A preview of A Christmas Carol, presented by the Nebraska Theatre Caravan Thursday, December 1 on the MainStage at 7:30 pm. Tickets are available at www.flynntix.org.
Would Charles Dickens be surprised
that his 1843 novella A Christmas Carol
has come to embody much of the spirit we associate with the holiday today in
2016? Perhaps not. Dickens was one of those rare writers who was an
international literary icon in his own time. He was a pioneer in the serial
publication of his novels, allowing him to gauge audience reaction to his
characters and plot development after each segment, sometimes incorporating
changes in response to his reader’s critique. He knew how to cater to his fans
and would fit right into today’s literary, theatrical, and cinematic world driven
by prequels, sequels, and adaptations.
Born in Portsmouth, England in 1812
Dickens read voraciously in his youth. Later, his childhood memories,
informed by his own harsh work/life experiences, found their way into his
fiction. Sadness and cruelty were always mitigated with a wry sense of humor and
satire, a winning combination that produced, besides A Christmas Carol, some of the most widely-recognized titles in all of literature, including The Adventures of
Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great
Expectations.
Dickens was also obsessed by the
theater and for a period of three years in the late 1820s he claimed to have
gone to the theater every day, perhaps laying the ground for his ability to
create such memorable characters as Ebeneezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Jacob Marley, and Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol.
In the Nebraska Theatre Caravan’s touring version, we will get to see the actors
Andy Harvey, Sasha Denenberg, Tommy Walker, and Dan Chevalier take on those
roles.
The Caravan’s Broadway-style
adaptation by Charles Jones is considerably lighter and brighter than other
performances you may remember of this classic tribute to the holidays. A cast
of 23 performers sing and dance their way through this tale, incorporating new
arrangements of holiday songs such as God
Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Away in a
Manger, Greensleeves, and many
others. Jones indicates that while the story and language is true to Dickens,
the songs are stand alone with a contemporary scoring and I think it’s going to
be tough not to sing along.
Burlington is the tenth stop in the Caravan’s 2016 Red Tour. The troupe has been on the road since
November 11, appearing in Wisconsin, Connecticut, West Virginia,
Ohio, and Albany, New York before they hit the Flynn MainStage. The next day they will be on stage in Red
Bank, New Jersey with upcoming performances in Pennsylvania, Maine, New
Hampshire, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and as far south as Florida, and ending in Birmingham, Alabama. Amazingly, the Caravan’s
national tour of A Christmas Carol
has performed in over 650 cities in 49 states and 4 Canadian provinces in its
nearly 40 years on the road.
If experiencing this warmly
nostalgic start to the holidays makes you hungry for more, I suggest you get
tickets for that other great Christmastime classic, The Nutcracker Ballet, performed by our very own Vermont Ballet
Theater on the Flynn MainStage December 17 and 18.
It is certainly a must if you have any budding ballerinas in the family. It’s
been a tradition for my granddaughters and me since they were old enough to
pull on a tutu. Looking forward to being infused with holiday spirit and I hope
to see you at the Flynn.
The Flynn held a number of virtual camps this summer including two musical theater camps, one for ages 8-12 and one for ages 13-18. Both groups did a fabulous job making these remote sessions fun and creative. Below are the final videos each produced, showing off the moves they learned and the joy they shared even from a distance.
Musical Theater Camp (ages 8-12): You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile
Musical Theater Camp (ages 13-18): Omigod You Guys
On August 3, choreographer Christal Brown presented segments of her in-progress work What We Ask of Flesh, co-presented by the Flynn and the New England Foundation for the Arts, and presented as part of the Kennedy Center’s Arts Across America series.
This epic work is a physical examination of the capacity of human life, exploring the distance between our aspirations and reality, and has seen many variations over the years.
For the Arts Across America performance, Brown and her company performed excerpts from the work, including a solo by Brown. She and Flynn Artistic Director Steve MacQueen also discussed the piece and offered context throughout the hour.
The Flynn’s spring semester was just picking up steam when the pandemic hit. Fortunately, the Show Choir program and the Youth Jazz Combo were able to adapt, transition to distanced learning through virtual sessions, and produce performances for all to enjoy.
Show Choir
This video produced by the Show Choir team, titled The Greatest Show, features rehearsal footage alongside students’ performances during quarantine, giving a highlight reel of an unusual, but ultimately resilient and inspiring, semester for the program.
