Celebrating Cohoes Music Hall Sesquicentennial

Venerable Cohoes performing arts venue celebrates 150 year milestone on November 23, with three events planned in one day to mark the occassion

Cohoes, N.Y. (November 13, 2024) –  Saturday, November 23, 2024, will mark 150 years since Cohoes Music Hall first opened its doors to the public, and the venue’s management entity, Playhouse Stage Company, will mark the momentous occasion with three public events throughout the day. Playhouse Stage Company has been producing free outdoor musicals at Albany’s Park Playhouse since 1989, and has been producing musical theatre at Cohoes Music Hall since 2016. The company has managed the Hall since August, 2020.

Owen Smith, Producing Artistic Director, shared details of the Sesquicentennial events that are planned, saying “Cohoes Music Hall is the one of the Capital Region and the country’s most intimate and historic performing arts spaces, and we are delighted to mark it’s 150^th Anniversary with a lineup on Saturday, November 23 that has something for everyone, and that celebrates the broad range of programming the building has been known for throughout its history.” Smith continued, “The day’s festivities will start in the morning with a free Family Fun Day Open House with music and activities for kids, featuring live music from Andy The Music Man. The Open House, which celebrates the Hall’s history of being a space that serves the youth of the community, will run from 10AM to noon.  We’ll follow with a celebration of the venue’s theatrical history, as Creative License Theatre Collective and Playhouse Stage Company present a 2PM matinee staged reading of London Assurance, the farcical comedy that was the first performance ever to appear on the Hall stage in 1874. Finally, in a nod to the Hall’s resurgence as a live music venue in recent years, we’ll welcome back Get Zep! at 8pm. The group featuring popular Capital Region band Super 400, have sold out the Music Hall for their Led Zeppelin tributes on four occasions, and they will perform “The Song Remains the Same” in its entirety that evening, along with other hits.”

Cohoes Music Hall was built for $60,000 in 1874, financed by two local businessmen, miller William Acheson and newspaper owner James Masten. The Victorian style Hall was popular on the Vaudeville circuit in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries, playing host to such historic performers as Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill Cody, George M. Cohan, and Eva Tanguay, whose spirit, many believe, still haunts the Hall to this day. Eventually purchased by the National Bank of Cohoes, the Music Hall closed its doors in 1936, and was later sold to the City of Cohoes for $1 in 1968. The City enacted a redevelopment plan to restore the theatre, which took over five years. Finally restored to its original glory, the venue reopened in 1975 with a performance of London Assurance, the very play that had opened its doors about 100 years earlier. The venue has played host to, and has been managed by, various theatre groups and concert promoters over the years, with Playhouse Stage Company taking the reins in 2020. In recent years, the venue has hit records in terms of the number of shows presented annually, with a broad mix of musicals, plays, live music, stand-up comedy, and more.

“Cohoes Music Hall is one of our city’s treasures, and we are committed to making sure the venue remains a vibrant destination for generations to come,” said Cohoes Mayor William T. Keeler. Director of Community & Economic Development for the City, Stephen Napier Jr., commented on the vital role the venue plays for the City’s businesses, saying “The Music Hall is the anchor for our downtown community, drawing visitors to the restaurants, bars, and shops on Remsen Street and beyond. With more than 150 events presented annually now, the venue is a catalyst for continued growth in the Spindle City.” Napier went on to highlight the work that is being done to preserve and revitalize the building for future generations saying “This administration has secured and continues to secure significant capital funding for the building’s ongoing restoration and enhancement through grant programs including the Downtown Revitalization Initiative. The current roof and HVAC projects will help to ensure that this building stands and thrives for another 150 years.”

Tickets are now on sale through the Cohoes Music Hall box office for both the reading of London Assurance and the Get Zep concert event. Audiences can purchase tickets via thecohoesmusichall.org, by phone at 518-434-0776, or in person at the theatre’s box office.  The Family Fun Day Open House is a free event for the public, and no tickets are needed. More details about each of the events are below.

Cohoes Music Hall Family Fun Day Open House

·       Saturday, November 23 from 10:00AM to 12:00PM

·       Free public event featuring music and activities for kids, including face painting, balloon animals, and live music from popular Capital Region children’s musician Andy the Music Man. Funnny, quick-witted, warm, and tuneful, Andy Morse has been delighting young audiences for more than 27 years.

London Assurance & A Toast to the Hall

·       Saturday, November 23 at 2:00PM

·       All tickets are $35, and include a complimentary flute of champagne

·       This special event will start with a champagne toast to Cohoes Music Hall’s 150-year history, followed by a staged reading of the play that first opened the Music Hall in 1874, and then reopened the building one hundred years later. London Assurance, adapted by Capital Region theatre artist Aaron Holbritter, will be co-presented by Creative License Theatre Collective and Playhouse Stage Company. The performance will feature Capital Region actors Ryan Palmer, Laura Darling, Amy Hausknect, Nick Martiniano, Jay Hunter, Ketih DuBois, Molly Kirby, Evan Jones, Chuck Kraus and Owen Smith

Get Zep! performing The Song Remains the Same

·       Saturday, November 23 at 8:00PM

·       All tickets are $33 in advance, and $36 on the day of the show.

·       Get Zep!, presented by Guthrie Bell Productions, is an upstate super group consisting of Troy’s fabled rock band Super 400 and dynamic Hudson Valley vocalist Sean Matthew Whiteford. The group has been touring the region and beyond with tributes to classic Led Zeppelin albums, selling out Cohoes Music Hall on four occasions. For this event, they’ll play “The Song Remains The Same” in its entirety, and other Zeppelin hits.