Year: 2024

Concord’s November First Friday will feature arts

By Zachary Lewis
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Concord will be hosting its second annual Art Walk on Friday, Nov. 1, from 4 to 8 p.m.

“This is our second year doing the Concord Art Walk,” said Jessica Martin, Executive Director of InTown Concord. “We do this under the First Friday umbrella.”

But Concord Art Walk is a tad different from a regular First Friday.

“We put out a call to all the different businesses and galleries. Each participant will get a flag, and then they get to be on our map … we have 14 different participants this year, so we’ll be mostly in downtown Concord. We have a couple that are not exactly downtown, but are still participating, which is great,” Martin said. “Concord has a lot of arts and culture, and this is a way for us to highlight it and give people an opportunity to see, you know, real-time all the different varieties of art that we have downtown and businesses that we have in the downtown.”

The League of New Hampshire Craftsmen and the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce are two of the participants. “The League is a gallery, and the Chamber hosts artists from two different art organizations out of their office,” she said.

Wine on Main will offer a free wine tasting of a Frida Kahlo red blend from Chile. Kimball Jenkins will show off the sculptures from the city’s recent Sound and Color event. The New Hampshire Potters Guild will have its “Hands on Earth” exhibit.

This is an elevated First Friday according to Martin. “That will definitely be the vibe on Capitol Street. Capitol Street, but also you’ll see throughout the downtown the Art Walk flags for the participating businesses so that’s going to be a little different than our typical First Friday,” she said.

While most of the festivities will be easy to find, a map is provided for attendees in case they need one. The tour is free and self-guided. Concord Art Walk is another way for people in the community to participate in an artful shared experience. “We’re trying to create, with First Friday, more opportunities for people, maybe young professionals … to connect and interact in different ways,” Martin said.

Concord Art Walk
Capitol Copy, 100 N. Main St.: 5 to 9 p.m. Sunny Days Illustration featuring a Ty Meier art show.
Concord Arts Market, Capitol Street: 4 to 8 p.m.
Detailed Stained Glass, 24 Pleasant St.: 4 to 8 p.m. Stained glass demonstration.
DIY Craft & Thrift, 46 N. Main St.: noon to 8 p.m. Small artists market and free kids’[ coloring craft corner.
Firefly Crystal & Tarot, 146 N. Main St.: 4 to 8 p.m. Broom-making activity, drop-in class, $45 all materials provided.
Go Native Gallery, 23 N. Main St.: 4 to 8 p.m. Explore the new downtown gallery.
Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce, 49 S. Main St.: 4 to 8 p.m. View Yildiz Grodowski’s exhibit “Where will I take you?” and pieces by Jon Brooks (NH Furniture Masters) in the Capital Region Visitor Center.
Kimball Jenkins, 266 N. Main St.: 4 to 8 p.m. View the current exhibition, “Hands on Earth” presented by NH Potters Guild. Light refreshments will be available to enjoy within the Carriage House. Featuring NH Music Collective musician Ariel Strasser from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
League of NH Craftsmen, 49 S. Main St.: Gallery open 4 to 8 p.m. Reception with refreshments 5 to 7 p.m. Opening reception for new exhibition “Crafting Joy: The Art of Optimism.”
Penumbra, 10 N. State St.: 4 to 8 p.m. Guest artists, demos, snacks.
Pillar Gallery Projects, 205 N. State St.: 4 to 8 p.m. Artist Residency Tracy Hayes demo and talk.
Red River Theatres, 11 S. Main St.: 5 to 6:30 p.m. Monthly artist exhibit, “Blue Ridge Mountain Delights” by Laura Aldridge (Richards), formerly of Bow, N.H.
Viking House, 19 N. Main St.: 5 to 8 p.m. Featuring two artists.
Wine on Main, 9 N. Main St.: 4 to 7 p.m. Free wine tasting with M.S. Walker. One of the wines will be the Frida Kahlo Red Blend from Chile. The bottle bears her image and proceeds from sales go to the Frida Kahlo Foundation.
Salon Lotus, 2 Capital Plaza: 4 to 7 p.m. Free face painting.