Flynntones Jazz Orchestra -
Hot Fun In The Summertime
The Youth Jazz Combo (AKA the Flynntones Jazz Orchestra), directed
by Tom Cleary, produced this take on Sly and The Family Stone’s sizzling
classic, with all nine parts arranged and performed virtually.
Flynntones Jazz Orchestra - Low Tide
Here is the Flynntones’remote collaboration on Low
Tide by Elmo Hope, a friend and contemporary of Bud Powell and
Thelonious Monk and a lesser-known giant of the bebop movement in jazz.
This poem was composed by Bonnie Dinsmore Kerrick, a student in the Flynn’s Movement for Parkinson’s and Wellness class. The class, taught by Sara McMahon, is specifically designed for people who wish to continue moving dynamically despite movement challenges, tapping into the body’s intelligence, creating new neural pathways, strengthening movement patterns, increasing range of motion, and stimulating social interaction.
At ten o’clock on Thursdays, give or take a week or two We gather in the classroom, Sarah’s “Parkie” dancing crew And when we are assembled, each on seated on a chair Sara breezes in with so much energy to share She begins our weekly workout with a ballet masters mission Drilling us in dancing moves of infinite precision She puts us through our paces, with little time to rest But that’s what has to happen. When you’re working for the best And when the sessions over, there’s a feeling, what is it? It’s as if our cares and worries had all lifted, just a bit You see, Sara brings a special kind of magic to the room And we all feel so much better, when we dance to Sarah’s tune!!
We’re honored to know our community artist-in-residence, Daniel Bernard Roumain. As both an artist and an activist, Daniel speaks truth to power every day—this moment of deep civil unrest in our country is no exception. The Flynn stands in solidarity with the right to personal safety regardless of race and gender, and a commitment to Black men and boys.
A Declaration & Affirmation of Love for Black Men and Boys.
We, as a dedicated group of artists, arts organizations, and places of education and learning, declare without reservation or restraint, that the presumed guilt of Black people—and specifically Black men and boys—in recurring encounters with errant law enforcement officers, has disproportionately led to summary, inhumane responses centered on fear, detainment, arrest, removal, or a growing, repetitive practice of unlawful and unnecessary deaths.
We acknowledge America’s historical propensity towards harm, injustice, and exclusion. We also witness America’s extraordinary capacity to heal, be just, include and embrace. We know that law enforcement is tasked with the difficult work of policing our communities as they uphold the law and their solemn oath to protect and serve. And we are aware and reminded of the distance and divides we face between our politics, as well as the constant struggle we face in finding agreement on what we most value.
However, as artists, educators, and learners, we are clear and committed to the sanctity of life, the promise of liberty, and the most fundamental and absolute right to personal safety regardless of race and gender.
Therefore, we proudly and boldly affirm our commitment to Black men and boys as a vital part of our American identity and families, and implore all of us to see in them your father, your brother, and your son—all living within one spirit of one nation engaged in a shared, everlasting pursuit of happiness and love.
As we all hit pause and hunker down, we at the Flynn still want to brighten your day and enrich your life with art and entertainment. Each week, we’ll update this post to highlight up-to-date happenings from all over, as well as from the Flynn, that you can access from home. We hope you enjoy this curated resource.
Want the latest arts happenings sent directly to you? Subscribe here to receive THE FRIDAY FIVE, a weekly email from the Flynn that runs down the top five virtual events and performances for the week to come.
Choreographer Christal Brown presents segments of her in-progress work What We Ask of Flesh, co-presented by The Flynn and the New England Foundation for the Arts, and presented on Monday, August 3 as part of the Kennedy Center’s Arts Across America series. This epic work has seen many variations over the years, exploring the distance between our aspirations and reality. The work was going to premiere at The Flynn in 2020/21 season, though Covid-19 has wreaked havoc with that.
For the Arts Across America performance, Brown and her company will perform excerpts from the work, including a solo by Brown. She and Flynn Artistic Director Steve MacQueen will also discuss the piece and offer context throughout the hour. It happens on Monday, August 3 at 4 pm on the Kennedy Center’s Arts Across America Facebook page.
