Entertainment - Marblehead Current

MHS Drama Club presents student-written ‘The Life of the Phoenix’ this Friday

27Feb

By Benji BoydNo Comments

Art, Entertainment, Local News, Marblehead Public Schools

MHS Drama Club presents student-written ‘The Life of the Phoenix’ this Friday

**Marblehead Current intern Benji Boyd is a cast member of "The Life of the Phoenix" and wrote this article about this Friday's performance. This Friday, March 1, the Marblehead High School Drama Club will perform the student-written play, "The Life of the Phoenix" (formerly titled "It's About Pirates and Nothing Else") before taking the show to the Drama Fest competition this weekend. Co-authors Luke Menslage and Brady Weed have been collaborating with director Thomas Rash to lead rehearsals since late fall. Friday's performance will be at the Veterans School Performing Arts Center. Admission is free, but the Friends of the Performing Arts will be collecting donations to help fund the performing arts department at MHS. The play tells the story of eccentric pirates who, a...

CURRENT EVENTS: Marblehead’s best bets coming up

20Feb

By Leigh BlanderNo Comments

Art, Community resources, Culture, Entertainment, Local News, Nonprofit corner

CURRENT EVENTS: Marblehead’s best bets coming up

Current Events spotlights exciting happenings in the coming days. If you’d like to contribute a listing, please email Current Editor Leigh Blander at lblander@marbleheadnews.org. Festival chorus Beginning Wednesday, Feb. 21, 7:30 p.m.-9:15 p.m. Registration and rehearsals are set for Old North Church’s Festival Chorus and its Palm Sunday performance on Sunday, March 24, 7:30 p.m. All interested singers are encouraged to join — both those who have performed in past Festival Chorus Christmas and Lenten concerts, as well as newcomers. Register at the first rehearsal. Subsequent rehearsals will take place every Wednesday until the performance. More info at oldnorthfestivalchorus.org. Sugar & Spice Saturday, Feb. 24, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Join Marblehead Museu...

14Feb

By Leigh BlanderNo Comments

Art, Community resources, Culture, Education, Entertainment, Environment, Local News, Recreation

CURRENT EVENTS: Marblehead’s best bets

Current Events spotlights exciting happenings in the coming days. If you’d like to contribute a listing, please email Current Editor Leigh Blander at lblander@marbleheadnews.org. Amy Speace at Me&TheeFriday, Feb. 16, 8 p.m. Come to Me&Thee Music, 28 Mugford St., and hear renowned folk singer Amy Speace. Heralded by Rolling Stone and Billboard Magazine, Speace is one of contemporary folk and Americana music’s leading voices of the new generation. Over 20 years of touring, she has played concerts all across the U.S. and Europe. For tickets and more info, go to meandthee.org. Lois Lane & The Daily PlanetsFriday, Feb. 16, 9 p.m. The Beacon presents Lois Lane & The Daily Planets and their classic rock, rhythm and blues, soul, pop and dance music. 123 P...

8Feb

By Leigh BlanderNo Comments

Art, Culture, Entertainment, Environment, Local News, Nonprofit corner, Theater

CURRENT EVENTS: Marblehead’s best bets coming up

Current Events spotlights exciting happenings in the coming days. If you’d like to contribute a listing, please email Current Editor Leigh Blander at lblander@marbleheadnews.org. ‘Love Letters’: A play to benefit the MAASaturday, Feb. 10, 7 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 11, 2 p.m. “Love Letters,” by A.R. Gurney, springs to life at the Marblehead Arts Association for two performances at the historic King Hooper Mansion, 8 Hooper St. “Love Letters” is a play made entirely of letters between the staid and proper Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and Melissa Gardner, a free-spirited but troubled artist. The play spans the characters’ lives from the second grade through their mid-50s. More info and tickets at MarbleheadArts.org. Indoor sidewalk saleSaturday, Feb. 10, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. The Chamber ...

Before fame, Tracy Chapman wowed Marblehead crowds

7Feb

By Will DowdNo Comments

Art, Community resources, Culture, Entertainment, Local News, Nonprofit corner, Top Stories

Before fame, Tracy Chapman wowed Marblehead crowds

Long before her "Fast Car" duet with country singer Luke Combs stole the Grammy Awards on Sunday night, singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman performed at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead. Anthony Silva’s friend, Stephen Baird, snapped this photo of Tracy Chapman busking in Harvard Square in the mid-1980s. Chapman first took to the Me&Thee stage in 1986, giving the audience a rare opportunity to witness the early stages of an illustrious career. In 1985, Marblehead resident Anthony Silva discovered Chapman when he heard her performing in Harvard Square. She was a sophomore at Tufts University. "I crossed the street, and she's busking. I mean, she's a street singer, a street performer. And there she is performing," Silva recalled. "I immediately asked her aft...

