America has always been a little skeptical about films with a tangible political point of view. Michael Moore can get away with it, of course, because he’s funny and engaging. But Hollywood’s preferred maxim has always been: “If you have a message, call Western Union.” (That phrase, from the era when telegrams were still the gold standard in important message sending, should probably be updated to, “If you have a message, tweet it.” But I digress.)Read More
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This summer we are bringing a bit of Mardi Gras back to Portsmouth with the return of The Preservation Hall Jazz Band on Wednesday, July 26. In anticipation of their return Ben Jaffe, the renowned band’s Creative Director took time out of a busy schedule to share his thoughts with The Music Hall’s Deputy Director of Programming, Thérèse LaGamma.Read More
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This time of year, Portsmouth comes to life. The tourist swarm downtown, the flowers all are in bloom, and the waterfront restaurants are all packed full, it’s like a postcard come to life. While we are all taking full advantage of all the Seacoast has to offer, there are people in this community that summer brings a new set of challenges and hardships.Read More
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It’s hard to believe that we are already halfway through June, although that stretch of 90*+ days did help make me believe that we would in fact have a summer. As I was going through my calendar, I realized that we are just a week and a half away from Fill The Hall. If you’re not familiar with Fill The Hall, it’s a food drive that we host here at our Historic Theater. Our goal is to fill every seat (and then some) in the theater with a bag of nonperishable food, to support Gather’s (formerly Seacoast Family Food Pantry) Summer Meals 4 Kids program. This program is to help provide at need children with nutritional meals during the summer months when school lunch programs aren’t available. Read More
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Well, here’s that summer you ordered. Hope you like it.
Summer in New Hampshire always arrives bearing a heavy load of expectations imposed on it by vacationers, gardeners, beach-goers, and convertible owners. And occasionally it even delivers the goods, although we all remember the summer it rained every weekend and the summer that wasn’t.Film discussion Tuesday night: A Quiet PassionRead More
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ACT ONE
Once upon a time, back before we could search for movie trailers on YouTube, or shatter our expectations with Rotten Tomatoes, or stumble over some mad spoiler at BirthMoviesDeath.com, the easiest way to find out what films were coming around was the poster box in front of the theater. As a free-range ragamuffin, rattling around the streets of Portsmouth, making mischief after school, I would always take time to swing up Chestnut street to see what the old Civic had in store.Read More
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I have a confession, I’m a little bit of a crazy cat lady, without actually owning a cat… So you can only imagine how excited I am that the CatVideo Festival is returning to the Historic Theater on Friday night. What is the CatVideo Festival you ask? It’s a curated collection of fun, funny, and adorable cat videos all projected up on our big screen.Read More
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Usually, when I talk about the Loft, I use the word discovery. I talk about about how you get the chance to see an artist up close and personal before they move on the play large venues or even the Historic Theater and before their music is all over the radio. I relate it to getting in on the ground floor, to knowing something special before anyone else all right here in downtown Portsmouth. Lately, however, I’ve noticed that the acts that we’re getting are pretty well known artists with established fan bases like Dakhabrakha, Alejandro Escovedo, and coming on Tuesday Zach Williams of the Lone Bellow. Read More
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