Music Hall News

Just wanted to let all of our patrons know that we received no fewer than THREE Best Of Westchester Awards this year!
Two “Reader’s Picks”: “Best Theater” and “Best Kid’s Theater” and a place in “The Hall Of Fame - The Very Very Best Of Westchester” as “Best Music Venue”. These are the exact things we strive to be to our patrons, so we could not be happier.
(Congratulations to Coffee Labs Roasters who also made it into the “Hall Of Fame” category. Two out of only nine businesses on that page from Tarrytown!)

Thanks to the editors of the magazine and for all of you who voted for us, we’ll do all we can to live up to these awards.

This week we have been in Atlanta for the annual conference of LHAT, League Of Historic American Theaters. This conference is an incredible source of knowledge for both preservation/restoration issues and theater operations as a whole. This year’s highlight was of course extensive tours of the Fox Theatre, which must be one of the most fantastic venues in the country; huge, beautiful and perfectly restored. A great inspiration indeed.
Coming home Sunday, just in time for our ABBA show; “Arrival”. Really looking forward to an evening of comfort music from my youth…

My oh my what a rainfall! The Tarrytown storm drains maxed out today and water started to come OUT of our main drain, behind the theater. Water was gushing in through a side door, as if we were sinking into a lake, and the basement became a creek! I am so happy we were in the theater and could at least try to minimize the effects.

I believe this is becoming a problem all over Westchester, maybe in part due to more and more development which means less green areas that soak up water rather than asphalt “water slides”.

Compared to the flood in Mamaroneck recently, this was really nothing, but it does raise some concerns that we might be able to address as we make our renovation plans. As it is now, we pretty much depend on a single drain for the whole theater. Even if that drains capacity cannot be increased, maybe we can dig some kind of well that can handle overflows. We did get the concert going without problems, and most of the theater is unaffected, so let’s go on with the show!

Critics are raving about his new cd “City That Care Forgot”, and NY Times featured an in-depth article on Saturday. (May require free registration)
Dr. John will be at The Music Hall on June 28, tickets available here.

So, tonight (Chuck Mangione) was the first big test of our new AC equipment. 90 degrees and humid as a tropical greenhouse. Result? Passed with flying colors. We need to make some adjustment to reduce air noise as much as possible and direct some air streams away from aiming directly at patrons, but on the whole all of us here let out a collective sigh of relief. Last year, while the old system was packing in, we always worried about whether the ac would be enough or even work at all, but this summer season can now be considered saved! (Hope I didn’t jinx anything there…)

Also, thanks Jazz Forum Arts for another great season of world class jazz at The Music Hall. This fall will be all vocal (my favorite!) with Dianne Reeves, Manhattan Transfer and Michael Franks. Can’t wait!

In Nyack, a meeting was held 6/5 to present a vision to redevelop the downtown area, double the number of parking spaces and build a brand new Arts Center to replace the current theater:
http://riverspace.org/downtown/DowntownLetter.pdf

Capacity would double compared to the present and roughly be the same as The Music Hall’s.
The idea is that the new developments commercial spaces will pay for the Arts Ctr. Not sure if this means that the whole developed area will be owned by Riverspace, Nyack, or the present owners. As far as I know, Riverspace does not own their theater right now. Could they really find development partners willing to give up their profits and funnel millions of dollars into Riverspace? And if so, could we get a partner just like that?

It is also not 100% clear what would be going on in the theater, the project, the way it is presented, seems to focus primarily on the development, ie a grand makeover of downtown Nyack.

Obviously a long way to go before this vision can become a reality, but it’s an impressive-looking project with the full weight of a strong developer and the village behind it, it seems.

A new Arts Center could revitalize Nyack but would also enter into an already crowded playing field of performing arts venues in the region. It would be a quantum leap for Riverspace, for sure, from a largely volunteer-driven organization to a full-fledged professional performing arts center.

Very impressive indeed.

Another really nice evening with three great singer/songwriters. A bit hot and humid today for the first time since we installed the new AC units. We still have some work to do to bring air noise down to a more theater-friendly level. We turned the system off during the Anthony da Costa/Stephen Kellogg set, which was at a pretty intimate sound level, so by intermission we saw some sweatdrops forming. Dan Bern used more amplification, so we ran the system during his half and it sure works very nicely. Ultimate test will be a packed show on a +100 degree day, of course…
Will be talking more about the new AC units shortly. Tomorrow-street fair on Main Street. Our volunteers will be sharing information about the theater, give tours etc. Looks like the weather will be very pleasant, so come on down!

Dar Williams did a great show tonight. It takes a great communicator to get up solo on a stage and make the hundreds of people in the audience your best friends for 90 minutes, making everyone feel welcome and enveloped and to not display an ounce of self-consciousness. Great opener: Tao-Rodriguez-Seeger.
Tomorrow we’ll have three more solo singer/songwriters. Although it wasn’t really planned to be, this weekend really turned out to be a mini-festival. See you at the show…

At the theater, 6-9pm: volunteer orientation as well as a little pep-talk about our Fall Gala (11/1).

Hi,
this blog’s main purpose is to share news and happenings at The Music Hall as well as to invite patrons and other members of our community to share their thoughts about The Music Hall. Maybe other community issues as well? We’ll see.