CURRENT EVENTS: Marblehead’s best bets happening soon

31Jan

By Leigh BlanderNo Comments

Community resources, Culture, Entertainment, Local News, Nonprofit corner, Sailing, Top Stories

CURRENT EVENTS: Marblehead’s best bets happening soon

Current Events spotlights exciting happenings in the coming days. If you’d like to contribute a listing, please email Current Editor Leigh Blander at lblander@marbleheadnews.org. ‘Rhapsody at 100’Saturday, Feb. 10 p.m. The New England Yankees big band, led by Marblehead’s Matthew Arnold, will present “Rhapsody at 100: The Experiment Continues” featuring piano virtuoso Matt Savage, strings, brass and percussion. “I’ve been dreaming about this concert for three years,” said Arnold, who is music director at Star of the Sea Church. “This concert is in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the premiere of George Gerswhin's ‘Rhapsody In Blue.’ We will also perform a number of other exciting and rarely heard pieces that were written for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. Mr. Wh...

Marblehead’s Got Talent auditions start this Saturday

29Jan

By Leigh BlanderNo Comments

Community resources, Entertainment, Local News, Nonprofit corner, Theater, Top Stories

Marblehead’s Got Talent auditions start this Saturday

The Marblehead’s Got Talent contest is back after a hiatus last year, and auditions will be held Saturdays, Feb. 3 and 10, 10 a.m.-noon, at The Beacon. The Rotary Club of Marblehead, which has run the contest for 16 years, will award nearly $20,000 to student winners. Marblehead High junior Brady Weed will be auditioning again after competing in 2022. MHS senior Brady Weed, shown performing at Marblehead’s Got Talent two years ago, will be auditioning again this year. COURTESY PHOTO “I performed a cover of ‘I See Fire’ by Ed Sheeran and Howard Shore, written for the second ‘Hobbit’ movie,” Weed told the Current. “That won me third place in the competition, which was a $3,000 scholarship. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.” Rotary’s David Deutsch has organized MGT for...

‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder’ opens Friday

24Jan

By Benji BoydNo Comments

Culture, Entertainment, Local News, Theater

‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder’ opens Friday

Marblehead Little Theatre’s production of “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” opens this Friday, Jan. 26, and will run for eight shows. Director Alexandra Dietrich hopes that this dark musical comedy will coax theater-lovers out despite the cold, and warm them up with laughter. A Broadway sensation from a decade ago, “A Gentleman’s Guide” tells the story of Monty Navarro, a working class Brit who finds out he is distantly related to the aristocratic D’Ysquith family, and sets out to murder his way into a weighty inheritance. He hopes that with his new wealth he will be able to woo his money-minded sweetheart, but finds himself drawn to another woman along the way. According to Dietrich, “A Gentleman’s Guide” is “a love letter to the British musical.” Absurdly funny and melodram...

MHS filmmakers ‘cash in’ on popular movie

23Jan

By Leigh BlanderNo Comments

Culture, Entertainment, Local News, Marblehead Public Schools

MHS filmmakers ‘cash in’ on popular movie

The Marblehead High School directors of the film “Currently a Paperboy” picked up a check for $1980 for their six sold-out screenings last month at the Warwick Cinema. “The film performed better than Napoleon at the time,” said Johnny Ray, managing partner at the Warwick. The Warwick's managing partner Johnny Ray (left) presents a check to Wyatt Foley and Gwyn Anderson, who wrote and directed "Currently a Paperboy." COURTESY PHOTO MHS senior Wyatt Foley told the Current, “We’re using it (the money) to put “Currently a Paperboy” into festivals. And also looking to establish a film scholarship.” The movie — written, directed and starring MHS students — tells the story of two brothers. Wyatt Foley working with cast members COURTESY PHOTO / JAMES MARONEY Wyatt Foley direc...

Matt Arnold’s big band to perform ‘Rhapsody at 100’

22Jan

By Leigh BlanderNo Comments

Art, Community resources, Culture, Entertainment, Local News

Matt Arnold’s big band to perform ‘Rhapsody at 100’

The New England Yankees big band, led by Matthew Arnold of Marblehead, is presenting “Rhapsody at 100: The Experiment Continues” featuring piano virtuoso Matt Savage and a 32-piece symphonic jazz band. “I’ve been dreaming about this concert for three years,” said Arnold, who is music director at Star of the Sea Church, 85 Atlantic Ave. “This concert is in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the premiere of George Gerswhin's "Rhapsody In Blue," Arnold continued. "We will also perform a number of other exciting and rarely heard pieces that were written for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. Mr. Whiteman commissioned "Rhapsody In Blue" for his orchestra and we will perform the original orchestration as it was heard in 1924.” The conert will be held in the church's sanctuary, whic...