July 2, 2025  |  By Waterbury Roundabout

July 13 UPDATE: This post was updated with revised dates for the Jazz Jam nights in July and August at The Phoenix and the addition of Phantom Theater’s 40th anniversary show on July 18-19.

High summertime is more than just visits to the beach and hikes in the hills. There’s music and theater happening on stages around the region to take in.

Our inbox is overflowing with news of upcoming performances – some outdoors, all eager to entertain summertime audiences. We’ve compiled these highlights for July featuring performances in Waterbury and Duxbury, Waitsfield, Warren and Montpelier.

See this earlier post with the full summer schedules for the Waterbury Rotary’s Concerts in the Park series, the Waterbury Community Band’s performances, Music in the Alley and a link to weekly concerts at Camp Meade.

Mark your calendars and know that your ticket purchases support local arts organizations.

Through July 13: Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’

We recently shared the story of the Valley Players’ first production of Shakespeare this summer. There are still some tickets available for performances on Thursdays-Sundays through July 13.

July 11-13: Opening weekend for Phantom Theater’s 40th season

This summer marks the 40th anniversary of Phantom Theater in Warren and Edgcomb Barn will be busy through August with the packed schedule. Read about how this local performing arts staple got its start here. Below, Kate Youngdahl-Stauss previews the season’s opening acts on stage July 11-13.

Martine and The Innocents

Of all the extraordinary millennial talents that have emerged from the Mad River Valley, one star shines especially bright at the moment: Martine Gutierrez.

An interdisciplinary performance artist, Gutierrez’s transformative work was recently recognized with a Guggenheim Fellowship, while her breakout role as Vanesja in HBO’s “Fantasmas” last year has garnered industry buzz from New York to Los Angeles. So it is with great anticipation that Gutierrez returns to the Valley to kick off Phantom Theater’s 40th Anniversary Season with an original show featuring a troop of handpicked creative collaborators, Friday and Saturday, July 11-12, in Warren.

Now a New Yorker, Gutierrez is happy to escape the city’s “hellish” heat in July. “I’m so excited to be invited back to Vermont,” she said, noting that it is an ideal creative space. “It sounds like bugs and birds. And it looks like privacy. To make something, I have to lock myself away.”

The things that Gutierrez makes have gained her an international following. In 2018 she published “Indigenous Woman,” a satirical glossy magazine featuring Gutierrez in every image and word – as model, stylist, photographer, essayist, and editor. Hailed as a landmark for its sensational exploration of race, gender, sexuality, and shifting identity, it has been showcased in multiple prestigious venues, including the Modern Museum of Art, the 58th Venice Biennale, and the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s costume library.

“The success of it scared me,” Gutierrez said. Not quite 30 when the tsunami of sudden fame hit, she “didn’t understand that it would be this moment. I don’t think most people do when something takes on a life of its own. It kind of catapulted me into this vein of Art with a capital A.”

After many turns on red carpets, Gutierrez is returning to her low-key roots for the Phantom show: “I want to play. I want to get back into imagination. I want to open up the journals and jewel boxes and play.”

She won’t be alone in the endeavor. Her fellow creators hail from a potent New York arts scene and include filmmakers Jose Cavazos and Fern Cerezo, high-fashion image makers Dara Allen and Sonny Molina, musician Sam Wilkes, and visual artist Juan Antonio Diaz.

It’s a far cry from her youth in the Mad River Valley.

Gutierrez attended the Warren School and graduated from Harwood Union High School in 2008. It wasn’t always a comfortable fit: “I definitely felt out of place. I was always looking for my people. Where are my people?” she recalled.

Fortunately, she found allies. Arts teachers like Wendy Peterson Rand and Diane Phillips, and gay-rights activists like Jean Berthiaume, encouraged and supported her at Harwood. Montpelier’s Contemporary Dance and Fitness Studio gave her an after-school tribe. Peter Boynton’s musical theater productions in Waitsfield, with their cast of New York professionals, buoyed her summers. And of course, there was Phantom.

“Tracy is my fairy godmother,” Gutierrez said, referring to Tracy Martin, Phantom’s artistic director and longtime teacher at Contemporary Dance.

Blending one’s past and present worlds isn’t always easy, but Gutierrez has a plan for integrating her new friends with her old home: “I will bring them to the 4th of July Parade. It’s unmissable. It’s so wholesome. And I’ll get them into one of the rivers. Jump off a bridge.”

Along the way, Gutierrez says she will pose a question apropos for both art and life today. “There’s all this language that we’ve developed to put ourselves in little boxes – and separate us,” she observed. “I want to know, What are the things that make us the same?”

In America in 2025, no question could be more profound. Expect that in Gutierrez’s hands, the answer will undoubtedly also be playful, emotionally charged, and visually stunning.

Performances of Martine and The Innocents are at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, July 11-12. Find more information and tickets online at phantomtheater.org.

~Kate Youngdahl-Stauss

The Anderson Brothers play Richard Rodgers

In his entertaining book of jazz profiles, “Songbook Summit: Fifteen Pioneers of American Sound,” Will Anderson writes that beginning with the story of Cain and Abel, brothers have had difficulties getting along.

But for Will and his twin brother Peter, sibling rivalry seems to have only enhanced a remarkable musical career.

“We started playing clarinet on the same day in the fourth grade,” Will recalled recently. “It’s an asset to have someone learning alongside you. There’s a little rivalry. You push each other. You can hear the guy next door practicing the scales, and it inspires you.”

In the years since, the Anderson brothers have headlined at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and the New Orleans Jazz Festival. Now they’re bringing their blend of storytelling and musical virtuosity back to Warren’s Edgcomb Barn when Phantom Theater presents The Anderson Brothers Play Richard Rodgers on Sunday, July 13, at 8 p.m.

Having world-class jazzmen play in a Vermont barn is a tale of family ties. The Andersons’ Uncle John lives in the Mad River Valley, making the annual trek to Warren an eagerly anticipated reunion. The love of music runs deep in the clan. “The first recording my mom bought us was the soundtrack to the ‘The Benny Goodman Story,’” Will said. “I was 10 years old. She turned us onto it. Her father was a complete jazz addict.”

That may explain the Andersons’ enduring regard for the Great American Songbook. In previous Valley shows, they’ve featured artists from Duke Ellington to George Gershwin.

Rodgers, the prolific composer of classic melodies such as “My Funny Valentine,” “The Lady Is a Tramp,” and “My Favorite Things,” famously partnered with lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein in a musical theater career lasting more than 40 years.

While Hammerstein collaborations on “The Sound of Music” and “Oklahoma” may be more familiar to the general public than Hart-penned shows like “Babes in Arms,” according to Will, “among jazz musicians, it’s not even close. We love Hart. There’s some amazing Rodgers and Hammerstein songs that we play and we love. But Hart was witty, a sarcastic New Yorker. Jazz is like that too, it’s dark, it’s sarcastic.”

And worth exploring today. “A lot of jazz musicians gravitate to Hart because of the improvisational nature of the melodies in those tunes,” Will said.

The Anderson brothers are joined at Phantom by acclaimed jazz guitarist Adam Moezinia, whom they first met at Juilliard in 2010. Will called the collaboration “a natural fit” as Moezinia is equally passionate about the American Songbook and these composers. “We don’t have to tell him anything. He just does it. He knows the aesthetic that we love,” he explained.

The Anderson Brothers Play Richard Rodgers is on stage at Phantom Theater’s Edgcomb Barn in Warren at 8 p.m. on Sunday, July 13. Find more information and tickets online at phantomtheater.org.

~Kate Youngdahl-Stauss

July 18-19: Phantom Turns 40!

To mark Phantom Theater’s 40th anniversary, performers past and present have pulled out all the stops to assemble a mash-up of greatest hits, comedy sketches, dance, and original music all in one show happening on Friday-Saturday, July 18-19. Expect some moments of reflection along the way, too.
Board member and cast member Ramsey Brown shares a personal perspective on this special production here. Showtime is 8 p.m. both nights. Find more information and tickets ($20) online at phantomtheater.org.

(UPDATED) July 23: July Jazz Jam at The Phoenix

*Jazz Jam nights happen on the third Wednesday of each month at The Phoenix. Photo by Gordon Miller*

Calling all jazz enthusiasts – players, singers, listeners – July’s Jazz Jam has been revised to Weds., July 23, 6-9 p.m. at The Phoenix Gallery & Music Hall, 5 Stowe St., hosted by Nina Towne and Anne Decker. The August date is Wednesday, Aug. 13.

Players are invited to join in on songs others bring, and/or bring a few copies of charts for the tunes you want to call. Many choose from tunes in The Real Books. Singers, please bring copies of lead sheets or sheet music for your songs in your key.

Admission is a suggested $5 donation for all attendees to help pay the house band and support TURNmusic in the beautiful Phoenix space. All are welcome to bring something for the snack/dessert table to share. Also, it’s fine to BYOB. If parking is tight, use Brookside Primary School at 47 Stowe St.

Questions? Call/text/email Nina Towne at 802-461-5339/nina@proudflower.net.

*Kitty Feldzig (played by Jennifer Sassaman) and the pastry chefs in ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’ at Lost Nation Theater. Photo by John Snell*

July 17-Aug. 3: Lost Nation Theater promises a boost from ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’

In announcing their latest stage production, Lost Nation Theater in Montpelier tells the story of how the musical comedy, “The Drowsy Chaperone,” began as a wedding gift between two theater friends.

Seven years later, the show won five Tony Awards and more.

The production’s upcoming Vermont run will be Thursdays-Sundays, July 17- Aug. 3 at Montpelier’s City Hall.

Director and actor in the show, Eric Love says “The Drowsy Chaperone” is one of his favorite musicals.

The story, in short: “It’s 1928. Broadway Star Janet Van de Graff is about to give up the stage to marry the dashing Robert Martin. Add to the mix his bumbling best man, her desperate producer attempting to sabotage the wedding, gangsters posing as pastry chefs, a daft hostess, a misguided Don Juan and an intoxicated chaperone – and you’ve got the recipe for pure madcap delight.”

*Aldolpho (played by Joshua Lopez) and the Chaperone (Kathleen Keenan) in The Drowsy Chaperone. Photo John Snell*

The tale is told from the perspective of Love’s character, a present-day lonely theatre fan, “the Man in the Chair,” who plays his favorite cast album. “The 4th wall is shattered immediately by the Man In Chair talking directly to the audience,” Love admits. “The plot is stupid, but this musical couldn’t be smarter. It’s replete with show-stopping dances and side-splitting scenes. The intimacy of LNT’s space will bring you right up-close to the action, a rare treat for a big musical.”

Presented by special arrangement with Music Theatre International, the show is the brainchild of composers Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison on music and lyrics with writers Bob Martin and Don McKellar who also wrote “The Prom,” “Elf the Musical,” and “First Gay President.” The Boston Globe called it “a comic feast,” and New York Magazine declared it to be “the perfect Broadway musical.”

Cast and crew members include Taryn Noelle as the show’s triple-threat Broadway Star Janet Van De Graff, Kathleen Keenan in the title role, Mark S. Roberts as the comically villainous producer, Ann Harvey as host Mrs. Tottendale, and Jennifer Sassaman is the ditzy wannabe chorus girl Kitty. Another 20 actors-dancers-singers round out the ensemble.

