Summer stock theatre
Encyclopedia
Summer stock theatre is any theatre
that presents stage productions only in the summer within the United States. The name combines both the seasonal time of year with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock
scenery
and costume
s. Summer stock theatres frequently take advantage of seasonal weather by having their productions outdoors or under tents set up temporarily for their use.
Some smaller theatres still continue this tradition, and a few summer stock theatres have become highly regarded by both patrons as well as performers and designers. Equity
status and pay for actors in these theatres varies greatly. Often viewed as a starting point for professional actors, stock casts are typically young, just out of high school or still in college.
(1927) and moved to Ogunquit, Maine
; the Cape Playhouse, Dennis, Massachusetts
(1927); and the Berkshire Playhouse, Stockbridge, Massachusetts
(1928). Many of the theatres of the heyday, the 1920s through the 1960s, were in New England. Also called the "straw hat circuit", theatres also were in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, among other states. (There had been earlier summer theatres: the Gardens Theatre, Denver (1890) and Lakewood Playhouse near Skowhegan, Maine
(1901 for summer), but they were established stock theatres that had then been used as a summer venue.)
The structure was to present different plays in weekly or biweekly repertory, performed by a resident company, generally between June and September. The usual fare consisted of light comedies, romances, mysteries. The theatres were located in rural areas. Touring companies would carry hand props and costumes to each venue, where sound, lights and set would be awaiting them.
Summer stock provided a training ground for actors and great, inexpensive entertainment for vacationing East Coast urbanites. Craig Mamrick describes Louis Edmonds
' early summer stock experience: "Louis spent the summer of 1949 working as part of the repertory company at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit, Maine...The Ogunquit Playhouse was affiliated with the Manhattan Theatre Colony, an apprentice program that hopeful actors could attend (paying $150 for the summer) to learn their craft and observe—and possibly work with—professionals. Such stage luminaries as Maude Adams, Ethel Barrymore, Lilian Gish, and Ruth Gordon had trod the boards here. Students took classes in acting, stagecraft, makeup, and voice, and if they were talented enough, they might be asked to appear in plays with the resident acting company." Additionally, many notable performers spent their summers on the circuit. Plays and musicals that had closed on Broadway
would play the circuit. By 1950, there were 152 Equity companies, including the Ogunquit Playhouse and Skowhegan Playhouse in Maine; the Woodstock
Playhouse in upstate New York; Falmouth
Playhouse in Massachusetts (burnt down in 1994); Priscilla Beach Theatre in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope
(suburban Philadelphia), Pennsylvania (established in 1939). The Westport Country Playhouse
in Connecticut
, since renovated with the support of Joanne Woodward
and Paul Newman
, was also part of the summer stock circuit.
A similar circuit existed in Florida
during the winter. Venues included the Royal Poinciana Playhouse, Palm Beach, Florida
(closed since 2004) where performers from Bob Cummings in 1958 to Arlene Francis
(1961) and Richard Chamberlain
(1966) appeared.
John Kenley
, an Ohio
-based producer, ran his own summer stock circuit, Kenley Players, in Columbus
, Dayton
, Warren
, the Carousel Theatre in Akron
, and Canton, Ohio
. Starting in 1958 performers such as Dan Dailey
in Guys and Dolls, Barbara Eden
in Lady in the Dark
, and Howard Keel
in Kismet
appeared. Kenley cast "movie stars and television personalities" who were nationally known. During Gypsy Rose Lee
's engagement in Auntie Mame
at the Warren theatre, Erik Preminger wrote: "Working for him [John Kenley] was a joy. Everything about his operation was first-class from the director and supporting cast he had assembled through the scenery, props, and costumes...He was attentive, supportive." Performers such as Paul Lynde
, Bill Bixby
, Karen Morrow
, Phyllis Diller
, Andy Devine
, Gordon MacRae
and Patrice Munsel
starred in Kenley stock productions. Ethel Merman
performed in Call Me Madam
at the Kenley Players in 1968 (as well as appearing at the Parker Playhouse and Coconut Grove Playhouse
in Miami earlier that year).
The Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts
opened in 1927 with The Guardsman, starring Basil Rathbone
, and has continued through the 2009 season with Hunter Foster
and Malcolm Gets
.
The Ogunquit Playhouse, begun in 1933, attracted performers such as Maude Adams
, Ethel Barrymore
, and Laurette Taylor
in the early years and more recently, Sally Struthers
, Lucie Arnaz
, and Lorenzo Lamas
.
Performers such as Ginger Rogers
, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Angela Lansbury
, Bob Hope
, Zero Mostel
, Ann Miller
, Jane Powell
, and Debbie Reynolds
performed at the Cape Cod
Music Circus and its sister theatre, the South Shore Music Circus.
Colleen Dewhurst
wrote of her experiences in summer stock as a new actress: "My first professional jobs were in summer stock, in small, medium and large companies that presented ten plays in ten weeks from June until Labor Day...At that time, the core of each summer stock company was made up of a stage manager and six resident actors: a leading man and woman, a character man and woman, and an ingenue and a juvenile. In some cases, five or six of the summer plays would be 'star vehicles', featuring a familiar actor or actress."
plays
, musicals
, or even opera
. Some notable summer theatres include: Oregon Shakespeare Festival Ashland, Oregon
, Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre, Grand Lake, Colorado
, Summerstock Conservatory
, Calgary
, Utah Shakespearean Festival
, Cedar City, Utah
, Santa Fe Opera
, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Becket, Massachusetts
, Williamstown Theatre Festival
, Williamstown, Massachusetts
, Berkshire Theatre Festival
, Stockbridge, Massachusetts
, Glimmerglass Opera
, Cooperstown, New York, The Barn Theatre in Augusta, Michigan and Vancouver
's Bard on the Beach
.
In 1949, St. John Terrell began a new experience presenting summer stock theatre under an arena-type (circus
) tent in Lambertville, New Jersey
, the Music circus
. This began a new period of outdoor theatre. In 1951 this new style of summer stock made its way west with the addition of the Sacramento Music Circus
.
The Cape Cod
Music Circus (now the Melody Tent) in Hyannis
, Massachusetts opened in 1950, the third tent theatre to open, and The South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset
, Massachusetts followed in 1951. A tent theatre had opened earlier in Florida.
Another theatre in the round, the Valley Forge Music Fair
(which closed in 1996), in Devon, Pennsylvania, was opened in 1955 by Shelly Gross
, Lee Guber
and Frank Ford. They then opened other theatres in the round, including Shady Grove Music Fair in Washington, DC, Painters Mill Music Fair in Maryland (closed in 1991), and the Westbury Music Fair
on Long Island
, opened in 1956. By 1957, there were 19 tent theatres, many located in Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey, and all presenting musicals only. (The musical The Pajama Game
was the major show making the tent circuit in the summer of 1957.)
The theatre in the round
concept brought Broadway-style musicals to northern California
under a big top tent each summer. Original producers Russell Lewis and Howard Young presented their first production, Show Boat
, the same opening production at both the Lambertville and the South Shore Music Circus. The original Lambertville theatre closed in 1970, and both the Sacramento and South Shore theatres continue to thrive today. In Sacramento, live musicals in the round are presented in a new permanent complex, The Wells Fargo Pavilion
. The South Shore Music Circus and Cape Cod Melody Tent now serve primarily as intimate settings for musical acts including popular singers, oldies groups, and orchestras.
Theater (structure)
A theater or theatre is a structure where theatrical works or plays are performed or other performances such as musical concerts may be produced. While a theater is not required for performance , a theater serves to define the performance and audience spaces...
that presents stage productions only in the summer within the United States. The name combines both the seasonal time of year with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
scenery
Theatrical scenery
Theatrical scenery is that which is used as a setting for a theatrical production. Scenery may be just about anything, from a single chair to an elaborately re-created street, no matter how large or how small, whether or not the item was custom-made or is, in fact, the genuine item, appropriated...
and costume
Costume
The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances...
s. Summer stock theatres frequently take advantage of seasonal weather by having their productions outdoors or under tents set up temporarily for their use.
