Upcoming shows
Songs I Sang on My Summer Vacation
A Summer Artist Spotlight
Featuring April Pressel, Paul Giragos and Lauren Basler
Music Direction and Accompaniment by Todd Gordon
Thursday, August 10 at 8pm
Friday, August 11 at 8pm
189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea
Long-time Longwood favorites April Pressel and Paul Giragos join Lauren Basler and Todd Gordon on stage for the first production of our 20th season and our inaugural production at Chelsea Theatre Works in Chelsea, Massachusetts! Music direction and accompaniment by Todd Gordon.
About the Performers
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Todd C. Gordon is a voice instructor and a vocal coach currently teaching at UMass Boston, Emerson College, and his private studio in the pretigious Steinert Building. (toddgordonvocalstudio.com) He has served as music director for productions with New Repertory Theatre, Publick Theatre, Gloucester Stage, Charles Play House, Brandeis Theatre Co., Stoneham Theatre, and Emerson Stage. For his musical direction Todd has received 2 (two) IRNE awards from the Independent Reviewers of New England and 5 (five) IRNE nominations. His educational degrees are in voice from the University of Arkansas and the New England Conservatory of Music. His students have been seen in local high school/community/regional theatre productions, as well as off-broadway, broadway and national tours. |
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Paul Giragos has been acting and singing since 2004. He has appeared in numerous cabarets with Longwood Players and as Claudine in their production of La Cage aux Folles. Other performances: with New Repertory Theatre (Ragtime; Cabaret; and Wild Party); SpeakEasy Stage (Kiss of the Spider Woman); Reagle Players (Beauty and the Beast). He is currently working on a children’s web series with PolliNanni Productions, where he plays an Italian flower puppet named Paulie. Paul works as an executive coach and corporate trainer, helping business people improve their communication, management, and leadership skills, often with theater exercises and techniques. More at www.giragoscommunications. |
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April Pressel was last seen at The Longwood Players as Sarah in Guys and Dolls, Amalia in She Loves Me and Sally in You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. Other area credits include Vera in Distracted (Underground Railway Theatre), Young Heidi in Follies (Lyric Stage), Becky U/S in Becky Shaw (Huntington Theatre) and numerous One-Act Play Festivals and Cabarets. Other New York and Los Angeles credits include H.M.S. Pinafore, Falling Lightly, Into the Woods, and Hello Again. Her television credits include Scrubs, Monk, Sex in the City, Bernie Mac, and Dragnet. She earned her B.F.A. at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. By day April is a personal trainer and the proud mother of two little girls. |
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Lauren A. Basler is a current vocal student of Todd C. Gordon, Lauren is new to the Boston stage! Credits include Violet Bick in It's A Wonderful Life (Moonstruck Theater Company) and Fighting Prawn in The Footlight Club's upcoming production of Peter and the Starcatcher. A native of New York, Lauren received her BFA in Musical Theater from SUNY Fredonia in 2005. In the stretch since then, she has lived in Philadelphia where she sang with the Philly Pops! Orchestra and Phanstormed for the Philadelphia Phillies, and in 2012 moved to Boston to pursue her Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Drama Therapy. As a Drama Therapist, Lauren has used her theater skills to connect with a wide variety of populations and is currently the Director of Life Enrichment at Standish Village Assisted Living in Dorchester. |
A Bright Room Called Day
By Tony Kushner
Directed by Kaitlyn Chantry
November 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 at 8pm
November 5 at 2pm
189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea
From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Angels in America comes this powerful portrayal of individual dissolution and resolution in the face of political catastrophe.
“Tony Kushner’s A BRIGHT ROOM CALLED DAY … is unabashedly political, thought-provoking, a little scary, and frequently a good deal of theatrical fun … BRIGHT ROOM is … an examination of Nazi Germany in an attempt to shed insight on our own time. It’s brash, audacious, and, depending on your politics, anything from infuriatingly naïve to intoxicatingly visionary. In its 1932-33 span, it tells of a group of Berlin artists and friends, with varying degrees of communist leanings, and of the changes in their lives as democracy falls and Adolph Hitler takes over.” —Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune
A Night at the Cabaret 2018
February 3, 2018 at 8pm
189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea
Our annual fundraiser and enjoyable evening - stay tuned for more details!
Next to Normal
Music by Tom Kitt
Book & Lyrics by Brian Yorkey
Directed by Joy Lamberton-Arcolano
Choreography by Alexander Davis
April 20, 21, 26, 27, 28 at 8pm
April 22 at 2pm
189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea
Next to Normal, with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt, explores how one suburban household copes with crisis and mental illness. Winner of three 2009 Tony Awards, including Best Musical Score and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, Next to Normal was also chosen as "one of the year's ten best shows" by critics around the country, including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone and The New York Times.
Dad's an architect; Mom rushes to pack lunches and pour cereal; their daughter and son are bright, wise-cracking teens, appearing to be a typical American family. And yet their lives are anything but normal because the mother has been battling manic depression for 16 years. Next to Normal takes audiences into the minds and hearts of each character, presenting their family's story with love, sympathy and heart.
Next to Normal is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI.