Theatre Intelligence
“Kiss This - A Valentine’s Day Cabaret” at Barrington Stage
Nikos Tsakalakos is the type of talented and ambitious young artist who finds Pittsfield a font of creativity. “Two years ago, Bill Finn told me his crazy idea that he wanted to make Pittsfield the epicenter of new musical theater,” says Tsakalakos, who was a student of the Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist at New York University. “I have become one of the foot soldiers in his mission.”
Tsakalakos first came to Pittsfield two summers ago to work as Finn’s assistant at Barrington Stage Company’s Musical Theatre Lab. He had an especially productive period of songwriting. He put together an evening of cabaret called “Songs from A Night Owl,” which was a hit. Last summer, he did a three-night cabaret run that was so enthusiastically received that BSC artistic director Julianne Boyd told him she wanted to help him create a full-scale musical based on his narrative song “Poolside at the Hotel Bel Air,” which chronicles a summer of waiting on the rich and famous in Los Angeles. “I wrote that song by the pool at Reba’s,” he said, referring to BSC board member Reba Evenchik, who often invites BSC artists to hang out at her beautiful house in Pittsfield. (He’s been developing the show with writer Janet Allard, and they are scheduled to do a staged reading of the full musical on Memorial Day weekend.)
Meanwhile, Boyd asked Tskalaskos if he could pull together the work of up-and-coming songwriters for a Valentine’s weekend cabaret at BSC’s Stage 2. Tsakalkos will perform along with Cassie Wooley (who appeared in BSC’s See Rock City) and Demond Green (who appeared in BSC’s Spelling Bee.) “All the songs are about having love, losing love, and longing for love,” he says.
Kiss This - A Valentine’s Day Cabaret
Friday, February 13 at 8 PM; $20
Saturday, February 14 at 9 PM; $25
Barrington Stage Company Stage 2
36 Linden Street, Pittsfield; 413.236.8888