*Caira Adams as Trix the Aviatrix in Lost Nation Theater’s The Drowsy Chaperone. Photo John Snell*

Jen Greenwood is music director, Ryan Hendricks choreographs, Jessica Della Pepa is costume designer; John Devlin handles scenic design; and Andrew Vachon is in on sound. Katie Genzer is associate director with Angie Calfa as stage manager.

From July 17 through Aug. 3, performances are at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets: $15-48. The show runs 90 min. without intermission. City Hall’s elevator remains inoperable. Performances will be livestreamed for accessibility.

The Friday, July 18, performance has a pre-show party (included in the ticket price) with live music, snacks and a speakeasy theme. Attendees are encouraged to dress up.

More details and tickets are available online at lostnationtheater.org or by calling or emailing the box office 802-229-0492 or info@lostnationtheater.org.

July 20: Mad River Chorale presents a unique two-piano concert

Two of Vermont’s preeminent pianists will share the Barre Opera House stage on July 20 for a benefit performance supporting Mad River Chorale.

Mary Jane Austin and Alison Cerutti have been friends and colleagues for years, but this will be the first time they play together, each on her own grand piano, in a concert titled “Oh, Summer Rhapsody!” at 4 p.m.

The program includes:

Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D major, K.448, Mozart’s most famous composition for two pianos that showcases his prowess for combining technical virtuosity with musical expression.
Ravel’s Ma mère l’Oye" (Mother Goose Suite), a charming collection of five miniature pieces originally composed for piano in 1908-1910.
Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, groundbreaking as one of the first successful fusions of jazz and classical music. The two-piano version adapts the orchestral parts for the second piano, allowing the piece to be performed without an orchestra while preserving its harmonic and rhythmic complexity.

The Mad River Chorale’s conductor since 2018, Austin’s musical work ranges from recital work and full scale opera productions to teaching and choral conducting. Currently the principal keyboardist of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, she’s worked as assistant conductor, rehearsal pianist and chorus master for the Opera Company of Middlebury and her collaborations have included TURNmusic and the Craftsbury Chamber Players.

She co-founded Vermont Italian Opera with bass Erik Kroncke, and they direct summer opera and operettas at the Unadilla Theatre. She currently teaches at the University of Vermont, is the music director of the Vermont Youth Opera of the Opera Company of Middlebury, and is the organist at the Waterbury Congregational Church.

Cerutti frequently performs as a soloist and chamber musician in Vermont and Canada and has appeared as a soloist with the Norwich University Band Company, the Burlington Civic Symphony Orchestra, and the Vermont Philharmonic.

For two decades, Cerutti and violist Elizabeth Reid have performed as the Cerutti-Reid Duo and they are founding members of Arioso and the Northern Third Piano Quartet. Cerutti plays on Reid’s new recording titled “Conjuring,” and on the soundtrack of Bess O’Brien’s documentary film, “All of Me.”

Cerutti’s many collaborations include performances with the Mad River Chorale, the Winooski Valley and All-State music festivals, Unadilla Theatre, Music-COMP, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and TURNmusic. She also teaches students of all ages at her home in Northfield.

Tickets: $20; students and seniors are $15, children under 11 free. Purchase online at barreoperahouse.org or call 802-476-8188. The venue is handicapped accessible and equipped for the hearing impaired.

July 21: Broadway in Vermont brings show tunes to Moose Meadow Lodge

For the fifth consecutive year, Vermonter and Broadway actor Merritt David Jones brings his Broadway in Vermont ensemble to Duxbury with a special one-night outdoor concert at Moose Meadow Lodge.

Jones, who most recently starred in the original Broadway casts of “SMASH” and “Back to the Future,” has assembled some of Broadway’s leading stars to visit the Green Mountains for a performance at 6 p.m. on Monday, July 21.

Accompanied by a live band, Jones and friends will present a program of hits from classic and contemporary Broadway musicals, along with some original songs, intermingled with stories about their professional journeys. The result is an intimate look at some of the most legendary musicals as well as insight into the lives of modern Broadway performers.

