Blairstown Theater Festival

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, which was shot in and around Blairstown in the fall of 1979. Roy's Hall appears in the film shortly after the opening credits. [ [http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates/2007/07/friday_the_13th_returns_to_bla.html New Jersey "Star-Ledger"] article by Mike Frassinelli (7/12/2007), "'Friday the 13th' returns to Blairstown"]

The company's January 2007 production of "Letters from the Inside" was selected by The Star-Ledger as one of the top five new plays of the 2006-2007 New Jersey theater season and actress Kelli Ambrose, who played Mandy in "Letters from the Inside", was selected as one of the top five Best Leading Actresses in a Play. [ [http://www.blairstowntheaterfestival.com/remembering_things_magical.htm New Jersey "Star-Ledger"] article by Peter Filichia (6/10/2007), "Remembering things magical and madcap over the past season"]

Among the other concerts and productions presented by the Blairstown Theater Festival were Nancy Anderson singing early Broadway songs backed by the Baroque Orchestra of North Jersey ("Baroque to Broadway"), the Still River Band in Concert, Malachy McCourt and Jarlath Conroy in "A Couple of Blaguards", Betsy Palmer and Will Hutchins in A.R. Gurney's "Love Letters", the New Jersey premiere of "I Am Anne Frank", and concerts by cabaret performers KT Sullivan ("Vienna to Weimar"), John O'Neil ("'So Kaye"), the Western Wind Vocal Ensemble ("Holiday Light"), Cris Groenendaal ("Music of the Night"), Jana Robbins ("One Hell of a Ride! The Songs of Cy Coleman") and jazz pianist Bill Mays and his Inventions Trio. [ [http://www.blairstowntheaterfestival.com/past.html Past Events at the Blairstown Theater Festival at Roy's Hall] ]

The company also presented several film festivals with such classic titles as "Gone with the Wind", "Casablanca", "Seven Samurai", "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein", "A Night at the Opera", "The Court Jester", "La Belle et la Bête", "Black Orpheus", "Mon Oncle", "The Wages of Fear" and "La Strada".

The Blairstown Theater Festival was not able to continue past its first season for several reasons. Most significantly, Blairstown Township suddenly increased the real estate taxes on the building by more than 680% (from $1,031.55 to $7,032.30) [ [http://tax.blairstowntwp-nj.com/cgi-bin/lkup_property.pl?txtmo=&txtda=&txtyr=&taxorutil=tax&year=2008&txtBlock=&txtLot=&txtQual=&txtname=&txtloc=30+MAIN+STREET&btnGetPay=Get+Information Blairstown Municipal Tax Collector] , 30 Main Street, Blairstown, NJ] and the landlord decided to sell the theatre. [ [http://blog.pennlive.com/lvbreakingnews/2008/01/blairstown_theater_for_sale.html Lehigh Valley Live] article by Lynn Olanoff, 1/22/2008, "Blairstown theater for sale"]

A CD featuring highlights from the Blairstown Theater Festival's season was released in February 2008. [ [http://www.blairstowntheaterfestival.com/ Blairstown Theater Festival] ]

2007 AUDIO SAMPLER

* "Hellertown" Still River Band
* "A Little Attila (Tamerlan)" KT Sullivan with Jed Distler, piano
* "Grandpa's Spells" Bill Mays
* "Zip" Jana Robbins with Doyle Newmeyer, piano
* "Carnegie Hall and Moon Landing" Malachy McCourt and Jarlath Conroy
* "Too Many Miles From Broadway" Nancy Anderson with the Baroque Orchestra of North Jersey, Robert W. Butts, Musical Director
* "Ballin' the Jack" John O'Neil with David Wolfson, piano
* "Phil the Fluter's Ball" Jarlath Conroy
* "Merry Little Minuet" Still River Band
* "I Am a Vamp" KT Sullivan with Jed Distler, piano
* "Co-Dependent With You" Cris Groenendaal with Sue Anderson, piano
* "Old Dusty Road" Still River Band
* "Old Fashioned Girl" Nancy Anderson with the Baroque Orchestra of North Jersey
* "Medley: You Can Always Count On Me / Nobody Does It Like Me" Jana Robbins with Doyle Newmeyer, piano
* "Letters from the Inside (Excerpt)" Kelli Ambrose as Mandy
* "Music of the Night" (from "The Phantom of the Opera") Cris Groenendaal with Sue Anderson, piano
* "The Cherry Tree Carol" The Western Wind Vocal Ensemble
* "I Remember" (from "I Am Anne Frank") Jenny Rose Baker & Danny Rothman with the Baroque Orchestra of North Jersey
* "Tango" Moonlight Duo (Katherine Hoover)
* Mozart: "Piano Concerto #23 – Third Movement" The Baroque Orchestra of North Jersey featuring Sohyun Ahn, piano
* "Tchaikovsky (and Other Russians)" John O'Neil and Robert Armin with David Wolfson, piano

References