<\/p>\n
Park Playhouse, a summer staple at Albany’s Washington Park amphitheater, will produce only one musical there this summer, for 10 days at the end of August, with other three shows\u00a0being staged at Cohoes Music Hall.<\/p>\n
The Playhouse Stage Company<\/p>\n
Hayden Chenette, center, an alumnus of of Playhouse Stage\u2019s youth programs and shows who has grown into roles in its professional productions, played the peddler Ali in Playhouse Stage Company\u2019s production of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical \u201cOklahoma!\u201d last year.<\/p>\n
Shawn Morgan\/Playhouse Stage Company<\/p>\n
Owen Smith, left, producing artistic director of Playhouse Stage Company, watches a rehearsal of the musical \u201cHead Over Heels\u201d on the Park Playhouse stage in Albany\u2019s Washington Park in 2022 with its director, Michael LoPorto. This summer\u2019s Playhouse Stage production of \u201cFootloose,\u201d running at Cohoes Music Hall from July 28 to Aug. 15, will be directed by LoPorto.<\/p>\n
Steve Barnes\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Benita Zahn, left, and Molly Rose McGrath’s in Playhouse Stage’s 2017 production of “Always … Patsy Cline” at Cohoes Music Hall. Zahn has appeared in multiple productions by the company and has been president of its board of directors for six years.<\/p>\n
ALBANY\u00a0\u2014 For the first time in the 38-year history of Park Playhouse, the company will not present a mainstage musical during July at the Washington Park amphitheater this summer, a change necessitated by the loss of city funding and increasingly adverse weather trends, according to those involved.<\/p>\n
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The troupe\u2019s primary productions will be at Cohoes Music Hall, with a 10-day run in the park at the end of August of a professionally performed show for family audiences. All park seating will be free.<\/p>\n
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The news has not been formally announced but is evident on the website of Park Playhouse\u2019s parent, Playhouse Stage Company<\/a>, which has the Cohoes Music Hall as its year-round base. From 2017 to 2023, Playhouse Stage performed a fall-to-spring season at the music hall, plus one mainstage musical with a professional cast during July and another in August featuring members of its youth training program. For the past two summers, one musical was presented in Cohoes. Prior to taking over management of the music hall and the adoption of the Playhouse Stage name, Park Playhouse had since 1989 produced one to three musicals annually at the Albany\u00a0lakehouse amphitheater in July and August.<\/p>\n The show previously announced to be in the park this year, \u201cFootloose,\u201d is now listed on the company\u2019s website as being presented at the music hall, as are \u201cCharlie and the Chocolate Factory,\u201d based on the Roald Dahl novel, and \u201c13: The Musical,\u201d with music and lyrics by the celebrated Broadway composer Jason Robert Brown. \u201cElephant & Piggie\u2019s We Are in a Play,\u201d a musical adaptation of Mo Willems\u2019 popular children\u2019s book series, will be presented for free at Park Playhouse from Aug. 16 to 26, with some performances at 2 p.m., others at 5 p.m., according to Owen Smith, who is going into his 17th summer as producing artistic director of Playhouse Stage.<\/p>\n He and Playhouse Stage board president Benita Zahn confirmed the changes Sunday in separate phone interviews.<\/p>\n Make the Times Union a Preferred Source on Google to see more of our journalism when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Smith and\u00a0Zahn said the company felt the scheduling evolution was necessary following the demise of a $50,000 grant the company received from the city last year and expected would be renewed for the 2026 season. After learning that funding would end, Smith and\u00a0Zahn said, they and the board opted to present the entire summer season in\u00a0Cohoes. The company later added the family musical at the end of August after Albany Mayor\u00a0Dorcey Applyrs\u2019 administration helped secure a $30,000 grant from the Albany Community Development Agency, Smith and Zahn said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThe mission is to provide free theater in the park. We\u2019re continuing to do that,\u201d Zahn said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t keep doing things the same way. We had to change to make sure that we would continue to be viable for years to come.\u201d She has been board president for six years, a board member for a decade before that and performed in multiple Playhouse Stage productions over many years.<\/p>\n In an official announcement shared with the Times Union that has not yet been formally released, Smith said he, the board and the city view the different structure to the summer as a way to refocus \u201con what has always been at the heart of Park Playhouse: introducing young people to the arts and providing families with accessible, enriching cultural experiences.\u201d Smith continued, \u201cKids who fall in love with live theater this summer are the audiences, the artists and the community leaders of tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n Said Zahn, \u201cIf you don\u2019t capture the attention, spirit and heart of kids, then who\u2019s going to come to the theater in the future?\u201d<\/p>\n Staging the majority of the season indoors at the air-conditioned music hall also addresses what Smith and Zahn described as an increasing problem for Park Playhouse: rotten weather. While rain was less of an issue last summer, in some recent prior seasons as many as half of the amphitheater\u2019s performances were delayed, cut short or canceled because of rain, Smith said. Further, he said, punishing July heat has deterred audiences from wanting to sit in the park as the setting sun shines directly on the amphitheater hillside for much of the first hour of performances. National Weather Service records show the average July daytime high in Albany from 2015 to 2025 was 85.3 degrees, peaking at 86.7 degrees in 2023 and 87.3 degrees the following year.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Last year, two-thirds of the performances of \u201cOklahoma!\u201d took place on days when the temperature peaked at 90 degrees or higher, Smith said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn recent summers, I\u2019ve gotten used to seeing heat advisories essentially telling our target audience stay inside,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Air-quality alerts have also affected Park Playhouse performances in the past several years. Last month, expert predictions pointed to the potential for another smoky summer from wildfires<\/a>.<\/p>\n At an unrelated event on Saturday<\/a>, Applyrs told the Times Union she would be available for an interview on Sunday, with arrangements to be made by her staff. Communications director Zipporah Hommel did not respond to a Times Union inquiry sent later Saturday, and Applyrs could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In a quote attributed to Applyrs in the Playhouse Stage season announcement, which Smith said had been approved by City Hall, the mayor said, \u201cThis is the exact kind of investment our residents have identified that they want to see. Creating opportunities for cultural enrichment that is accessible to families of all income levels is how we will continue to turn the lights back on in our city.\u201d<\/p>\n The last eight words have become\u00a0a catchphrase for Albany\u2019s nightlife and entertainment revitalization<\/a> since Applyrs introduced them in her inaugural address<\/a>, saying, \u201cMy administration will be working diligently to turn the lights back on and make Albany fun again!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Park Playhouse, a summer staple at Albany’s Washington Park amphitheater, will produce only one musical there this summer,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[30394,157,844,610,9,11,10,49,51,50,905],"class_list":["post-210909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-alco","tag-entertainment","tag-latestnews","tag-local","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}