Almost missed a great show
I can hardly keep up with everything that is happening in our bucolic Berkshires. Somehow, I've allowed one of the best things to ever happen to us to pass unnoticed.
Let me take a few moments to do some catching up. Barrington Stage's presentation of "Follies" is really making waves. I don't know how she does it, but Julie Boyd is a genius. When she first came to the Berkshires, she was an afterthought. Now she's been discovered by The New York Times and gets rave reviews from all over the place. I remember when, not that long ago, the folks at Williamstown's wonderful theater festival were seen as the last word in uptown, proper Berkshire theater. You know what I mean, Arthur Miller and all that.

Many of the theater critics didn't give Julianne a break. She had to beg, borrow and steal space. She finally ended up in a high school,
and some of her rivals and their pals snickered about the look of the place. I remember one artsy lady telling me that she just wouldn't go to a high school. Then things began to change. Julie began to get rave reviews. Her "Cabaret" was brilliant and exportable. "Spelling Bee" is now the hottest thing on Broadway.



The background, of course, is that, for a short period, Julianne headed the Berkshire Theatre Festival.

The building is great, and the festival really is the Berkshires. But when Julie was there, things didn't quite mesh. There was something about a brief nude scene and spending too much money, and the established board was in mourning over the loss of the then retiring and wonderful Dick Dunlap as the guiding creative person. Julie was committed to the Berkshires. So she and her then working partner -- get this, Susan Sperber -- started Barrington Stage. They did it right. They put a very supportive board together and they were adopted as South County's own. Soon enough, Sperber left the scene, and it was all Julie's.

The thing I love most about Julie is her fiery temper. She is competitive, combative, filled with ideas and has the one thing that will carry any organization: vision. She has been an incredible recruiter of talent. If a great actor lives anywhere near her, Julie will work her wiles to get her or him to perform. Then there are some more mature actors whom Julie professionally covets and goes after. If someone thinks that these folks are over the hill, Julie gives them a chance to show that they still have it, and we have certainly learned, again and again, that they do.



The piece de resistance this summer was Steven Sondheim's "Follies." For Julie, the great moment must have come when none other than Stephen Sondheim himself showed up at the closing Saturday night performance and went backstage to speak with the cast. Julie won't talk about what was said, but one source told me that Sondheim was very emotional and said that he wished James Goldman, who wrote the book, was around to see the production. If Sondheim went to every performance of his work around the country, he would be traveling all the time. The fact that Julie took some real chances in her production, including the masterful use of the ghosts in the play, and that Sondheim seemed to like it, speaks volumes about what Boyd has accomplished.

I loved it. I didn't think there was a weak voice or actor in the bunch. This paper's Jeffrey Borak gave the production a rave review, and as you know, that guy can be very tough.

So now, Julie will be moving the company to Pittsfield. It's one more chance of the kind that she has been taking for years. A lot of people are very happy. Obviously Jimmy Ruberto, the can-do mayor of Pittsfield, can count this as a real plus, along with the Bob Dylan concert at Wahconah Park. As we all know, Pittsfielders have a penchant for turning against their mayors after just a few years, but if they dump this guy, they're either dumb, crazy or both.

I love the fact that Barrington Stage will keep its name when it comes to Pittsfield. It will always be Barrington Stage. Obviously Julie now envisions a year-round theater company that will help educate our kids and provide us with year-round culture. Some, of course, will bet against her, but there always have been people like that. As Mel Brooks said as the "2,000 Year Old Man" when asked about his longevity, "I'm here, and they're not."

Alan Chartock, a Great Barrington resident, is president and CEO of WAMC Northeast Public Radio and a professor emeritus of communications at SUNY-Albany.
- posted by Sarah @ 7/25/2005 09:07:00 AM