Some smaller theatres still continue this tradition, and a few summer stock theatres have become highly regarded by both patrons as well as performers and designers. Equity
Actors' Equity Association
The Actors' Equity Association , commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing the world of live theatrical performance, as opposed to film and television performance. However, performers appearing on live stage productions without a book or...
status and pay for actors in these theatres varies greatly. Often viewed as a starting point for professional actors, stock casts are typically young, just out of high school or still in college.
History
Summer stock started in the 1920s with three theatres: Manhattan Theatre Colony, first started near Peterborough, New HampshirePeterborough, New Hampshire
Peterborough is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 6,284 at the 2010 census. Home to the MacDowell Art Colony, the town is a popular tourist destination....
(1927) and moved to Ogunquit, Maine
Ogunquit, Maine
Ogunquit is a town in York County, Maine, United States. As of the 2000 census its population was 1,226. The popularity of the town as a summer resort is epitomized by its motto, "Beautiful Place by the Sea."...
; the Cape Playhouse, Dennis, Massachusetts
Dennis, Massachusetts
Dennis is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States; located near the center of Cape Cod. The population was 14,207 at the 2010 census.The town encompasses five distinct villages, each of which has its own post office...
(1927); and the Berkshire Playhouse, Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,947 at the 2010 census...
(1928). Many of the theatres of the heyday, the 1920s through the 1960s, were in New England. Also called the "straw hat circuit", theatres also were in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, among other states. (There had been earlier summer theatres: the Gardens Theatre, Denver (1890) and Lakewood Playhouse near Skowhegan, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
(1901 for summer), but they were established stock theatres that had then been used as a summer venue.)
The structure was to present different plays in weekly or biweekly repertory, performed by a resident company, generally between June and September. The usual fare consisted of light comedies, romances, mysteries. The theatres were located in rural areas. Touring companies would carry hand props and costumes to each venue, where sound, lights and set would be awaiting them.
Summer stock provided a training ground for actors and great, inexpensive entertainment for vacationing East Coast urbanites. Craig Mamrick describes Louis Edmonds
Louis Edmonds
Louis Edmonds was an American actor from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was best known for his roles in Dark Shadows and All My Children....
' early summer stock experience: "Louis spent the summer of 1949 working as part of the repertory company at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit, Maine...The Ogunquit Playhouse was affiliated with the Manhattan Theatre Colony, an apprentice program that hopeful actors could attend (paying $150 for the summer) to learn their craft and observe—and possibly work with—professionals. Such stage luminaries as Maude Adams, Ethel Barrymore, Lilian Gish, and Ruth Gordon had trod the boards here. Students took classes in acting, stagecraft, makeup, and voice, and if they were talented enough, they might be asked to appear in plays with the resident acting company." Additionally, many notable performers spent their summers on the circuit. Plays and musicals that had closed on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
would play the circuit. By 1950, there were 152 Equity companies, including the Ogunquit Playhouse and Skowhegan Playhouse in Maine; the Woodstock
Woodstock, New York
Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 at the 2000 census.The Town of Woodstock is in the northern part of the county...
Playhouse in upstate New York; Falmouth
Falmouth, Massachusetts
Falmouth is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States; Barnstable County is coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 31,531 at the 2010 census....
Playhouse in Massachusetts (burnt down in 1994); Priscilla Beach Theatre in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope
New Hope, Pennsylvania
New Hope, formerly known as Coryell's Ferry, is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA. The population was 2,528 at the 2010 census. The borough lies on the west bank of the Delaware River at its confluence with Aquetong Creek. A two-lane bridge carries automobile and foot traffic across the...
(suburban Philadelphia), Pennsylvania (established in 1939). The Westport Country Playhouse
Westport Country Playhouse
Westport Country Playhouse, is a not-for-profit theater in Westport, Connecticut. Under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos the Playhouse produces new and classic plays for the public....
in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, since renovated with the support of Joanne Woodward
Joanne Woodward
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward is an American actress, television and theatrical producer, and widow of Paul Newman...
and Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
, was also part of the summer stock circuit.
A similar circuit existed in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
during the winter. Venues included the Royal Poinciana Playhouse, Palm Beach, Florida
Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...
(closed since 2004) where performers from Bob Cummings in 1958 to Arlene Francis
Arlene Francis
Arlene Francis was an American actress, radio talk show host, and game show panelist...
(1961) and Richard Chamberlain
Richard Chamberlain
George Richard Chamberlain is an American actor of stage and screen who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare .-Early life:...
(1966) appeared.
Performers
Stars of Broadway, film, and television would regularly spend summers performing in stock. The Council of Stock Theatres (COST) negotiated a special contract with Actors Equity to cover the work of actors and stage managers.John Kenley
John Kenley
John Kenley was an American theatrical producer.-1906–1920s:Born John Kremchek, in the winter of 1906, his early childhood was spent in Denver. His father, a Slovakian saloon owner, baptized him as Russian Orthodox and by age 4 he was singing in church, in both Russian and English...
, an Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
-based producer, ran his own summer stock circuit, Kenley Players, in Columbus
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
, Dayton
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
, Warren
Warren, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 46,832 people, 19,288 households and 12,035 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,912.4 people per square mile . There were 21,279 housing units at an average density of 1,322.9 per square mile...
, the Carousel Theatre in Akron
Akron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
, and Canton, Ohio
Canton, Ohio
Canton is the county seat of Stark County in northeastern Ohio, approximately south of Akron and south of Cleveland.The City of Caton is the largest incorporated area within the Canton-Massillon Metropolitan Statistical Area...
. Starting in 1958 performers such as Dan Dailey
Dan Dailey
Daniel James Dailey Jr. was an American dancer and actor.-Early life and career:Born in New York City on December 14, 1915, to James J. and Helen Dailey, both born in New York City. He appeared in a minstrel show when very young, and appeared in vaudeville before his Broadway debut in 1937 in...
in Guys and Dolls, Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden is an American film and television actress and singer who is best known for her starring role in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early years:...
in Lady in the Dark
Lady in the Dark
Lady in the Dark is a musical with music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book and direction by Moss Hart. It was produced by Sam Harris. The protagonist, Liza Elliott, is the unhappy female editor of a fashion magazine, Allure, who is undergoing psychoanalysis...
, and Howard Keel
Howard Keel
Harold Clifford Keel , known professionally as Howard Keel, was an American actor and singer. He starred in many film musicals of the 1950s...
in Kismet
Kismet
Kismet may refer to:* Fate or Destiny in Turkish and Hindi-Urdu, a predetermined course of events, from Persian qesmat, from Arabic qisma, lot, from qasama, to divide, allot...
appeared. Kenley cast "movie stars and television personalities" who were nationally known. During Gypsy Rose Lee
Gypsy Rose Lee
Gypsy Rose Lee was an American burlesque entertainer famous for her striptease act. She was also an actress, author, and playwright whose 1957 memoir was made into the stage musical and film Gypsy.-Early life:...
's engagement in Auntie Mame
Auntie Mame
Auntie Mame is a 1955 novel by Patrick Dennis that chronicles the madcap adventures of a boy, Patrick, growing up as the ward of his deceased father's eccentric sister, Mame Dennis. The book is a work of fiction inspired by the author's eccentric aunt, Marion Tanner, whose life and outlook in many...
at the Warren theatre, Erik Preminger wrote: "Working for him [John Kenley] was a joy. Everything about his operation was first-class from the director and supporting cast he had assembled through the scenery, props, and costumes...He was attentive, supportive." Performers such as Paul Lynde
Paul Lynde
Paul Edward Lynde was an American comedian and actor. A noted character actor, Lynde was well known for his roles as Uncle Arthur on Bewitched and Harry MacAfee, the befuddled father in Bye Bye Birdie...
, Bill Bixby
Bill Bixby
Wilfred Bailey Everett “Bill” Bixby III was an American film and television actor, director, and frequent game show panelist.His career spanned over three decades; he appeared on stage, in motion pictures and TV series...
, Karen Morrow
Karen Morrow
Karen Morrow is an American singer – actress best known for her work in musical theater. Her honors include an Emmy Award and a Theatre World Award, and an Ovation Award and five Drama-Logue Award nominations....
, Phyllis Diller
Phyllis Diller
Phyllis Diller is an American actress and comedian. She created a stage persona of a wild-haired, eccentrically dressed housewife who makes jokes about a husband named "Fang" while pretending to smoke from a long cigarette holder...
, Andy Devine
Andy Devine
Andrew Vabre "Andy" Devine was an American character actor and comic cowboy sidekick known for his distinctive raspy voice.-Early life:...
, Gordon MacRae
Gordon MacRae
Gordon MacRae was an American actor and singer, best known for his appearances in the film versions of two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Oklahoma! and Carousel and films with Doris Day like Starlift.-Early life:Born Albert Gordon MacRae in East Orange, New Jersey, MacRae graduated from...
and Patrice Munsel
Patrice Munsel
Patrice Munsel is an American coloratura soprano, the youngest singer who ever starred at the Metropolitan Opera, nicknamed "Princess Pat"....
starred in Kenley stock productions. Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her powerful voice and roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm", "Everything's...
performed in Call Me Madam
Call Me Madam
Call Me Madam is a musical with a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin.A satire on politics and foreign affairs that spoofs America's penchant for lending billions of dollars to needy countries, it centers on Sally Adams, a well-meaning but ill-informed...
at the Kenley Players in 1968 (as well as appearing at the Parker Playhouse and Coconut Grove Playhouse
Coconut Grove Playhouse
The Coconut Grove Playhouse was a legitimate theater in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida, United States.The building was originally constructed as a movie theater called the Player's State Theater. It first opened on January 3, 1927 as a part of the Paramount chain. The movie house...
in Miami earlier that year).
The Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts
Dennis, Massachusetts
Dennis is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States; located near the center of Cape Cod. The population was 14,207 at the 2010 census.The town encompasses five distinct villages, each of which has its own post office...
opened in 1927 with The Guardsman, starring Basil Rathbone
Basil Rathbone
Sir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films...
, and has continued through the 2009 season with Hunter Foster
Hunter Foster
Hunter Foster is an American musical theatre actor/singer, librettist and playwright.-Early life:Foster was born in Lumberton, North Carolina, but raised in Augusta, Georgia and Troy, Michigan. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre Studies from the University of Michigan in 1992...
and Malcolm Gets
Malcolm Gets
Hugh Malcolm Gerard Gets is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Richard in the American television sitcom Caroline in the City. Gets is also a dancer, singer, composer, classically trained pianist, vocal director, and choreographer. He has a small part in the film adaptation of...
.
The Ogunquit Playhouse, begun in 1933, attracted performers such as Maude Adams
Maude Adams
Maude Ewing Kiskadden , known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American stage actress who achieved her greatest success as Peter Pan. Adams's personality appealed to a large audience and helped her become the most successful and highest-paid performer of her day, with a yearly income of more...
, Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors.-Early life:Ethel Barrymore was born Ethel Mae Blythe in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second child of the actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew...
, and Laurette Taylor
Laurette Taylor
Laurette Taylor was an American stage and silent film actress.-Personal life:Laurette Taylor was born in New York City of Irish extraction as Loretta Helen Cooney.-Personal life:...
in the early years and more recently, Sally Struthers
Sally Struthers
Sally Ann Struthers is an American actress and spokeswoman, best-known for her roles as Gloria Stivic on All in the Family, for which she won two Emmy awards, and as Babette on Gilmore Girls.-Personal life:...
, Lucie Arnaz
Lucie Arnaz
Lucie Désirée Arnaz is an American actress, singer, dancer and producer. She is the daughter of actors Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and is the sister of actor Desi Arnaz, Jr..- Early life :...
, and Lorenzo Lamas
Lorenzo Lamas
Lorenzo Lamas y de Santos is an American actor. Lamas is known for playing Lance Cumson on the popular 1980s soap opera Falcon Crest, Reno Raines on the 1990s crime drama Renegade, and Hector Ramirez on the daytime soap opera The Bold and The Beautiful...
.
Performers such as Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Angela Lansbury
Angela Lansbury
Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
, Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, Zero Mostel
Zero Mostel
Samuel Joel “Zero” Mostel was an American actor of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version...