Pay-what-you-can online dance classes at the suggested cost of $10 per class (and as little as $0). Beat the quarantine blues while supporting the Flynn and our incredible teaching artists.
From June 4-14, in partnership with Vermont PBS, Vermont Public Radio, and Burlington area restaurants, we streamed a wealth of jazz videos for the Discover Jazz Festival archives. All the videos from the virtual festival are available on the Flynn’s YouTube channel.
TURNmusic, Vermont’s leading champions of contemporary chamber music, are holding livestream concerts every Tuesday and Friday at 7 pm, supporting local musicians and celebrating living composers and songwriters.
Llamadoll is a Vermont-based project that melds silent film and
original music in ways that are utterly magnificent and revelatory, charming
and hilarious, entertaining and thought-provoking.
Five-strong troupe Le
Patin Libre use the ice in daring and dazzling ways to present a completely new
perspective in the full length 20-minute film, Vertical. The Flynn presented
the group’s performance of Vertical Influences at Burlington’s Leddy
Park in January 2017.
In 2015, Christian McBride, five-time Grammy winner and the preeminent jazz bass player of his generation, was the artist-in-residence for the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival. He was out in the public, giving lectures, workshops and master classes, as well as performing with his trio and being a jazz ambassador to the town. This film, produced by Vermont Community Access Media in partnership with the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, chronicles his time in the Queen City and showcases his expertise, not only as a jazz musician and historian, but as an educator.
Jazz saxophonist Brian McCarthy’s nonet, recorded live in Flynn Space on November 8, 2019, draws inspiration from the history of jazz while maintaining a modern awareness. McCarthy’s compositions consider the arising of a giant stellar dust cloud, the Primordial Nebula. Out of stars, planets, order, and chaos emerges all that connects and shapes the world we live in.
The longest-running dance festival in the United States now comes directly to you … for free!
During
Jacob’s Pillow’s first-ever virtual festival, held over eight weeks, you can pick and choose what you most want to see. RSVP to as many events as you want, then watch and participate on YouTube and Zoom with artists and audience members from around the world.
This summer, VSO
is visiting all 14 Vermont counties, bringing a variety of repertoire to parks, patios, and other outdoor venues.
The Close to Home and Far Afield series features small ensembles and ample room to stop by and enjoy music from a safe distance.
All concerts are free of charge.
Here are the shows announced so far: Manchester (July 16), Burlington (July 17), Greensboro (August 9), Woodstock (August 14), St. Johnsbury (August 15), St. Albans (August 22). Check vso.org/events to stay in the loop as more concerts are announced.
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma makes his Global Concert Hall debut with an homage to Ennio Morricone, the legendary Italian composer and conductor who died earlier this month. Ma’s recital will explore these themes in an energetic program that brings performer and audience on a journey across space and time, from Morricone’s iconic film scores to traditional tunes from Mongolia and America to Schubert and Bach.
#WhileWeBreathe: A Night of Creative Protest is a one-night-only event featuring short works written and directed by theater alums, to benefit the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, The Bail Project, Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD), BYP100 Education Fund, Forced Trajectory Project (FTP), The Justice Committee, and SONG.
The premiere will be followed by a live discussion at 10 pm ET, hosted by CBS host Michelle Miller.
Masterminded by Herbie Hancock as a tribute and benefit for Wayne’s medical expenses, an all-star roster of jazz greats assembled over four nights to perform classic material written by Shorter. The SFJAZZ website is rebroadcasting this 2019 benefit concert, featuring Hancock, Terence
Blanchard, Terrace Martin, Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci, and Brian Blade, with proceeds going to Shorter’s ongoing medical needs. The July stream is part three; part four will stream on August 28.
Newport Folk Revival Weekend
July 31-August 2
The 2020 Newport Folk Festival was canceled in April so in its place Newport Folk has announced a a virtual event featuring performances by Phoebe Bridgers, Mavis Staples, Leon Bridges, Sharon Van Etten, Deer Tick, Jim James, Jason Isbell, Roger Waters, and more. The Folk on Revival Weekend will will include
pre-recorded
music performances, Newport Folk Revival Radio, audio archives, and the screening of an original film.
Sara Juli’s dance-theater-comedy show Burnt-Out Wife will have its virtual premiere on August 11 (available to view through August 17). Burnt-Out Wife explores the decay and detritus of a once-promising marriage. Separation, sex deprivation, and lack of communication add up to wanting to run from the popular, yet impossible binding contract. Using her comedic text-driven dance style, Sara Juli blows up marriage.
Each day, a different encore presentation from the company’s Live in HD series is being made available for free streaming on the Met website, with each performance available for a period of 23 hours, from 7:30 pm until 6:30 pm the following day.
Starting in July, The Muny began offering a free online variety show—The Muny 2020 Summer Variety Hour Live! The show features cast reunion sing-alongs, famous musical theater duets performed by real-life Muny couples, Munywood Squares, archived clips from past Muny summer productions, song and dances created by Muny artists across the U.S., behind-the-scenes stories, and so much more!
CyberTank is an e-home for e-merging artists. The CyberTank Variety Show is The Tank’s FREE virtual gathering place, hosting dozens of artists every week on Tuesday at 4 pm EST. View past episodes and catch the next episode on August 4 hosted by Stevie to launch off PrideFest.
This year’s Festival goes online with free events on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons through July 2. The four-week series of workshop, mini-courses, and collaborative projects will feature over 20 guest artists and speakers, accessible online and open to the public through Eventbrite registration. This year’s festival will culminate in performances of new works created by remote collaboration.
Live with Carnegie Hall is a new online series designed to connect world-class artists with musical lovers everywhere, featuring live musical performances, storytelling, and conversations that offer deeper insights into great music and behind-the-scenes personal perspectives.
Houston Ballet presents The Dancer Perspective, hosted by Principal Ian Casady, Tuesdays at 8 pm starting May 19. This mini-series is dedicated to giving insight into the Houston Ballet world of dance, directly from company dancers.
Ballet Hispanico Watch Parties happen live at 7 pm every Wednesday, beginning with a performance video premiere and followed by Choreographers & Cocktails, a live discussion with company artists. You can watch the video premiere of the full-length repertory on their website, Facebook page, or YouTube channel.
Vermont Comedy Club
Fridays
Every Friday night, Natalie & Nathan chat with celebrity comedians, local heroes, strange characters, talented musicians and other fun people in their series Talk to Us (please)!. The club also has a number of other streaming options across their channels including family-friendly and archival videos.
AAADT is thrilled to share full-length videos of the company performing on stage, streaming free online, directly to your living room! This week, they are streaming their take on Camille A. Brown’s City of Rain. Plus: though the Ailey dancers are still finding ways to connect and dance together, so enjoy their videos in #TheShowMustGoOn series, the “Dancer Diaries” series, and the “Conversations With…” series.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts has announced Broadway Fridays, free online streams of some of the most beloved Live From Lincoln Center broadcasts of Broadway productions from Lincoln Center Theater and the New York Philharmonic.
In addition to their weekly Broadway streams, Lincoln Center is holding regular youth-oriented concert streams and educational programming. Don’t miss their Pop-Up Classroom weekdays at 2 pm and Pop-Up Concerts for Kids on Sundays at 11 am.
Caramoor, a summertime classical-music destination housed on a verdant estate near Katonah, New York, inaugurates a boldly reconceived festival, featuring both online concerts and outdoor events that allow for social distancing.
Each Thursday, Sandglass Theater will release an archival video of a production that is no longer being performed in their repertoire. These livestream events are available on their website and Facebook page.
These performances represent a wide spectrum of Sandglass’ work over their almost 40 year history. A Q&A will accompany each livestream and will include special guests such as Sandglass founders, ensemble members, and collaborators.
Joshua William Gelb is a theater director, performer, and librettist based out of New York’s Lower East Side. He is currently in residence in his 4x8x2 closet, which he has converted into a white box for the duration of this quarantine. His Theater in Quarantine (TiQ) series features new works posted every other Thursday. Any money raised will go to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Showing this week: Les Blancs, the final play by Lorraine Hansberry, directed by Yaël Farber: a brave, illuminating and powerful work that confronts the hope and tragedy of revolution. Next up:
Terence Rattigan’s devastating masterpiece, The Deep Blue Sea, contains one of the greatest female roles in contemporary drama, played by Helen McCrory.
Launching on Shakespeare’s birthday, April 23, Stratford Festival will premiere one Shakespeare production each week, for a period of 12 weeks. Each film will debut with a 7 pm on Thursday and remain available for free for a three-week period.
