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…."

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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

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 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).
   

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: