In 1989, a group of girls scrubbed the floor of their orphanage and sang the opening words of one of the songs in “Annie” during the first summer of Park Playhouse: “It’s a hard-knock life.”
On Thursday night, for the 35th anniversary of the company performing in Albany’s Washington Park, the male ensemble will be on their hands and knees, scrubbing the floor while singing another five-syllable phrase to the same melody used by the orphan girls, except this time the words will be, “It’s a mus-i-cal.”
“Something Rotten”
Where: Playhouse Stage Company at Park Playhouse, Washington Park amphitheater, Madison Avenue at New Scotland Avenue, Albany
Opens: 8 p.m. Thursday
Continues: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, through July 22
Running time: Two and a half hours, with one intermission
Tickets: Reserved seats, $25 to $35; hillside seating, free
Info: 518-434-0776 and playhousestagecompany.org
The moment is among the more than 40 references to Broadway shows in “Something Rotten,” a 2015 work that is the main production in Washington Park this year for Playhouse Stage Company, as it has been known since evolving from summer-only performances to a year-round calendar. In choosing it, Playhouse Stage honors its Park Playhouse past as well as the company Shakespeare in the Park, which produced works by the eponymous playwright at the Washington Park Lakehouse in the mid-1980s. With a cast of 22, of which 12 participated in Playhouse Stage youth programs, “Something Rotten” runs Tuesday to Saturday nights through July 22.
“I was certain we were going to do it for an anniversary season, and this one was the first when it was available for licensing,” said Owen Smith, now in his 13th year as producing artistic director of Playhouse Stage. The company is headquartered at Cohoes Music Hall, where it produces a fall-to-spring season of musicals.
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