, Ann Miller
Ann Miller
Johnnie Lucille Collier, better known as Ann Miller was an American singer, dancer and actress.-Early life:...
, Jane Powell
Jane Powell
Jane Powell is an American singer, dancer and actress.After rising to fame as a singer in her home state of Oregon, Powell was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer while still in her teens...
, and Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds is an American actress, singer, and dancer.She was initially signed at age 16 by Warner Bros., but her career got off to a slow start. When her contract was not renewed, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gave her a small, but significant part in the film Three Little Words , then signed her to...
performed at the Cape Cod
Cape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
Music Circus and its sister theatre, the South Shore Music Circus.
Colleen Dewhurst
Colleen Dewhurst
Colleen Rose Dewhurst was a Canadian-American actress known for a while as "the Queen of Off-Broadway." In her autobiography, Dewhurst wrote: "I had moved so quickly from one Off-Broadway production to the next that I was known, at one point, as the 'Queen of Off-Broadway'...
wrote of her experiences in summer stock as a new actress: "My first professional jobs were in summer stock, in small, medium and large companies that presented ten plays in ten weeks from June until Labor Day...At that time, the core of each summer stock company was made up of a stage manager and six resident actors: a leading man and woman, a character man and woman, and an ingenue and a juvenile. In some cases, five or six of the summer plays would be 'star vehicles', featuring a familiar actor or actress."
Specialization
Some summer theatres specialize in a particular type of production, such as ShakespeareanWilliam Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
plays
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
, musicals
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
, or even opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
. Some notable summer theatres include: Oregon Shakespeare Festival Ashland, Oregon
Ashland, Oregon
Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, near Interstate 5 and the California border, and located in the south end of the Rogue Valley. It was named after Ashland County, Ohio, point of origin of Abel Helman and other founders, and secondarily for Ashland, Kentucky, where other...
, Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre, Grand Lake, Colorado
Grand Lake, Colorado
The Town of Grand Lake is a Statutory Town located in Grand County, Colorado, United States. The population was 447 at the 2000 census....
, Summerstock Conservatory
Summerstock Conservatory
Summerstock Conservatory is a theatre company based out of Westmount Charter School in Calgary, Alberta. Every August, between the first and the fourteenth, high school and young post-secondary students from across Canada perform a play in Olympic Plaza....
, Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Utah Shakespearean Festival
Utah Shakespearean Festival
The Utah Shakespeare Festival is a festival of repertory productions of the works of William Shakespeare and other dramatists. The Festival is held during the summer and fall on the campus of Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah.-Awards:...
, Cedar City, Utah
Cedar City, Utah
As of the census of 2000, there were 20,527 people, 6,486 households, and 4,682 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,021.8 people per square mile . There were 7,109 housing units at an average density of 353.9 per square mile...
, Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Becket, Massachusetts
Becket, Massachusetts
Becket is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,779 at the 2010 census.- History :...
, Williamstown Theatre Festival
Williamstown Theatre Festival
The Williamstown Theatre Festival is a regional summer stock theatre on the campus of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, founded in 1954 by Williams College news director, Ralph Renzi, and drama program chairman, David C. Bryant. The theatre was conceived as a way to use the Adams...
, Williamstown, Massachusetts
Williamstown, Massachusetts
Williamstown is a town in Berkshire County, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,754 at the 2010 census...
, Berkshire Theatre Festival
Berkshire Theatre Festival
The Berkshire Theatre Festival is one of the oldest professional performing arts venues in the Berkshires, celebrating its 80th anniversary season in 2008.-History:...
, Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,947 at the 2010 census...
, Glimmerglass Opera
Glimmerglass Opera
Glimmerglass Festival is an opera company which was founded in 1975 by Peter Macris and presents an annual season of operas at the Alice Busch Opera Theater on Otsego Lake eight miles north of Cooperstown, New York, United States.The summer-only season usually consists of four operas performed in...
, Cooperstown, New York, The Barn Theatre in Augusta, Michigan and Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
's Bard on the Beach
Bard on the Beach
Bard on the Beach is Western Canada's largest professional Shakespeare festival, which is held every year in open-ended tents on the waterfront in Vanier Park in Kitsilano, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada...
