Bring on the British Bops
The British may be known, stereotypically at least, for keeping a stiff upper lip. But there’ll be no such signs of restraint when the Outer Cape Chorale performs The British Invasion: Pomp and Pop at Provincetown Town Hall (260 Commercial St.) on Friday, May 17, 7 p.m. and Saturday, May 18, 5 p.m. The programs will feature a mix of traditional choral music and classic rock, including tunes from the Beatles, Queen, and Elton John.
Artistic director Allison Beavan says that “In Windsor Forest” — a cantata adapted from British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams’s opera Sir John in Love — is “rollicking good fun.” Her discovery of the piece, coupled with requests for the chorale to perform Beatles tunes, led her to create a British-themed program for the spring performances.
“I thought, ‘Why don’t we do some serious music? We’ll do some of the coronation pieces, go from pomp to pop,’ ” says Beavan. “It has been great fun to have an eclectic repertoire — there’s something for everyone.”
Many chorales struggle to attract men, Beavan says, but the Outer Cape Chorale, with up to 130 soprano, alto, tenor, and bass vocalists and accompanied by a 16-member chamber orchestra, is diverse in age and gender. It is the only group of its kind performing on the Outer Cape. For most members, auditions aren’t required — save for a subset of chamber singers who also perform separately.
Open access is at the heart of the group’s mission. Its $31,000 spring concert production costs are supported by 15 business sponsors and concertgoer donations. With this support, the chorale also presents an annual scholarship to a musically inclined student at Nauset Regional High School.
“We want everyone to be able to sing, and we want everyone to be able to attend,” says Beavan. “The fact that we’ve been able to maintain this no-ticket policy has been a testament to the people who are willing to support us.”
Admission to both concerts is free. For a concert schedule and other details, see outercapechorale.org. —Katy Abel
A Musical Evolution of the Dream
The dream is a realm that cannot be preserved, but musicians across time have nonetheless tried to capture its essence, building on disparate spatial and temporal interpretations to find new meaning.
Pianist Alissa Leiser and cellist Natasha Brofsky will perform a recital loosely exploring this theme for the Lighthouse Chamber Players at the Wellfleet Public Library (55 West Main St.) on Sunday, May 19, 5 p.m.
Both musicians came to the Outer Cape as children — Leiser to Wellfleet and Brofsky to Truro. Leiser now splits her time between New York and Provincetown. Brofsky is based in New York, where she teaches cello at Juilliard.
The program for this recital features four composers the performers know well. “We bring our own sort of musical history to it,” says Leiser.
Brofsky has played the opening piece, Beethoven’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in F Major (Op. 5, No. 1), many times over the years. Leiser, who most recently taught at Amherst College, taught Liebestraum — the “dream of love” — by Franz Lizst to her piano students. Liszt’s Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth is also on the program.
Between these pieces, Brofsky will perform a solo work, Dreaming Chaconne (Variation of the Chiacona of Giuseppe Colombi), by the contemporary Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. The piece will be preceded by the Chiacona.
“I wanted to honor Saariaho since she passed away a year ago,” says Brofsky. “It gives you a brief history of the cello in one short piece.”
The recital concludes with Francis Poulenc’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, which was new to both musicians and also has a dreamlike quality.
The May 19 performance is free. See wellfleetlibrary.org for information. —Aden Choate
Documentaries, Shorts, and Awards
The Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF) will open with Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution on Wednesday, June 12 at 7 p.m. at Provincetown Town Hall (260 Commercial St.). The documentary — directed by Page Hurwitz and featuring talking heads Lily Tomlin, Wanda Sykes, Joel Kim Booster, and Margaret Cho — follows the history and landscape of queer stand-up performers. It argues that stand-up can be a vehicle for social change.
Also showing at town hall during the festival will be High Tide, a narrative film from director Marco Calvani set and shot in Provincetown. The film follows an undocumented Brazilian immigrant (Marco Pigossi) working odd jobs in town and feeling unfulfilled until he meets Maurice (James Bland), a nurse here on vacation. The film will be shown Friday, June 14 at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, June 16 at 1:30 p.m.
British writer-director Andrew Haigh (All of Us Strangers, Weekend, Looking) will be presented with this year’s Filmmaker on the Edge Award. He’ll talk with John Waters in an event on Saturday, June 15. Emmy-winning American actor and playwright Colman Domingo (Rustin, The Color Purple, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) will receive this year’s Excellence in Acting Award at the Crown & Anchor on Thursday, June 13.
