Long Island Musical Theater 2022/2023

Now that life seems to be getting back to some form of normal post-COVID, the Island's concert venues and musical theaters have started reopening. I held off for a little on publishing this to give the last few theaters a chance to post their schedules for the upcoming season, and I think we've got most of them (the main exceptions being the Argyle Theater in Babylon and the Smithtown Performing Arts Center in Smithtown). Unfortunately, the pandemic caused the closing of The Broadhollow Theaters in East Islip and Elmont, although Studio Theatres has taken over the location in East Islip (and also has a new non-musical theater season in Lindenhurst). Some of the theaters have shorter schedules than in previous years, but at least they're back in action. So here goes.

For the three Actor's Equity Theaters:

The Gateway Playhouse, Bellport: (Note: As usual, they split their shows between the Gateway Playhouse in Bellport and the Patchogue Theatre in Patchogue. See below.)

Head Over Heels - June 8-June 26, 2022 (Bellport)

The Little Mermaid - July 15-August 7, 2022 (Bellport)

The Cher Show - August 26 - September 11, 2022 (Patchogue)

A Christmas Carol: The Musical - December 16-December 28, 2022 (Patchogue)

The Wedding Singer - January 27-February 26, 2023 (Bellport)

Clue - March 17-April 16, 2023 (Bellport)

The John Engemann Theater, Northport: (Note: The first two shows listed below are technically part of their 2021-2022 Season*.)

Kinky Boots* - May 19-July 3, 2022

On Your Feet!* - July 14-August 28, 2022

Mystic Pizza - September 15-October 30, 2022

A Christmas Story - November 17, 2022-January 1, 2023

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - January 19-March 5, 2023

The Scarlet Pimpernel - March 16-April 30, 2023

The Sound of Music - May 18-July 3, 2023

Escape to Margaritaville - July 13-August 27, 2023

The Argyle Theater, Babylon: (Note: These three shows are the end part of the 2021-2022 Season. They haven't announced their 2022-2023 Season yet.*)

BUDDY: The Buddy Holly Story* - May 19-June 26, 2022

Footloose* - July 14-August 28, 2022

An American in Paris* - September 15-October 23, 2022

For the Regional Theaters:

Noel S. Ruiz Playhouse at the CM Performing Arts Center, Oakdale:

Bye Bye Birdie - August 6-August 20, 2022

Cabaret - September 17-October 1, 2022

Matilda: The Musical - October 15-November 5, 2022

The Wizard of Oz - November 19- December 18, 2022

Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts, Smithtown:

Schedule to Come

Cultural Arts Playhouse, Syosset:

School of Rock: The Musical - June 25-July 17, 2022

Newsies - July 23-August 21, 2022

Studio Theatre's Bayway Arts Center, East Islip: (Note*: Lost in Yonkers is not a musical.)

Something Rotten - July 8-July 24, 2022

Lost in Yonkers* - August 5-August 21, 2022

Avenue Q - September 9-September 26, 2022

The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 - October 7-October 23, 2022

The Addams Family - November 4-November 20, 2022

Theater Three, Port Jefferson: (Note: The first production listed below is technically a part of the 2021-2022 Season*.)

Mama Mia!* - May 21-June 25, 2022

Guys & Dolls - September 17-October 22, 2022

Something Rotten - May 20-June 24, 2023

Merrick Theater and Center for the Arts, Merrick:

Matilda - September 9-September 25, 2022

Right now, an ongoing health issue makes me hesitant to buy any tickets to upcoming shows. But I think the one I'm most tempted by and hope to catch is Engemann Theater's production of The Scarlet Pimpernel. I love the cast album for that one, and it's rarely performed. And if I'm feeling better by then, I might check out Theater Three in Port Jefferson for the first time. I'm always down to see Guys & Dolls.

I'll try to update this list as the theaters update their schedules. But I've got to say, it's great to see musical theater returning to Long Island.

Song of the Day Postscript

So the last time I mentioned Sputnik Music's monthly Song of the Day list was in early April, when I left the list after some (idiot) fine-but-misguided User awarded a 1 out of 5 score to Pink Floyd's "Welcome to the Machine." For me, it was like the time Married With Children's Al Bundy had a mental breakdown at his all night Shoe-a-Thon after he accidentally looked up while trying to sell women's shoes and saw underwear that said "Saturday". Only today was Wednesday! In his immortal words, "Next thing I knew, I was insane!"

What I didn't tell you, though, was ironically enough, after I left, my rec for the month of April came in first and won the month. (If you recall, the theme was "Songs That You Hate That You Think Your Fellow Users Will Love".) I won the month with the revered (but kind of crappy) "Let's Go Crazy" by the very-revered but completely ridiculous artist formerly known as Squiggle (aka Prince). It was only the second time my rec had ever scored highest in SOTD, the first being during one of the first month's I participated when I won with My Favorite's "Burning Hearts".

I had no intention of participating again anytime soon, but in May, a friend of mine was hosting it and asked me if I would contribute a rec (even though I was no longer participating in rating the songs). The theme for May was "Live Recordings", and I went with a classic, Neil Young's "Sugar Mountain". (I'm pretty sure he never actually made a studio recording of that one.)

For a good part of the month, it looked like I was going to win for the second month in a row. (And I won't lie, I would have loved that.) Unfortunately, the next couple of ratings knocked my score down significantly. When the month ended, my score was no longer the highest. And sadly, even if I had ended up with the highest rated song, I don't know if I technically could have claimed the win, because somewhere near the end of the month, the whole SOTD just petered out and died.

What I mean by that is it just never ended. It was left incomplete. My friend got busy elsewhere, so there were only 29 songs nominated for a 31-day month. And at the end of it, the handful of Users who were still participating decided that since the participation had gone down so much, it might be a good time to put the whole thing on hiatus.

So for now, Song of the Day is like Snow White waiting for her prince (or her squiggle) to come. It's not exactly dead, but it's in a coma until someone revives it. So for those of you who enjoyed the feature, and my writings (and rantings) about it, sorry about that.

(Singing: "After midnight, we gonna sell a lot of shooooeeees!")