.
Circus tent theatre
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
) tent in Lambertville, New Jersey
Lambertville, New Jersey
Lambertville is a city in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 3,906.Lambertville was originally incorporated as a town by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 1, 1849, from portions of West Amwell Township...
, the Music circus
Music circus
Music circus is an American theatrical form begun in Lambertville, New Jersey, by St. John Terrell in 1949. Established as summer stock, the new theatre venues primarily housed light operas and operettas, produced in the round, under a circus-style big top....
. This began a new period of outdoor theatre. In 1951 this new style of summer stock made its way west with the addition of the Sacramento Music Circus
California Musical Theatre
California Musical Theatre is the largest nonprofit arts organization in the state of California and the city of Sacramento's oldest professional performing arts organization...
.
The Cape Cod
Cape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
Music Circus (now the Melody Tent) in Hyannis
Hyannis
Hyannis may refer to a location in the United States:* Hyannis, Massachusetts* Hyannisport, Massachusetts* Hyannis, Nebraska...
, Massachusetts opened in 1950, the third tent theatre to open, and The South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset
Cohasset
Cohasset can refer to:PlacesIn the United States:*Cohasset, California*Cohasset, Massachusetts**Cohasset **Cohasset Rocks, an alternative name for Minots Ledge, a reef off of Cohasset, Massachusetts*Cohasset, Minnesota...
, Massachusetts followed in 1951. A tent theatre had opened earlier in Florida.
Valley Forge Music Fair
The Valley Forge Music Fair was an entertainment venue located in Devon, Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia, constructed in theater in the round style with seating for 3,000. Initially established in a tent in 1955, a permanent structure was constructed that closed in 1996...
(which closed in 1996), in Devon, Pennsylvania, was opened in 1955 by Shelly Gross
Shelly Gross
Sheldon Harvey "Shelly" Gross was an American producer and promoter of concerts and theatrical performances, who developed a number of venues in suburban areas outside major cities on the East Coast together with Lee Guber, bringing major stars and diverse entertainment options to local areas that...
, Lee Guber
Lee Guber
Lee Guber was an American theater impresario, who produced several Broadway theatre productions and developed a chain of entertainment venues in suburban locations along the East Coast.-Early life and education:...
and Frank Ford. They then opened other theatres in the round, including Shady Grove Music Fair in Washington, DC, Painters Mill Music Fair in Maryland (closed in 1991), and the Westbury Music Fair
Westbury Music Fair
The NYCB Theater at Westbury is an entertainment venue located in Westbury, New York constructed in theater in the round style with seating for 3,000 that was originally developed as a means to present top performers and productions of popular theatrical musicals at a series of venues located in...
on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, opened in 1956. By 1957, there were 19 tent theatres, many located in Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey, and all presenting musicals only. (The musical The Pajama Game
The Pajama Game
The Pajama Game is a musical based on the novel 7½ Cents by Richard Bissell. It features a score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story deals with labor troubles in a pajama factory, where worker demands for a seven-and-a-half cents raise are going unheeded...
was the major show making the tent circuit in the summer of 1957.)
The theatre in the round
Theatre in the round
Theatre-in-the-round or arena theatre is any theatre space in which the audience surrounds the stage area...
concept brought Broadway-style musicals to northern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
under a big top tent each summer. Original producers Russell Lewis and Howard Young presented their first production, Show Boat
Show Boat
Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
, the same opening production at both the Lambertville and the South Shore Music Circus. The original Lambertville theatre closed in 1970, and both the Sacramento and South Shore theatres continue to thrive today. In Sacramento, live musicals in the round are presented in a new permanent complex, The Wells Fargo Pavilion
Wells Fargo Pavilion
The Wells Fargo Pavilion is a theatre venue, located in Sacramento California and owned by California Musical Theatre & Sacramento Theatre Company.- Overview :...
. The South Shore Music Circus and Cape Cod Melody Tent now serve primarily as intimate settings for musical acts including popular singers, oldies groups, and orchestras.
Further reading
- LoMonaco, Martha Schmoyer. Summer Stock! An American Theatrical Phenomenon (2004), Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 1-4039-6542-0