Main Street Arts brings “Jesus Christ Superstar” to the Bellows Falls Opera House

By BILL LOCKWOOD
BELLOWS FALLS-Last spring Main Street Arts of Saxtons River brought community theater back to the Bellows Falls Opera House with their very successful production of the musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” They are returning March 29 -,31 and April 5 – 7 with the rock musical “Jesus Christ Super Star”. Director David Stern sees “Super Star” as “a big show, a great show, reputed as one of the 10 best musicals of all time”. Told from Judas’ point of view, “It is a show that talks about blind following and the place of questioning that feels relevant to me.” It will be no small affair. Stern says there are over 75 people involved, 60 in the cast and a large costume and scenic crew.

For a small town arts organization, or even a normal community theater group, mounting a full stage musical is quite a feat. Everything must be brought in, so taking it to the Opera House can be basically likened to mounting a one stop road show. Until “Sweeney Todd” last year the Opera house had seen only two such productions since its extensive renovation in 2006 that restored the elegance of the theater and the adjoining town hall building. River Theater Company, a community theater group based in Charlestown, NH, presented “Phantom of the Opera” for a weekend run that included a gala re-opening of the renovated stage in 2007, and River Theater returned the next year for a one weekend run of “Peter Pan”. In the intervening years there have been numerous one night concerts and events, harkening to an original building’s notoriety as a stop on the old vaudeville circuit.

Then Stern and Main Street Arts brought community theater back to the Opera House last year. Dating from the first silent movies the Opera House’s primary program has been film. It is one of the last surviving single big screen movie houses in New England with five day a week first and second run presentations. After a private movie business closed in the early 1970s The Rockingham Department of Recreation ran the program under the name New Falls Cinema till the Opera House title was restored as part of the building’s ten or so year “restoration” initiated by local residents who started with the clock and bell in the tower in 1997. Movie tickets are still only $5., a bargain that has been carried on by the town for the good of the community.

Main Street Arts was established in 1988 in an old Odd Fellows Hall in Saxtons River. Funders Mary Hepburn and Karen Lantermann offered classes in a variety of arts to children and adults, and their program grew. The building includes a small 100 seat performance space. In 1990 they presented a children’s production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”. Then in 1998 they did a community theater production of “Two Gentlemen of Verona” then their first Broadway musical “Kiss me Kate” the next year. They then began staging mostly Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas every spring. Stern, an artist, professional designer, director, and theater teacher who is currently Artistic Director of Main Street Arts, directed their Gilbert and Sullivan “Pirates of Penzance” in 2014. Then he returned them to Broadway musicals with “Les Miserables” the next year. Last year he and the organization took the bold step of presenting “Sweeney Todd” at the 550 seat Opera House. Stern says, the goal “For me and Main Street Arts in general is the building of community through the presentation of art. The Opera House stands as an iconic symbol of the community. It is a location that allows us to reach our community through its size as well as include our community.”

Mounting a large cast show at the Opera House is no easy feat. Rehearsing and building scenery must be worked around the ongoing movie schedule. Rehearsals and costuming all started after the first of the year at the Saxtons River home base, as did fabrication of platforms and a giant “rock” wall backing in the scene shop. Scenery, costumes, supplemental lighting, and a sound system that will support a rock band and 17 actors with headsets must all be moved into the Opera House. Since most community theater participants have “day jobs” rehearsals at the Opera House are mostly weekend mornings and on the two nights when there is no movie program. The screen must be lifted and the movie speakers rolled aside each time the stage is used for either rehearsal or set assembly. Looking at the immensity of the project Stern says, “I think that by making amazing beautiful things together that we remember we can.”

Stern says, “People will be thrilled to see it” and “As such it stands a chance to fill the Opera House”. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on March 29, 30 and 31 and April 5, 6, and 7 with matinees at 2 p.m. on March 31 and April 7. Tickets are available through mainstreetarts.org or by calling (802) 869-2960.