For the past 10 years, I have had the distinct privilege of sitting in the best seat in the house for The Music Hall’s “Writers On A New England Stage” series.
Well, to be accurate, I’ve been sitting in one of the three best seats in the house, up on stage, with the other guys in the house band for the series, Dreadnaught.*Read More
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There have been so many fabulous moments in the production of this series …. I couldn’t name just one. Needless to say, we do much work behind the scenes for months leading up to each writer’s event, identifying writers/books to feature and then negotiating and organizing with appropriate contacts in New York. It’s like any other business or product - you work hard to get it just right and then you put it out into the marketplace - or, in our case, on stage. It’s great fun and a great challenge getting to that point, a mix of “big game hunting” and administrative and marketing execution. Read More
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When I first created Writers on a New England Stage it was scary. We didn’t know if it would work and no-one knew us. I wrote all the first scripts, helped pick out the chairs for the “set,” went to New York to pitch the series, and was asked repeatedly where Portsmouth, New Hampshire was exactly. A lot has changed since then, but much has stayed the same: We still have our wonderful broadcast partner, New Hampshire Public Radio, and our house band Dreadnaught; and we are still using the same chairs and tables that we started out with. Margaret Talcott has come on as a producer, we’ve all started tweeting, and we now have the help of some wonderful interns from the graduate program in Creative Writing at UNH. Read More
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Full disclosure: Having lived in New York City for much of my adult life, I’m somewhat of a culture snob. It has been an unexpected thrill during the past several years to experience the depth and breadth of the thriving arts scene in Portsmouth—and a privilege to work with The Music Hall helping to spread the word. Read More
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The April edition of NOW at The Music Hall is out. We’ve got a great lineup of live shows in April: from Jim Belushi to Feist; Swan Lake to P.J. O’Rourke.
New shows on sale: The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Miss Richfield 1981 “Play with My Poodle”, La Santa Cecelia, Sing-a-long Sound of Music.
Don’t miss Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, Not to mention all the great films: Telluride by the Sea favorites The Invisible Woman and The Lunchbox; Wildcard Movies Babette’s Feast and Crash Reel.
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Jared Diamond is one of America’s most celebrated scholars. His arrival at The Music Hall on January 17 coincides with the release of his latest work, The World Until Yesterday. Diamond is a Professor of Geography at UCLA whose groundbreaking work, Guns, Germs and Steel won the Pulitzer prize in 1997.Read More
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Gift-giving fever is here.
But it doesn’t have to be stressful. My epiphany about gift-giving happened last summer, when I was rushing around Portsmouth looking for a house gift for cousins who live in a Maine farmhouse. I like to match gifts to the recipients and was thinking about their personalities. Mary is an extrovert. Terry is an introvert. They are both intellectually curious and read The New York Times every day. I had recently heard Susan Cain’s fascinating talk about her book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking at the Writers in the Loft series and it struck me: an autographed copy would be the perfect gift! I high-tailed it over to The Music Hall Box office to purchase a copy. I also bought them a box of Music Hall greeting cards so they could see highlights of the fabulous place I’m privileged to work for—and I could feel good about contributing a bit more to an independent arts organization that brings so much to the community.Read More
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Bestselling author and physician Deepak Chopra visited The Music Hall Thursday December 6, 2012 to discuss his latest work, Super Brain: Unleashing the Explosive Power of Your Mind to Maximize Health, Happiness and Spiritual Well-Being, co-authored by Harvard Medical School Professor Rudolph E. Tanzi. The first ever Innovation and Leadership Forum in the Historic Theater was presented in collaboration Writers on a New England Stage, The Music Hall-New Hampshire Public Radio series of bestselling authors. The transformational evening included a discussion with Executive Producer/Moderator Patricia Lynch, and closed with Dr. Chopra leading the sold-out audience of 900 in a meditation in the landmark 1878 theater.Read More
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