Broadway Shows Make A Return to Elmira's Clemens Center
ELMIRA, NY (WENY) -- On Wednesday, the Clemens Center performing arts center announced it will be kicking off the reopening of the theatre in Elmira by announcing that two national Broadway tours will launch from the Clemens Center: An Officer and a Gentleman and OKLAHOMA!
The Clemens Center believes that these two Broadway tours should bring around $5 million in economic relief to Chemung County and the Elmira community, according to Executive Director Karen Cromer.
“The Clemens Center is thrilled to play host for these two remarkable shows,” said Cromer. “ Not only will these productions be spending money in our community, but they will also hire local workers and support many jobs.”
This will result in 25 tours and is expected to result in more than $100 million in economic activity in Upstate New York. This comes after theatre companies across the United States have been closed down for around fifteen months leaving many jobless and unsure about the future of the industry.
Both Broadway productions will arrive a few weeks in Elmira to conduct technical rehearsals and other pre-tour activities before opening night. "Teching" as it's called, means shows assemble and rehearse on location before starting their national tours. For An Officer and a Gentleman and OKLAHOMA!, they will tech in Elmira and mark the city as the first spot on their tours.
According to the Clemens Center, they have been host to eight prior national Broadway tour launches. New York's Empire State Music and Theatrical Production Tax Credit provides incentives for qualified production companies to conduct technical rehearsals and other pre-tour activities at qualified regional theaters across Upstate.
“Elmira has quickly become a home-away-from-home for Broadway tours across the country and we are thrilled to have not one but two shows launching from Elmira’s Clemens Center this season,” stated Albert Nocciolino, Clemens Center Broadway Partner-Producer. “The effect of this investment will be seen across our region. From hotel stays to our local restaurants, the result of these tours will have a major economic impact for Chemung County and the City of Elmira.”
This also follows an announcement made by Governor Andrew Cuomo that COVID-19 restrictions in New York can be lifted as 70% of adult New Yorkers have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Performances will start on October 15th and 16th at 7:30 pm and Cromer said to keep an eye out for ticket sales because she says they will sell out fast!
More info on the productions:
AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN: Tech rehearsals October 3 - 14, 2021;
Performances October 15 & 16, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.
AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN, based on the Oscar-winning film starring Richard Gere, is a breathtaking production that celebrates triumph over adversity and includes one of the most iconic and romantic endings ever portrayed on screen. Zack Mayo’s got smarts and a body built for US Navy pilot boot camp, but he also has too much swagger… until he meets a drill sergeant who’s determined to drill his arrogance out of him. Zack finds comfort in the arms of a local factory girl. But it isn’t until tragedy befalls a fellow candidate that Zack learns the importance of love and friendship, and finds the courage to be his best self and win the heart of the woman he loves.
Featuring the Grammy Award winning,#1 hit single ‘Up Where We Belong’, and a score based on the 1980’s catalogue of music that gave voice to a generation, the live stage production is a new adaptation by multiple Tony Awards nominee Dick Scanlan (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Everyday Rapture), based on the original screenplay by Douglas Day Stewart. The musical is directed by Scanlan with choreography by Patricia Wilcox (Motown, A Night with Janis Joplin).
OKLAHOMA!: Tech rehearsals October 18 - November 7, 2021 with performance date(s) TBA
Over 75 years after Rodgers & Hammerstein reinvented the American musical. This is OKLAHOMA! as you’ve never seen or heard it before — re-imagined for the 21st century. “This production shocked me and moved me,” raves Frank Rich of New York Magazine. “Forget your traditional idea of OKLAHOMA! Daniel Fish’s daring, brilliant, utterly absorbing re-interpretation is dark and different — brilliantly so.” (The Daily Beast) “An audacious, sexy, upending ride” (NY1) that’s “as stimulating and jolting — and as fresh — as last night’s fever dream. OKLAHOMA! is astonishing.” (The New York Times)