Featured image: Courtesy photo.

Jersey Boys is latest Palace musical

Gritty and dark, Jersey Boys isn’t a typical stage musical. The story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, it’s marked by crime, domestic strife and bad decisions. But the songs are fantastic, and in the hands of the Palace’s Artistic Director Carl Rajotte and Music Director John Tengowski, classics like “Rag Doll,” “Big Man in Town” and “Walk Like a Man” soar.

Early in the show, Four Seasons founder Tommy DeVito explains that people from New Jersey have three options in the world – the Army, the mob or becoming a star. Sadly, his band will blur the lines between the last two. Initially, Tommy and his brother Nick are half of the quartet, until Nick goes to jail for a botched robbery and Bob Gaudio joins.

Gaudio’s songwriting, with help from flamboyant producer Bob Crewe (a rock history figure deserving of his own show), helps launch them into the charts, via their first hit, “Sherry.” Rough sledding is ahead, though, as Tommy’s vices threaten to sink the band.

Those problems are compounded by various heartaches in the lives of the other three. Valli is constantly estranged from his daughter and fighting with his ex-wife. A side deal between two band members and a romantic betrayal cause further divisions, all of which eventually erupt.

During moments when the music stops, however, it’s not all heaviness. When Gaudio loses his virginity and telegraphs the meaning behind a song he’d write over a decade later, “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night),” it’s a hilarious romp, and rich with fine choreography. Comic relief also comes from Nick Massi’s ongoing threats to leave the group and go solo.

That said, much of Jersey Boys is a study in contrasts between bright, buoyant, happy songs and the stark world they came from. Ultimately it wrestles triumph from tragedy, and the Palace does a great job of conveying how much music can lift lives. In its early days, doo-wop groups on the corner, teenagers with songs in their heads, and big breaks that came from chance encounters and dogged persistence, really did change the world.

Similar to last season’s Beautiful, the show deftly uses multimedia to evoke the classic rock era, synching vintage footage of television appearances with onstage performances. There’s real talent from the four lead players, who lock in harmonies and the spirit of many timeless songs. Director Rajotte explained why in a phone interview after opening weekend.

One big difference between this production and others like September’s Oliver! is that the four leads are new to the Palace stage. Critically, each has been in Jersey Boys previously. Zane Zapata is superb as Valli, his third time in that role. Kevin T. Mazur (Bob Gaudio) is also a veteran of past shows, and a week before rehearsals began Matt Michael and Bobby Guenther, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi respectively, were both in a Pennsylvania production.

“I knew that I wanted to cast four guys who have done the show before, so they at least came in knowing their harmonies,” he said. “I found this wonderful quartet [who] came in knowing it probably better than me. They knew exactly where the lines were supposed to be for the underscoring.”

Rajotte decided to do the show after watching the movie with his father, who poignantly took out a photo of his wife from his wallet and sang quietly to it during a few favorite songs. There is, he continued, a moment in the show where Guardio talks about the fans of a group, whose big moment came just before pop music’s British Invasion.

“We weren’t a social movement like The Beatles, our people didn’t put flowers in their hair and try to change the political climate,” Rajotte quoted. “They were the guys who shipped overseas, and their sweethearts, and the factory workers, and the truck drivers, the kids pumping gas.”

In that moment, Rajotte knew why the Palace should do Jersey Boys, darkness be damned. “I looked at my father thinking, that that was kind of his life, and this music was important to him,” he said. “It changed my whole view on the show itself. Music can really help … move a generation.”

Jersey Boys
When: Thursday, Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m., Fridays, 7:30 p.m., Saturdays, 2 & 7:30 p.m. and Sundays, 2 p.m. through Nov. 10
Where: Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester
Tickets: $45 and up at palacetheatre.org

Featured image: Jersey Boys. Photo by AnnMarie Lidman Photography.