Over five days, PIFF will screen almost 100 films, documentary and narrative, short and feature-length. While most of the films are fresh to the circuit, PIFF will host a screening of the 1997 cult classic Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, starring Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow, and Alan Cumming, on Thursday, June 13 at 8:30 p.m. at the Crown & Anchor. The film follows two 28-year-old women who tell wondrous and increasingly dubious lies about how successful they’ve been in the decade since high school.
Other highlights of the festival will include John Waters’s presentation of the 2023 French film A Prince at the Art House on Sunday, June 16. The film follows an apprentice training to be a gardener in a chateau full of colorful characters. Documentaries to watch out for include Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story, a biography-documentary about Liza Minnelli; No One Asked You, a documentary following the pro-abortion organization Abortion Access Front; and Daughters, which follows a group of young girls visiting their incarcerated fathers.
For a full lineup, times and dates, and tickets, visit provincetownfilm.org. —Paul Sullivan
All the Single Ladies
Lynette Molnar says being single can mean many things. “Sometimes being single means you’re decidedly solo and you want to stay that way,” she says. “Sometimes it means you’re looking for Ms. Right.”
In 2005, Molnar came up with the idea for Provincetown Single Women’s Weekend, the 19th incarnation of which begins on Thursday, May 16 with an “Early Bird’s Dinner” at Mac’s Seafood (85 Shank Painter Road) at 7 p.m. For singles who couldn’t get away from work and are touching down on Friday, May 17, there’s a “Mix & Mingle & Meet & Greet” from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at Harbor Lounge (359 Commercial St.).
“Even though it’s only a weekend long, we get people from all over the country,” says Molnar.
When dating apps started popping up left and right 10 years ago, Molnar was worried that people wouldn’t see a need for in-person singles meet-ups anymore. But, if anything, she says, people are more eager than ever for live connection — whether that be as friends or more.
“It’s a chance for people to make new relationships,” she says. “Some people bring their mother or daughter. Some people bring wing women. It’s a diverse group.”
The weekend will include speed-dating games, flirt parties, a scavenger hunt, and a group trip to Tea Dance at the Boatslip (161 Commercial St.). Stand-up comedian Poppy Champlin will perform at the Crown & Anchor (247 Commercial St.) on Saturday, May 18 at 8:30 p.m. Following the show, there will be a “Stop Light” party, also at the Crown & Anchor, at 9:30 p.m.
“People wear red glow bracelets to signal that they’re not available,” Molnar explains, “yellow if they’re on the fence or open to the possibility, and green if they’re ready to mingle.”
For tickets and a full list of events, visit provincetownforwomen.com. —Paul Sullivan
Making Soup, Mixing Music
If Joni Mitchell and Steven Sondheim had a baby, it would be “Moons and Junes and Moments in the Woods,” a new program by the actor, singer, writer, and audiobook narrator Susan Lambert. She will perform it at First Encounter Coffeehouse (220 Samoset Road, Eastham) on Friday, May 17, 7 p.m.
“I loved the process of finding the stuff and getting an idea and figuring out what I wanted this show to say,” says Lambert. “It’s like making soup.”
The program features songs by Mitchell and Sondheim along with a smattering of Simon & Garfunkel and Jacques Brel. In other words, there is something for everyone from folk devotees to musical theater aficionados.
“Whether it’s Joni’s ‘I Had a King’ or Sondheim’s ‘Marry Me a Little,’ the selections have a lot of the same feelings and passages, ambivalences and surprises, and twists and turns that we all go through,” says Lambert.
Between songs, Lambert says, she is looking forward to chatting and connecting with the audience. This part isn’t scripted, but it draws on her experiences performing off Broadway and in concerts, cabarets, and coffeehouses around the world.
“The beauty of it is that you bring the whole history of how you learned to be an actor and how you learned to be a singer,” she says. “You put a program together with an intention and an idea, and then once you start singing through it, you find things you didn’t know before.”
In a way, Lambert is bringing that history home — and discovering more about the music that has influenced her in the process. Lambert, who moved back to Eastham during the pandemic, grew up coming here on weekends and for summers to a house around the corner from First Encounter.
At First Encounter, the space between performer and audience is minimal — they can almost look each other in the eyes. That appeals to Lambert.
“The space will be a dream for pulling out the exquisite, intimate pieces that you might not use on a bigger stage,” she says.
Tickets are $25. Purchase at the door or online at firstencounter.org. —Aden Choate