While Joe’s Pub is temporarily closed, they are hosting a free series of live-streamed and archived performances from their iconic stage in New York City.
SFJAZZ has launched a weekly series called Fridays at Five, featuring archival concerts from amazing musicians live from the SFJAZZ Center. Coming up: John Scofield & Lettuce (July 10),
Afro-Cuban All Stars (July 17),
Cécile McLorin Salvant (July 24), John Santos (August 7),
Bokanté (August 14).
See Bread and Puppet’s latest work, The Insurrection and Resurrection, live and in person at their farm in Glover, VT.
Bread and Puppet is restricting the size of their audience in compliance with state guidelines for outdoor gatherings and has put in place a number of other practices for safety of audiences and the community. You must purchase a ticket for each person in advance (no same-day, drop-ins) so that they may track and limit audience size. Tickets are $10. Shows are Fridays through Sundays at 4 pm through August 30.
Each Saturday through the end of May, Ghost Light Opera will celebrate Western Australian singers performing gorgeous arias spot lit on a darkened stage.
Each sunday, ALJA hosts a Digital Village event with Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orquestra, playing Virtual Birdland live on Facebook at 8:30 pm. Their site also features a bunch of new performances and talks with a variety of jazz musicians.
Hang out with 2019 Burlington Discover Jazz artist, Canadian singer, trumpeter, songwriter, arranger, and bandleader Bria Skonberg as she hosts Facebook Live chats every Sunday and Wednesday. It’s lighthearted fun—songs, stories, even singalongs!
Three days a week, at 8 pm EST, Chicago’s funniest comedy talent joins forces with Second City alumni from across the country to bring you an interactive Improv House Party. Plus, every Thursday at 2 pm EST,
The Really Awesome Improv Show offers family friendly, high-energy fun for all ages, and relies on audience suggestions and participation.
Ryuichi Sakamoto has launched a new series called Incomplete via his YouTube account.
Incomplete pairs new compositions with video art by Zakkubalan, with a new video released every three days, starting May 18.
Sakamoto also shared a new concert film, Playing the Piano for the Isolated, which features Hidejiro Honjoh on shamisen, recorded in Tokyo in April.
In addition to frequently releasing archival concerts on their website, BBC SSO recently held a virtual Tectonics Festival, featuring performances of new and experimental music from their archives, all available to replay.
The Dark Theatre mixes classroom drama techniques with an interactive comic book, framing you and your students as detectives trying to answer the question: who killed playwright Nathan Page?
You just need a smartphone or tablet for personal reading, or PC, Mac, or Chromebook for a big screen read! Issue 1 and issue 2 are available now; issues 3 and 4 are coming soon.
The Sydney Opera House is holding a Digital Season series with new videos available daily. This weekly program features unmissable full-length performances, live recordings, and never-before-seen footage from the Opera House archives.
Bolero Juilliard is a complex online puzzle with many components being conceived, rehearsed, and produced simultaneously.
Directed and choreographed by Larry Keigwin with associate Nicole Wolcott, featuring a reimagining of Ravel’s score, conducted by David Robertson, and produced by Kurt Crowley. The short film features Juilliard dancers, musicians, and actors, with alumni Christine Baranski, Jon Batiste, Renée Fleming, Isabel Leonard, Laura Linney, Yo-Yo Ma, Andrea Miller, faculty member Itzhak Perlman, Bradley Whitford, and many more.
VSF is responding to this crisis of isolation with what it does best: spreading joy and connection through performance!
Shakespeare To You is an opportunity for you to send a 2-3 minute performance to family, neighbors, or friends via front yard delivery, Zoom, or telephone. It’s kind of like a live telegram!
Shakespeare To You is free, and is a fantastic way to send a unique birthday wish, celebrate a graduation or anniversary, or simply offer a connection to someone who needs a pick-me-up
The Criterion Channel has removed the paywall on classic Black cinema in support of Black Lives Matter. These films include Body and Soul by Oscar Micheaux, Black Panthers by Agnes Varda, Portrait of Jason by Shirley Clarke, Daughters of the Dust by Julie Dash, and Down in the Delta by Maya Angelou.
