master Paquito DRivera passed through New England with his Panamericana ensemble, a group that split the difference between big-band orchestration and small-combo flexibility.

A summer series of performances at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester, will be like a little club for people in the know, said Lisa Condit, the theater's director of marketing and public relations.

Interview with Jon Z. Rosbrook, Production manager, The Hanover Theatre.

Brooms, broomsticks, lighters, trash bags, trash cans, dustbin lids, newspapers, plungers … these were just some of the items that the performers of “Stomp” persuasively turned into percussive instruments as the show opened its three night-run last night at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts.

Everything but the kitchen sink, you might think. But no, they played that, too.

It required more than a hop, skip and a jump to take Andrew Patrick from “Stomp” to “Stomp.”

On Tuesday, he took a trans-Atlantic flight.

Patrick, who was born in Worcester and grew up in Grafton, is currently based in London, where he performs in the internationally acclaimed percussion show “Stomp.”


But for a few days he’s back to his old stomping grounds.

Formed in 1976 and still going strong, “Foreigner” will play the Hanover Theatre for Performing Arts May 31.

Tickets for Hanover Theatre members went on sale yesterday. Tickets will be available to the public April 21. Tickets prices are $47, $57 and $197, and are available through the theater box office at www.hanovertheatre.org or call (508) 831-0800.

The U.S. Air Force Concert Band, which performed to a packed house at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts last night, originally had planned a George Gershwin segment for the evening. After a rehearsal in the newly renovated hall, however, that part of the program was changed.

We know what you want to know, and the answer is “no.” Teen sensation Miley Cyrus did not make an appearance with her handsome dad, country singer and actor Billy Ray Cyrus, at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts Saturday night. Superdaddy didn’t go it alone, however.

What would it sound like if you added synthesizers, an electric bass and a drum kit to the music of George Frideric Handel? Probably a lot like Mannheim Steamroller at the Hanover Theatre on Friday night.

With his role on the popular tweener TV show “Hannah Montana” and appearance on “Dancing With the Stars,” some may have forgotten that Billy Ray Cyrus started out as a country singer.

Though best known for its Christmas music (26 million yuletide albums sold and counting), New Age music chart topper Mannheim Steamroller is a band for all seasons.

FOUR STARS!!!!

“Hairspray” gelled perfectly right from the start at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts last night and heralded a new theater era in Worcester.

It’s Worcester’s night to take center stage. There are many luminaries in the Hanover Theatre lineup, from Bernadette Peters to BB King. But Thursday night will be local talents’ time to shine. The Worcester Performing Arts Extravaganza will draw dancers, singers, thespians, an orchestra and other performers from throughout the community and give them a chance to perform on the stage of the newly renovated theater.

Click here for a slide show of the Hanover Theatre opening.

Hanover tries for wide appeal

Just after people had taken their seats at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts at its gala opening March 14, a photographer took a picture of the audience.

APPLAUSE, APPLAUSE — Worcester needed a success story, and the opening of the Hanover Theatre provided it. Through an almost miraculous effort, the crumbling old burlesque house at Federal Square was turned into a state-of-the-art entertainment venue, as well as a major community asset.

Restaurants provide shuttle buses to theater

WORCESTER— In its heyday, Maxwell Silverman’s Toolhouse Restaurant’s red London-style double-decker bus was a beloved fixture in the city, transporting diners in quirky style to the theater and other nightspots around town.

After Saturday’s performance at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts, Joy Behar jumped into the limo and headed for a private “after party” at KJ Baaron’s Fine Wine & Spirits, 220 Summer St., Worcester, where she joined 150 of her dearest and closest fans.

Hanover scores as Irish musicians fill the aisles with dance

Those who went to the opening of The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts on Friday can claim to have witnessed history. Those who went Sunday created a bit of history as well, being the first audience to dance in the aisles of the freshly renovated concert palace.

At 8:50pm, March 14, 2008, Broadway baby
Bernadette Peters became the first
performer to christen the newly renovated
Hanover Theater for the Performing Arts, the
culmination of eight years of fundraising, land
swaps, design, and renovation, begun by 2
men, but completed by scores if not hundreds
of others. It was a night for the record books.

HUMOR REVIEW

The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts showed last night that it, too, can revel a bit in the delights of adult humor. After the glitter and Broadway sophistication of Bernadette Peters at the Friday gala opening, last night brought Joy Behar to the Hanover Theatre — live, candid, plain-speaking and funny — although how funny may depend on a person’s political point of view.

Don’t gush.

That was the advice offered by a friend who knew I’d be writing about the grand opening Friday of the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts.

“Don’t gush,” she warned. “You tend to gush.”

Part of the marketing campaign for the new Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts produced an advertisement proclaiming “Finally!”

Hanover Theatre’s curtain to rise Friday

Bernadette Peters is mindful of the significance of being the first performer to take the stage when the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts formally opens its doors Friday.

The new Hanover Theatre displays a bit of impeccable timing in having The Saw Doctors play the freshly renovated building next Sunday, meaning one of Ireland’s top bands will be in downtown Worcester on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day.

Carroll Plaza One Step Closer

The City Council Public Works Committee last night enthusiastically endorsed a proposal to rename Federal Square Plaza, and the part of Southbridge Street that runs into it, the Francis R. Carroll Plaza.

Hanover Theatre getting finishing touches

WORCESTER— Black tie and hard hats, anyone? Officials of the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts insist protective headgear won’t be necessary at the opening night gala March 14, even though the downtown construction site at Federal Square still is a work in progress.

It all began eight years ago when two local businessmen noticed the large, vacant Poli Palace Theater in Federal Square.

When the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts celebrates its grand opening, one Worcester resident in particular will be watching with more than a touch of nostalgia and a sense of irony, not to mention a strong sense of personal vindication.

Excitement builds as Hanover Theatre grand opening nears. It was a scene of ladders, scaffolding, welding and workers in hard hats. Just before Christmas, the welder’s sparks were flying as renovation / transformation work continued at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts at Federal Square.

Tony Award winning Broadway singer Bernadette Peters will be the first star to grace the stage of the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts when she gives the grand opening night performance at 8 p.m. March 14.

The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts, 554 Main St., Worcester, has announced three more shows for its inaugural season.

WORCESTER - Advance ticket sales for the not-yet-opened Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts' first three Broadway touring shows swamped the box office only minutes after single-show tickets became available for the first time for members at noon yesterday.

WORCESTER - The Hanover Insurance Group Foundation is giving a $1 million matching grant to the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts to jump-start a membership campaign that starts today and will lead up to the scheduled March 14 grand opening of the elaborately renovated $30 million downtown venue.