As we get closer to summer, several noteworthy events are taking place, chief among them a new musical created right here in Williamsburg.
The Williamsburg Players
The Williamsburg Players opened the critically well-received musical “Spitfire Grill” on June 2 in the Playhouse on Hubbard Lane. An American musical based on the 1996 film of the same name, it deals with inspiration, fresh starts and redemption as experienced by fresh-out-of-prison Percy Talbott. She ends up in Gilead, Wisconsin, where the local sheriff helps get her a job in the town’s only restaurant. Music director is Kristin Mazzocca.
The musical — which goes through June 18 — runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. For information about the production or the Community Ticket Share Program and how to apply for free tickets, visit www.williamsburgplayers.org or call 757-229-0431.
Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra League
Following its recent successful evening of fine food at the Culture Café and music by the Poisoned Dwarf, the Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra League has its season finale Encore Affairs event on June 9 at the White Hall Flower Farm in Toano.
White Hall is a family-owned historical farm established circa 1790 by the Geddy family. The Flower Farm was established in 2020 and is owned by Sarah Geddy Wood, the eighth generation of Geddys in Williamsburg.
The Flower Farm grows rare varieties of flowers, heirloom flowers, flowers that would be too difficult to ship commercially and those that aren’t available in local floral businesses. The flowers are grown without chemicals and pesticides.
The 11:30 a.m. Encore Affairs event includes a small bouquet workshop with Wood and a boxed lunch at the farm. There are limited seats available; call Georgianna Avioli at 757-220-4854.
With this season’s Affairs soon to be over, the League has announced some exciting events for the 2023-2024 music season, starting Aug. 31 with a day at the races at Colonial Downs. Details for reservations will be coming soon.
Other events in the planning stages including another trip to Richmond for a Virginia Opera production.
“MADam LUCY, deceased” premieres
William Schermerhorn — W&M Class of 1982, creative director for Colonial Williamsburg’s Signature Events and two-time Emmy Award-winning songwriter — has reached into Williamsburg’s past to create a new musical about the life and afterlife of Lucy Ludwell Paradise (1752-1814). The result is “MADam LUCY, deceased,” which gets two public workshop performances at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on June 11 in the Wren Building’s Great Hall.
The musical is set in a salon in mid-19th century Williamsburg and focuses on Lucy Ludwell Paradise’s ascent into the fashionable world of 18th-century society, her interactions with prominent figures of the day, her descent and incarceration in America’s first public mental hospital and her role as resident ghost in the Ludwell-Paradise House on Duke of Gloucester Street.
According to Schermerhorn, the project “… began as a lark to dramatically musicalize the ghost story about Colonial Williamsburg’s most infamous spirit” and evolved into a deep look at the mostly unforgotten life of Ludwell Paradise.” It reflects pride in her Virginia heritage, sense of entitlement and her appreciation of an expensive lifestyle, along with her charm and temper, combining to provide an intriguing look into Williamsburg history and mental health theories of the 18th and 19th centuries.
In addition to having been the vice president/creative director for Macy’s Parade and Entertainment Group, Schermerhorn has written for such stars as Julie Andrews, Harvey Fierstein, Idina Menzel and Whoopi Goldberg. He’s also created and premiered works at such venues as Carnegie Hall, has written numerous holiday songs and song cycles, worked in the jazz genre and was invited to write “And That’s the Way It Is,” with music by Michael Feinstein, for legendary broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite’s memorial service at Lincoln Center.
Four W&M students appear in the production, along with Stephanie Scott (Lucy), who boasts credits from California to Vermont to Virginia in theater, film dance, singing and magic, as well as corresponding skills behind the stage and in instructional settings. She even took master classes with Bob Fosse and Tommy Tune.
Tickets are pay-what-you-can. Support for the workshop production is provided in part by the W&M Theater & Dance Performance Fund. To donate, visit impact.wm.edu/madamlucy. To secure seating, call 757- 221-2671.
Reminder
The rescheduled appearance of mandolin superstar Chris Thile and his world premiere work with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra will take place June 15 in the Ferguson Center. Start time is 7:30 p.m. Tickets from the cancelled May 19 performance have been automatically transferred to the June date. If you have any questions, call 757-892-6366.
Have information about the arts in the Historic Triangle? Contact John Shulson at [email protected].