Sonny Kelly performs his solo show about the lessons that black fathers are required to teach their sons about racial division in America, drawing on both his own family history and his research as a doctoral student at UNC Chapel Hill. This production, directed by Joseph Megel, was recorded during the show’s original run in Durham in 2019, and is being shared for free through July 10.
The Joyce Theater in Chelsea is curating a recurring archival series, Joycestreams, featuring full performances and artist talkbacks, a discussion series with choreographers and collaborators moderated by Joyce staff.
Right now, they are streaming Declassified Memory Fragment, a dance theater work inspired by some of the political and cultural realities affecting the continent of Africa. It is available through July 31. Coming soon: Meditations: A Silent Prayer on July 16.
The Living Collections Catalogue—Creative Black Music at the Walker: Selections from the Archives focuses on a select group of influential black artists who came to the fore in the ’60s and ’70s, and appeared at the Walker multiple times, each having an indelible impact on US musical culture. Archival material not before available for public view is at the center of this publication, including rare audio and video recordings, photographs, posters and programs, and correspondence. The volume also features commissioned essays and interviews.
An extensive library of COVID-era sound art has accumulated at amplify 2020: Quarantine, an online festival headed by Jon Abbey, of Erstwhile Records. Culled from experimental composers around the world, these projects conjure sonic otherness from the constricted, mundane circumstances of lockdown.
Interior Listening Protocol 01 attempts to recuperate liveness and spatially dynamic, embodied listening back into our mediated moment. It functions as a participatory listening score that’s has to be done to be heard. You’ll miss the phenomenon entirely if you sit back and watch the video like Netflix. Think of it like a quartet for your skull, with you as conductor, shaping the temporal unfolding of the whole experience.
Every week, VTIFF streams exclusive new movies as part of their Virtual Cinema series, plus they feature live Q&As with filmmakers, discussions on specific topics, and showcases of local short films.
Online publication Hyperallergic compiled a watchlist of essential Black documentaries, including links where these works are available to stream or purchase. Collectively, they illustrate both the undeniable threat of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy and the incomparable strength of Blackness.
T.W. Wood Gallery
The T.W. Wood Gallery in Montpelier is currently closed to the public due to the pandemic, but its 2020 Members Show must go on. This year, the annual exhibition is online only and on view through September 15. Browse prints by Heidemarie Holmes-Heiss, paintings by Joann DiNicola, collage by Michael Levine, and works by 11 other Vermont creatives.
Manual Cinema’s 10th Anniversary Retrospectacular! is a month-long virtual birthday party featuring four of the company’s most seminal shows from the past 10 years on multi-camera, high-definition video, streaming for FREE through August 23. The streams come with a suggested donation to Manual Cinema to compensate for lost touring income due to Covid-19. In addition, each week, Manual Cinema will host live, online, virtual talkbacks reuniting each production’s creators, collaborators and fans.
This article was commissioned and paid for by Pomerleau Real Estate and published in Seven Days on April 8, 2020.
You can’t see a show right now at Burlington’s Flynn Center;
the coronavirus pandemic shuttered the city’s iconic performing arts theater on
March 13. The lovingly restored art deco hall is empty.
The nonprofit organization that runs the Flynn had to lay
off 90 percent of its workforce, according to Kevin Titterton, director of
marketing and communications. That includes the stage crew, box office staff
and numerous arts educators; the organization hopes to bring many of them back
once performances resume. “It’s a little grim right now, to be honest,” he said
in a phone interview.
One source of comfort: The Flynn has overcome adversity,
including two destructive floods, before. As we all stay home contemplating
what our post-pandemic lives will look like, it’s helpful to consider how the
renowned cultural center—now a 1,411-seat theater, a 180-seat cabaret space, an
art gallery, two education studios and a wide variety of educational programs for
Vermont students—came to be.
ACT ONE
Opened in 1930, the Flynn initially hosted vaudeville acts
and what its first souvenir program called “sound pictures.” According to that
program, the Flynn was richly appointed: “Luxurious carpets of deep pile, into
which footsteps sink … Terrazzo, inlaid with brass strips, covers the floors
of the lobby and men’s smoking room.”
By the 1970s, though, its glamour had faded. The Flynn had
become a down-at-the-heels movie theater showing “adult” films. “Tawdry” is the
adjective former executive director Andrea Rogers used to describe it at that
point.
