From side-splitting comedy to watermelon-splitting juggling, summer in the Hudson Valley will expose audiences to fan favorites, international gems, and experiments in music, theater, dance, and their combinations. The enduring choreography of Mark Morris grounds us with timeless dance and music, while we are launched into outer space with the Sun Ra Arkestra’s intergalactic free jazz extravaganza. We enter the realm of wonder with the dexterous magic of trickster Michael Carbonaro as we get hooked on his endearing stage presence, and flirt with the psychedelic at a three-day Phish engagement famous for its unpredictability. In theater, Elevator Repair Service goes toe-to-toe with the epic that is Ulysses, staging the novel’s plethora of characters, scenes, and deeply thought-provoking themes with humor and versatility. Quite literally juggling circus, dance, and story, Gandini Juggling have their hands full with fruits of various sizes in “Smashed2,” a new circus work offering a pointed social commentary performed at PS21. Together, the region’s summer arts landscape is swirling with fresh material, bold experiments, and beloved classics.
Michael Carbonaro
June 2 at Bardavon
Combining mind-bending magic and laugh-out-loud antics, Michael Carbonaro thrives in the intersection of comedy and wonder. Known for his original hit series “The Carbonaro Effect” as well as his frequent appearances on binge-worthy TV shows such as “30 Rock” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” Carbonaro will perform at the Bardavon as part of his “Lies on Stage” project, a tour that has boggled minds across the country since 2021. Deploying illusion, sleight of hand, and elements of slapstick and physical comedy, Carbonaro ties his act together through masterful timing, making you believe your own eyes a little less, and believe in magic a little more.
Elevator Repair Service’s “Ulysses”
June 20 – July 14 at Bard College
Elevator Repair Service’s experimental style has widened the horizons of audiences for over three decades, redefining the possibilities of theater. James Joyce’s Ulysses did the same thing for literature with its publication in 1922. A novel set over the course of just one day, Ulysses nonetheless packs in a plethora of literary styles, scores of vivid characters, and deeply human themes running from the profound to the profane. In the world premiere of their new staging, Elevator Repair Service traverses the novel’s many settings—the pubs, the Dublin streets, the lived-in homes, the Irish coastline—with curiosity and playfulness, taking up the overwhelming task of staging a novel that has perplexed readers for a century, and will likely continue to for many more.
Alan Cumming
June 21 at Paramount Hudson Valley
After a decades-long career spanning theater, music, storytelling, fashion, writing, and their explosive intersections, the polymath performer Alan Cumming makes his Paramount Hudson Valley debut with “Uncut.” Touted as an honest and unfiltered cabaret performance, Cumming teams up with pianist and musical director Henry Koperski to deliver heartfelt songs from the scandalous to the sacred that are both tantalizing and touching. Unapologetically risque and irresistibly smutty, the Scottish star has infected American audiences with his life-affirming stage presence.
Sun Ra Arkestra
July 5–6 at Opus 40
Endowed with a cosmic vision that permeated his life and music, pioneering composer Sun Ra left this Earth in 1993. However, his spirit lives on through the continuation of the ensemble he founded, the Sun Ra Arkestra. Organized chaos meets infectious swing in this raucous and experimental 12-member free jazz group, which is undergirded through its taste for the interstellar. Donning otherworldly outfits, the ensemble has featured a revolving door of stellar instrumentalists and singers, and is fronted by the 99-year-old metaphysical saxophonist Marshall Allen. Taking improvisation to its brink, the music is simultaneously futuristic in its aesthetic and classic in its use of jazz vocabulary, offering driving grooves and unfolding improvisation.
“Smashed2” by Gandini Juggling
July 12–13 at PS21
In “Smashed2,” the nine performers of UK troupe Gandini Juggling co-star with 80 oranges and seven watermelons. Reimagining juggling for smashable fruits, the piece is not afraid to get sticky, with not an inch of the stage uncovered by orange and watermelon pulp by the end. At the intersection of juggling, dance, and storytelling, “Smashed2” is an example of the new circus genre that PS21 in Chatham is known for platforming, mesmerizing audiences with hypnotic juggling skills while simultaneously telling an unfolding poignant drama. In “Smashed2,” a pointed and playful critique of gender roles is put forth, ending satisfyingly and perhaps symbolically, with a carnage of fruit.
Patton Oswalt
July 21 at The Mahaiwe
Name a TV show, and Patton Oswalt is probably in it. With countless roles under his belt, Oswald is a comic at heart. At the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Oswald offers an hour-long show of new material. “Effervescent” is exemplary of Oswald’s signature style, both macabre and uplifting, political and personal. Describing the show as a “hilarious train wreck,” Oswalt leans into his nonchalant irreverence, broaching trending cultural topics and hot-button issues that, despite the everyday melee, end only with one winner: laughter.
The Mark Morris Dance Group
August 1 at Caramoor
Accompanied by live violin and piano from the Mark Morris Dance Group Music Ensemble, the dancers of the MMDG nurture the well-loved work of the towering choreographer, keeping it fresh and inspired. One of the most sought-after and inspirational choreographers of the last half century, Mark Morris elevates the timeless music of Bach, Stravinsky, Barber, and Mendehlson into transfixing movement and larger-than-life immersion. This summer, the Caramoor selection spans MMDG works from 2005 to 2014, including “Italian Concerto,” “Candleflowerdance,” “Excursions,” and “Words,” making up a true summer dance gem in Caramoor’s Venetian Theater.
Phish
August 9–11 at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
Traversing rock, jazz, and pop while straddling the psychedelic, a Phish concert is known primarily for one thing: improvisation. Vastly different to the band on record, Phish in concert are famous for their untethered sound, propelling their songs into new, unexpected realms, unknown even to the band. Often labeled a “jam band,” Phish are nonetheless too exploratory to be confined by genre labels, and can be relied on for immersive and transporting concerts, where their familiar hits are fooled around with and molded into brave new creations. A no doubt rocking affair, Phish undergird their onstage experiments with a joyous dedication to their close-knit fans.
Judy Collins, Rufus Wainwright, and Indigo Girls
August 30 at Tanglewood
A goldmine for folk enthusiasts, August 30 will see three powerhouses of the folk world rock, sway, and swoon the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts. The veteran singer and songwriter Judy Collins, a national treasure of folk music with an undeniable `60s edge, will offer hits from her over-seven-decade career. Rufus Wainwright, known equally for his sweeping concoctions that blend elements of pop and rock, as well as his tender stripped-down folk works, will draw from his latest album of duets and collaborations, Folkocracy. Finally, the folk-rock duo Indigo Girls have only become more iconic since their beginnings in the `80s. Coming up on four decades of collaboration, the duo is a synchronized unit of folk-rock fluency. With hits peppered across their albums, the Indigo Girls are adept at keeping their old favorites fresh and developing their sound with new releases.
This article appears in Spring/Summer 2024.