Originally from Colchester, Janes is a graduate of the Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York City and the University of Maine. Janes’ professional career has spanned a wide variety of productions including national tours of “The Wedding Singer,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “Shrek.” He was an original cast member in the 25th Anniversary Broadway tour of “Phantom of the Opera” and the first Broadway national tour of “School of Rock.”

*The meadow becomes the theater for Broadway in Vermont at Moose Meadow Lodge. Photo by Gordon Miller*

On July 21, the Moose Meadow gates open at 5 p.m. for picnicking. Attendees are asked to pack all trash out with them. Parking is limited, so carpooling is encouraged. Food will be available for purchase from JDK BBQ and The Udder Guys ice cream. Pets are not allowed.

The show runtime is about two hours with a brief intermission. Should it be needed, the rain location is Harwood Union High School’s auditorium. Tickets: $45 general admission, $30 for students and children.

Find more information on Broadway in Vermont cast members and purchase tickets online at moosemeadowlodge.net.

July 22: TURNmusic hosts an international collaboration with ‘Blackgate’

*Dutch Harpist Lavinia Meijer and American cellist Clarice Jensen perform new music by Irish composer/bassist Caimin Gilmore. Photo courtesy of TURNmusic*

An American cellist and Dutch harpist perform new music by an Irish composer at The Phoenix Gallery and Music Hall in Waterbury on July 22 in a performance presented by TURNmusic and New Amsterdam Records.

The international double bill features cellist/composer Clarice Jensen and harpist Lavinia Meijer performing “BlackGate,” by Caimin Gilmore.

The show is one of several special performances of music on Gilmore’s debut album titled “BlackGate” set to be released Aug. 1 on New Amsterdam and Ten Spot Records.

A double bassist and member of new music group Crash Ensemble, Gilmore is currently touring the U.S. with Irish band Ye Vagabonds. He’s performed on over 40 albums, including releases from Leonard Cohen and Damon Albarn.

With his own record he now emerges as a new Irish compositional voice. “BlackGate” is a cross-genre piece reflecting and encapsulating Gilmore’s multifaceted career across a spectrum of styles, from contemporary music to pop, classical and folk.

Written for cello, double bass, harp & DX7, “Blackgate” was recorded by Meijer, Gilmore and Irish cellist Kate Ellis last year and its world premiere was at the Kilkenny Arts Festival in Ireland. The pieces on the TURNmusic program are a special rearrangement of the work for Lavinia Meijer and Clarice Jensen.

The Waterbury date is part of a series of U.S. performances where the music debuts in the states. It will follow a concert the night before at the PS21 Centre for Contemporary Performance in Chatham, New York.

In this concert, Meijer and Jensen each will perform solo selections in addition to their “BlackGate” performance.

A leading harp player in Europe, Meijer regularly appears on some of the biggest classical stages in the world and holds the distinction as the only classical artist to have hit the top 10 in the Dutch album charts with three consecutive albums.

Meanwhile, NPR described Jensen’s 2020 album, “The experience of repetition as death,” as being “among the great ambient albums of the 21st century.” Her section of the TURNmusic program previews material from her forthcoming new record, “In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness,” due for release on the FatCat label in October.

Doors open at 7, music at 7:30 p.m. Tickets at sevendaystix.org or turnmusic.org; $25-40, sliding scale, with youth and caregivers free. BYOB.

July 25: Music in the Alley

The second of three free outdoor summer performances in the newly refurbished Jack’s Alley is Friday night, July 25, when Music in the Alley presents The Noah Young Trio.

With a decade of performances under their belt, the group with roots in New Orleans brings their contemporary jazz sound to Waterbury.

Organized by TURNmusic, the performance is at 6-9 p.m. with the rain location being the nearby Phoenix Gallery and Music Hall. Read more about Music in the Alley here.

July packs in performing arts on local stages