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Christmas at the Small Empire Music Hall
Nov. 21 – Dec. 7, 2008
Professional Equity Theatre Presentation

You May Go Now
You May Go Now

Feb. 20- Mar. 8, 2009 
Professional Equity Play  
 



World Premiere!

About The Play
From the musical tradition which gave birth to the antics of Charlie Chaplin! Join us for Christmas at the Small Empire Music Hall, as we follow three generations of performers as they navigate the world of the English Music Hall from before World War I to the advent of radio. Like its American sister - Vaudeville - singers, dancers and comedians populated the variety entertainment of the day, where families gathered for a rousing evening of fun and songs including such classics as "I’m ‘enery the 8th I am, ‘enery the 8th I am, I am…."

Great Review

Emp-Mus-Hall--press-shots-014"Long before there was 'Kath & Kim' or 'Dumb & Dumber,' the entertainment world was no stranger to delightful idiocy. Allen Lewis Rickman and Karl Tiedemann, two connoisseurs of comedy, remind us of this in their endearing entertainment, Christmas at the Small Empire Music Hall." ...
 
While the backstage turmoil is entertaining enough, it can't compare to the hilarity of the acts themselves...
 
Antolini-Lid shines in most of the dances, which she should, for she created the deft choreography, too...
 
McGowan knows how deliver the line...
 
As a director, Rickman shows he's researched what these shows looked like way back when. But he and Tiedemann display something far more important: They aren't mocking, or even spoofing this entertainment of yore. They're just putting it out there one mo' time for us so we can discover what our great-great grandfathers enjoyed, and find that we can get a kick out of it, too. "

 
                                                            Peter Filichia
                                                            The Star Ledger
                                                            [Full Article]

 

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From the Midwestern set of the latest Coen Brothers project (No Country for Old Men and Fargo), actor, writer and director Allen Lewis Rickman put the final touches on his latest play – Christmas at the Small Empire Music Hall - which will open at the Centenary Stage Company on Nov 21st.

In preparing for Christmas at the Small Empire Music Hall, Rickman actually attended British Music Hall performances when in London. Rickman notes that Ninety eight percent of what he does in the theatre is comic, and Christmas at the Small Empire Music Hall is replete with comic business and song, as was the genre in its original era. The characters in the play were inspired by real-life Music Hall performers, such as the renown Charles Coborn , who routinely had the audience singing along with him on such numbers as "Two Lovely Black Eyes," which he sang, tongue-in-cheek, in 7 different languages.

Playwrights:   
Allan Lewis Rickman and Karl Tiedemann

Director:
Allan Lewis Rickman

Start your Christmas celebration
in Hackettstown
Dec. 7, 2008

Tis the Season celebration - Centenary College

Bring The Whole Family

Join us at Centenary College’s "Tis the Season celebration" , with Crafts with St. Nicholas, horse-drawn wagon rides, Sunday matinee performance of Christmas at the Small Empire Music Hall (2:30 pm), caroling & ringing of the bells, and the ‘grand illumination’ tree lighting ~ Sunday, Dec 7th.

CSC will also offer two special holiday matinees on Saturday and Sunday of the first weekend in December, which will coincide with Hackettstown’s "Hometown Holiday", kicking off with a torchlight parade on Friday evening, Dec 5th, and shopping until Midnight, and Centenary’s " ‘Tis the Season" celebration on Sunday, Dec 7, with crafts with Santa, sleigh rides, tree-lighting and caroling at the college.

More "Hometown Holiday"
event information. Join the fun!

 

Rehearsal Photos    
Group Photo;
Allen Rickman, Amanda Maxfield (Oldwick), Scott McGowan (NY) Photo

About the Playwright/Director, Allan Lewis Rickman
In a fortuitous turn, Rickman – whom Centenary Stage audiences will remember from his comic performances in last season’s My Three Angels, was cast last spring with his wife, Yelena Schmulenson, as a Yiddish couple in the Coen Brothers A Simple Man, which is expected to open in theatres sometime next summer. "I would film a scene, and then run back to my script and make adjustments, call Carl Wallnau and see what actors we had on-board, then run back to film another scene." Centenary Stage Company General Manager, Catherine Rust, said " I love the Coen Brothers’ work, and I think it’s so neat that Allen carried the name of Hackettstown and the Centenary Stage to the set of these innovative and inspired film-makers!" Rickman and Wallnau held their first auditions for Christmas at the Small Empire Music Hall in New York this fall, then Rickman was flown out to Minneapolis to film. He flew back to New York to hold "call-backs" for Christmas at the Small Empire Music Hall, then back to Minnesota to conclude the filming. Rickman reported he was glad to discover that both the Coen brothers are "very nice and down-to-earth" and that he actually became quite friendly with Ethan, who also lives in New York City.

