Former names | Cape Cod Music Circus |
---|---|
Location | Hyannis, Massachusetts |
Coordinates | 41°38′49.69″N70°17′54.24″W / 41.6471361°N 70.2984000°W |
Owner | South Shore Playhouse Associates |
Type | Outdoor amphitheatre |
Seating type | reserved |
Capacity | 2,300 |
Opened | 1950 |
Cape Cod Melody Tent is a South Shore Playhouse Associates-owned tent theater located in Hyannis, Massachusetts, in the county of Barnstable. Affiliated with the South Shore Music Circus, these are the only two continuously-operated tent theaters in the round in the United States.
The Cape Cod Melody Tent is a seasonal venue that runs from May through September. The Music Circus and Melody Tent are owned and operated by the South Shore Playhouse Associates, a not-for-profit organization. The seating capacity is approximately 2,300. [1] It was originally known as Cape Cod Music Circus from 1950–1951. [1]
David M. Holtzmann, a theatrical attorney who represented actress Gertrude Lawrence, owned both theaters from the late 1950s until his death in 1965, after which they were operated by his widow, Sondra. [2] In March 1990, the South Shore Playhouse Associates purchased the Cape Cod Melody Tent and have since made numerous modern upgrades including a new vinyl tent with Cupola venting system, new seats, new stage and computerized lighting and sound systems. [1]
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The name Cape Cod, coined in 1602 by Bartholomew Gosnold, is the ninth oldest English place-name in the U.S.
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Provincetown has a summer population as high as 60,000. Often called "P-town" or "Ptown", the locale is known as a vacation destination for its beaches, harbor, artists and tourist industry.
A theatre in the round, arena theatre, or central staging is a space for theatre in which the audience surrounds the stage.
Bourne is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 20,452 at the 2020 census.
Orleans is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, situated along Cape Cod. The population was 6,307 at the 2020 census.
Dennis is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, located near the center of Cape Cod. The population was 14,674 at the 2020 census.
In American theater, summer stock theater is a theater that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Summer stock theaters frequently take advantage of seasonal weather by having their productions outdoors, under tents set up temporarily for their use, or in barns.
The South Shore of Massachusetts is a geographic region stretching south and east from Boston toward Cape Cod along the shores of Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod Bay. It is subject to varying descriptions including municipalities in eastern Norfolk and Plymouth counties. The South Shore is an affluent area. The median income of the region as of 2020 is $104,691. The median home value of the region as of 2020 is $574,831.
The Old Colony Railroad (OC) was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island, which operated from 1845 to 1893. Old Colony trains ran from Boston to points such as Plymouth, Fall River, New Bedford, Newport, Providence, Fitchburg, Lowell and Cape Cod. For many years the Old Colony Railroad Company also operated steamboat and ferry lines, including those of the Fall River Line with express train service from Boston to its wharf in Fall River where passengers boarded luxury liners to New York City. The company also briefly operated a railroad line on Martha's Vineyard, as well as the freight-only Union Freight Railroad in Boston. The OC was named after the "Old Colony", the nickname for the Plymouth Colony.
Mickey's Toontown is a themed land at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, two theme parks operated by Walt Disney Parks & Resorts and The Oriental Land Company respectively. At Tokyo Disneyland, this land is named Toontown. A similar land existed at the Magic Kingdom until 2011 and was named Mickey's Toontown Fair. Walt Disney Studios Park in Disneyland Paris has a related land called Toon Studio.
Cape Cod Mall is a shopping mall in the Hyannis village of Barnstable, Massachusetts. The mall opened in 1970 and was renovated and expanded in the late 1990s, bringing the property to 723,605 square feet (67,225 m2) of gross leasable area. It is currently managed and partially owned by Simon Property Group. The anchor stores are Marshalls, Best Buy, 2 Macy's stores, Regal Cinemas, Target, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Barnes & Noble.
The Xfinity Center is an outdoor amphitheatre located in Mansfield, Massachusetts. The venue opened during the summer of 1986 with a capacity of 12,000. It was expanded after 2000 to 19,900; 7,000 reserved seats, 7,000 lawn seats and 5,900 general admission seats. The season for the venue is typically from mid May until late September. In 2010, it was named Top Grossing Amphitheater by Billboard. It mainly hosts concerts; other events, such as graduation ceremonies, including that of Mansfield High School, occasionally take place.
Music circus is an American theatrical form begun in Lambertville, New Jersey, by St. John Terrell in 1949. Established as summer stock, the new theatre venues primarily housed light operas and operettas, produced in the round, under a circus-style big top.
Broadway Sacramento is the largest nonprofit arts organization in the state of California and the city of Sacramento's oldest professional performing arts company. Its summer stock theatre, Music Circus, has been producing Broadway-style musicals since 1951.
Cape Cod Publishing Company, based in Orleans, Massachusetts, United States, was a publisher of weekly newspapers in the 1990s. It was created by Fidelity Investments as a holding company for newspapers acquired on Cape Cod, and eventually folded into Fidelity's Community Newspaper Company. CNC is now owned by GateHouse Media.
North Shore Music Theatre is the largest operating regional theater in New England. It is located in Beverly, Massachusetts and is one of the few remaining theatre-in-the-round stages left in the United States. The theater is owned by Massachusetts businessman Bill Hanney.
Kip Andre Diggs is an American politician and retired professional boxer. He serves as a Democratic member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and assumed office on January 3, 2021.
Tent shows have been an important part of American history since the mid-to-late nineteenth century. In 1927, Don Carle Gillette gave "statistical evidence that the tented drama constituted 'a more extensive business than Broadway and all the rest of the legitimate theatre industry put together.'" The shows first began "in regions which couldn’t support full-time playhouses." Men such as Fayette Lodowick, one of the earliest tent show entrepreneurs, would travel around river towns all over the United States making money on traveling tent shows. These shows "were utilized for a variety of amusements including medicine shows, moving picture shows, vaudeville shows, circuses, musicals, concert companies, and any number of one-night stand dramatic troupes."
Michael Rader is a stage director based in New York City. In addition to his work as a director, Rader has also served as Artistic Director for Cirque du Soleil, the Producing Artistic Director of The Cape Playhouse and the Executive Producer for Theatre Aspen.
Richard Stoddard Aldrich was an American theatre producer, theatre manager, director, and diplomat. He was an officer with the United States Navy reserves during World War II and the Korean War, and a diplomat with the United States Foreign Operations Administration and International Cooperation Administration. He produced more than thirty plays on Broadway from 1933 through 1956, and also operated three summer theaters in Massachusetts. He was married to the actress Gertrude Lawrence until her death; their marriage was memorialized in his book Gertrude Lawrence as Mrs. A: An Intimate Biography of a Great Star (1955) and the Oscar nominated biographical musical film Star! (1968).