The effort to restore and improve the downtown landmark came
from the all-volunteer Lyric Theatre, which had begun producing shows on the Flynn’s
neglected main stage in 1974. The University of Vermont donated its expertise
in historic preservation; the funding came largely from local businesses. When
the nonprofit Flynn Theatre for the Performing Arts was formed in 1980 to buy
the building, lawyer John Gravel was chair of the board; Ernest Pomerleau of Pomerleau
Real Estate was vice chair. In addition to their own contributions, they
leveraged a game-changing donation of $150,000 from IBM.
LOCAL PEOPLE AND BUSINESSES WILL RALLY TO RESURRECT THE FLYNN—NOT NATIONAL RETAILERS LIKE WALMART OR AMAZON.
On September 26, 1981, the Flynn hosted an opening gala
featuring performances by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, the Ketch Dance
Company and Lyric Theatre. The event program listed donors large and small,
along with the members of at least a dozen volunteer committees. And it was
packed with ads from local businesses—Pizzagalli Construction, Expressions,
Michael Kehoe, the Rusty Scuffer, Lake Champlain Ferries, the Shoe Horn, Nan
Patrick, Champlain Cable Corp., Nectar’s.
In the same program, Rogers acknowledged the “exciting
moment, this rebirth” while preparing the local audience for improvements still
to come: “The marquee and the front entrance have been lovingly painted and
restored, and we’ve brought in lots of props to make the lobbies look and feel
elegant. But the performers still have no dressing rooms, no bathrooms, no
proper lighting, and the technical crews are working with 1930s rigging.”
ACT TWO
That dream had to be delayed longer than expected. Just a
few months after the opening, on a cold January night in 1982, the building’s
boiler failed, triggering the sprinkler system. Rogers rushed to the scene
early the next morning. “When we went into the theater, there was water in the orchestra
pit, water raining down from the beautiful light fixtures,” she recalled.
It was a major setback, for sure, and cruelly timed. But the
local community rallied. People who had already given generously to the
restoration eff ort reached back into their pockets—and hearts—to donate money
and time to make the needed improvements. Two months after the damage, the
Vienna Boys Choir performed to a sold-out crowd. It was the first of many shows
that have moved Vermont audiences to their feet and put the state on the cultural
map. Rogers led the organization until she retired in 2010.
Restoring the Flynn’s marquee in the 1980s
Her successor, John Killacky, stayed for eight years; he’s
now in the Vermont legislature representing South Burlington. What Killacky
loved most was seeing schoolchildren visit for student matinees, “especially
the little ones, their little heads just poking over the tops of the seats.” He
remembered watching a pair of students walking up the aisle on their way out of
a show. “Those were real live people up there,” one said to the other. “I
thought, ‘That person’s world has just been changed by the Flynn,’” he said.
TO ME, THE ARTS ARE WHERE HOPE LIVES. John Killacky, former Flynn Center executive director
Those young people sometimes return. Killacky recalled
watching Grace Potter perform in October 2011 for “Goodnight Irene: A Flood
Benefit.” The Waitsfield native told the audience she attended shows at Flynn
as a child and imagined herself up on the stage someday. “She said, ‘I’m so glad
to be able to be here and to give back,’” Killacky recalled.
That same giving spirit will help Vermonters get through
this hard time. Local people and businesses will rally to resurrect the Flynn—not
national retailers like Walmart or Amazon.
It’s vital work, according to Killacky.
“To me,” he said, “the arts are where hope lives. For 90
years, the Flynn has delivered inspiration to millions of Vermonters. I can’t
wait for the lights to go on again.”
All performances at the Flynn through
May 31 have been cancelled. If you are a ticket holder to an event during this
time, we can return your tickets and process a refund. But, if you can,
we ask that you consider donating the tickets back to the Flynn as a
tax-deductible contribution, or transferring the funds to a Flynn gift certificate,
which can be used for future events.
We advise you to send an e-mail to
box@flynncenter.org as soon as
possible, to let us know how you would like us
to proceed—whether a refund, donation, gift
certificate, or a combination of these options. In the subject line of the
e-mail, please include: “Ticket Return” plus your last name and your order
number, if you have it.In the e-mail, please provide a daytime phone
number where you can be reached, as we may need to verify credit card
information to process refunds.
