Adirondack Theatre Festival’s new season & logo

By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor

At Monday evening’s dual 26th season announcement and ribbon cutting with the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce, Adirondack Theatre Festival director Chad Rabinovitz touted last year’s “nearly 10,000 patrons and a thousand more at our insanely growing Film Festival.”

““To usher in our second 25 years,” Mr. Rabinovitz unveiled a new logo and branding plan that he said plays off “ATF, what people know us as,” and incorporates images by house photographer Jim McLaughlin from past shows. The block letters “ATF” can be filled with images or be set against them (as in the photo on page 4).

Four Main Stage shows

The 2020 season runs from June 12 to Aug. 7 at the Wood Theater. On stage:

• Doug Lyons returns with The Moon and the Sea, June 12-20, a musical billed as “a broken love story” with book by Mr. Lyons, who wrote last season’s musical Beau, and concept and songs by Creighton Irons. It’s presented in partnership with The Directors Company, which was also responsible for Beau.

  “Erin is the Moon, Charlie is the Sea,” said Mr. Rabinovitz. They reunite after a split in “a breathtaking story,” he said.

• ‘Friends’ plus: Apropos of Nothing, June 30-July 8, is “the funniest new comedy on the planet,” Mr. Rabinovitz said, “if Seinfeld married Friends and had a baby with When Harry Met Sally.” It’s about five “neurotic, emotionally disabled” and interconnected people trying to find love.
• Bilingual new musical drama: Eastbound, July 16 to 23, is “groundbreaking,” Mr. Rabinovitz said. “Everybody wanted it. Like Tesla” — the 2017 ATF musical — “Eastbound is at the cutting edge of theater and why we are so important to the national theater community.” Performed in English and Mandarin, it is about two brothers, one adopted from China who is heading to his native country, the other living in China who travels to New York City. The contemporary score features “Mandopop,” that is, Mandarin pop music, Mr. Rabinovitz said. Writer Cheeyan Ng also stars.
• A cast of 30! Tuning In, July 31-Aug. 7, “ends the season with the same team that brought us Front Page Flo,” another “Golden Era musical” he said — with “lots of tap dancing and costumes,” this time about a radiothon by the citizen-run radio station at a retirement community that is threatened to be turned into condos. It features “a cast of 30 and a band of 10,” Mr. Rabinovitz said — “our biggest show ever.” It’s based on a true story, he added, and also marks the 100th anniversary of broadcast radio.

Also: Magic, disco, rap, acoustic

Other offerings: Magician Simon Coronel returns with his Magic Smackdown, July 10 and 11, a competition combining magic and improv with live voting by the audience. Baba Brinkman brings his Rap Guide to Culture, “equal parts rap concert, TED talk, and stand-up comedy,” Mr. Rabinovitz said, “even for people who don’t like rap.” Matt Rodin, star of last year’s Beau, plays a live acoustic show, July 26 and 27, for his new album release.

The PB&J dinner theater for kids this year is ‘Cinderella Goes Disco,’ blending disco dancing and “funky” fairy tales.

New: Producers Circle donors

Mr. Rabinovitz also announced a new “Producers Circle” for donors who pledge to give $500 or more annually. Perks are to include pre-season announcements, meet-and-greets and Q&A programs with artists from the Theatre Festival and its sister Adirondack Film Festival.

Mr. Rabinovitz lauded the Wood Theater’s plan for a new outer lobby design, as well as board member Pam Fisher’s $16,000 fund-raising project to have the Wood “looped” with state-of-the art assistance for the hearing impaired.

ATF continues to January 31 the online fund-raising auction that replaces the auctions typically held at its annual gala. The gala was scrapped this year in favor of a ‘Bartender Battle’ of guest bartending teams raising tips/donations for ATF at several downtown Glens Falls establishments on Thursday night, April 3.

Find details on season subscriptions, ticket sales, events and the auction at www.ATFestival.org, or on Facebook.

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