Rickman is both the author (with Karl Tiedemann) and director of CSC’s next project. He is no stranger to directing, and was recently nominated for a Drama Desk award for Best Musical revival of The Pirates of Penzance in New York. As a writer, Rickman’s comic farce, Off the Hook, which he co-authored with Karl Tiedemann, premiered in New Jersey and has been performed many times in Europe, with the next production scheduled for Luxembourg this spring. His next directing project will be an adaptation of an Elie Wiesel story, which will premiere early next year in New York.

For more information about Allen Rickman and Christmas at the Small Empire Music Hall, call the CSC administrative offices at 908-979-0900.

Lackland Performing Arts Center

Lackland Performing Arts Center
   Lackland Performing Arts Center scheduled for
   completion in 2010

The Centenary Stage Company and all it’s programs will find a new home with construction the Carol and David Lackland Center, scheduled for completion in Spring, 2010. With a 22,000-square-foot performance space, the facility is destined to become the most sophisticated performing arts venues in northwest New Jersey. The center will include a 500-seat theatre, a black box theater, a dance studio, scene shop, a costume shop, green room and dressing rooms. In addition to housing the theatre, the 68K square foot Lackland Center will be a home for a variety of cultural activity, and will include WNTI, the College’s listener-supported public radio station, CCTV, Centenary’s Comcast-licensed television studio, and gallery space for visual artists.

Named in honor of Carol Burgess Lackland, A Centenary graduate (Class of 1954), and her husband, David A. Lackland, a Centenary College Trustee, The David and Carol Lackland Center, has been designed to enrich student life and bring new cultural opportunities to northwest New Jersey.   ...more

Schedule

  • Christmas at the Small Empire Music Hall will be performed on the Centenary Stage from Nov. 21 – Dec 7.
     
  • "Meet the Artists" talk-back on the first Sunday of the production (Nov 23rd).
     

             Hackettstown's 3rd Annual Hometown Holiday Event
CSC will also offer two special holiday matinees (shown in bold on the calendar) on Saturday and Sunday of the first weekend in December, which will coincide with Hackettstown’s "Hometown Holiday", kicking off with a torchlight parade on Friday evening, Dec 5th, and shopping until Midnight, and Centenary’s " ‘Tis the Season" celebration on Sunday, Dec 7, with crafts with Santa, sleigh rides, tree-lighting and caroling at the college.

More "Hometown Holiday"
event information. Join the fun!


 
Nov. - Dec. 2008 - Christmas at the Small Empire Music Hall
Wed.
Mat.
2:30pm

Thurs.
Eve.
7:30pm
Fri.
Mat.
2:30pm
Fri.
Eve.
8pm
Sat.
Mat.
2:30pm
Sat.
Eve.
8pm
Sun.
Mat.
2:30pm
    21 21 x 22 23
Meet The Artists 
 
26 x
 
 
x 28 x 29 30
3 4
Family
Night
x 5
6
6
7
 
 

Tickets
Individual Tickets are:
 

Season Plays:  
Saturday: $22.50 for adults, $17.50 for seniors/students and $15 for children under 12
Friday $20.00 for adults, $17.50 for seniors/students and $15 for children under 12
Other Evening Performances: $20.00 for adults, $17.50 for seniors/students and $15 for children under 12
Matinee showings $17.50
Thursday (2 for 1 at the door the day of the show only): $20
Concert / Dance Events In Advance:   
   New Jersey Ballet
       $22.50 for adults,
       $17.50 for seniors/students
       $15.00 for children under 12
   All Other
       $20.00 for adults,
       $17.50 for seniors/students
       $15.00 for children under 12
The at-the-door ticket prices:  
   New Jersey Ballet: $25.00      
   All Other: $22.50
 

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Annual programming at the Centenary Performing Arts Guild are made possible in part through the generous support of the The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour (Penn PAT) , Heath Village, Coldwell Banker and Arts Guild Members and Sponsors.


 

 
 

 
 
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