Please Note that Lyric Theatre is
working on rescheduling their presentation of Matilda and ticket holders are asked to be patient as those arrangements
are made. The Bob Weir performance has been moved to Monday, October 26 and all
original tickets, including seat locations, are valid for the new date.
Commentary is by Karen Mittelman, executive director of the Vermont Arts Council in Montpelier, and Jody Fried, chair of the Vermont Creative Network and executive director of Catamount Arts in St. Johnsbury. First published by VTDigger on March 15, 2020.
Across the nation, theaters and museums are going dark in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Arts organizations are closing to protect the health and welfare of their communities, often at the expense of their own financial security. In Vermont, the list of canceled concerts, festivals, workshops, classes, and other public events grows by the hour.
The long-term economic impact of those cancellations will be devastating for our state’s creative sector—and many local economies—if we don’t act quickly. The impact is particularly damaging for performing arts organizations, where lost revenue from ticket sales and event cancellations is already stretching the resources of many organizations close to the breaking point. But the ripple effects will be far greater. Local restaurants, hotels, bars, coffee shops, and stores rely on performing arts events for a substantial part of their revenue. Out-of-state tourists who come to Vermont for an arts event typically spend $46.35 in local businesses. (Vermont residents spend, on average, $23.45.) Vermont’s arts and culture industry leverages $44 million in event-related spending.
Although the virus only reached Vermont within the past couple of weeks, our communities are already feeling the impact; public health officials tell us that it’s only a matter of time before we will see more schools and businesses shuttered. In the midst of a public health crisis, of course our first priority must be to safeguard the health and safety of our people, especially the most vulnerable Vermonters. We applaud Gov. Phil Scott and his administration, and our legislators, for acting swiftly and decisively to respond to the pandemic in our state.
But we simply cannot afford to ignore the future financial health of Vermont’s creative sector. Vermont has a higher share of jobs in this economic sector (9% of all employment) than the average across the United States. A growing body of research nationwide tells us that the creative sector—the people and businesses that produce and distribute creative products and services—is particularly critical to economic growth in rural states like ours.
Art and culture are also essential to attract and retain the young people who are vital to Vermont’s future. We know that millennials spend more on arts and cultural experiences than other demographic groups, and look for places to live that offer vibrant downtowns. Arts and culture build the infrastructure for healthy, vibrant communities where people want to live, work, and raise their families.
And perhaps just as important as the economic impact: the arts will help us to heal. In the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, community arts projects invited people to share their stories and support one another. Artists are already mobilizing across Vermont in response to COVID-19, devising creative responses to the pandemic. Live-streamed concerts, online performances and film-watching parties, and family arts activities will help to ease the social isolation and fear experienced by ill and vulnerable Vermonters in the coming months.
Artists and arts organizations—the ones that can weather this crisis—will be there to enable our communities to move forward when the worst is behind us. We need the arts now more than ever, to remind us of our better selves, to help us to support each other with creativity and compassion. We call on private philanthropists and our elected officials to ensure that arts organizations are included in relief packages for small businesses, and that there is emergency aid available for individual artists (50% of whom are self-employed or freelancers).
We can’t afford to wait to confront the very real financial distress in Vermont’s creative sector if we want to ensure a stable economic future for our communities.
We know that updates about COVID-19 cause concern about how
we can keep our communities safe and
healthy. We deeply appreciate the trust you place in the Flynn as your artistic
and cultural home.
In light of a rapidly changing climate, the Flynn is
cancelling the remainder of our season through May 31. This means all events at the Flynn. This temporary
closure affects all remaining performances and education programs. We will reevaluate
the status of Burlington Discover Jazz Festival and our summer camps on April
13.
We are currently working through the logistics of this
significant change with our staff and board; please be patient as we adjust.
Please also consider donating your tickets back as a tax-deductible
contribution.
More than anything, we want to say thank you to our
community. We would not be able to make it through this difficult time without
all of your love and support.
For ticket refunds to Flynn presented shows, please contact
the Box Office by phone at 802-863-5966 and have your ticket order number
handy. Note that shows presented by other promoters may be rescheduled;
specific information about each of those shows will be noted on
www.flynntix.org and ticket purchasers will be contacted with updated
information.