October 3, 2025  |  By Waterbury Roundabout

Oct. 7: This post was updated with new photos from The Valley Players production of “Blithe Spirit.”

Just about every stage in and within 20 miles of Waterbury has performances scheduled in October. From downtown Waterbury to the Valley Players Theater in Waitsfield, Montpelier’s Lost Nation Theater, the Barre Opera House and more.
Here are some highlights of upcoming music, theater, and even some comedy. Just bookmark this page.

COMEDY

Oct. 11: Comic Juston McKinney, from sheriff to standup

*Juston McKinney will perform in Barre on Saturday, Oct. 11. Courtesy photo*

One of New England’s most popular standup comedians today, Juston McKinney visits the Barre Opera House on Saturday, Oct. 11, for a show at 8 p.m. as part of the venue’s BOH Presents series.

The New York Times called McKinney, “Destined for stardom,” and he may be familiar to audiences from appearances on The Tonight Show, Comedy Central and Amazon Prime specials.

McKinney has worked in New England for some time, but not always as a comic. In the late 1990s, after a career as a deputy sheriff in Maine, he traded in his badge for a microphone and went from York County to New York City to pursue a career in comedy. He quickly became a regular at Comic Strip Live, Stand-Up New York, Dangerfield’s, Gotham Comedy Club, and Caroline’s on Broadway.

He’s appeared on numerous Comedy Central shows, including two of his own specials. Early on, he dropped in on late-night shows with Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien and has appeared twice at Denis Leary’s Comics Come Home at the TD Garden. His TV and movie credits include The King of Queens,100 Centre Street, The Zoo Keeper, and Here Comes the Boom. He recently wrote and starred in the short film, Suck It Up, which screened at the New Hampshire Film Festival, where he was awarded Best Acting Performance.

Get tickets ($29) online and more information at barreoperahouse.org.

MUSIC

Oct. 3 with TURNmusic: Teacher Feature with The Mischievists

TURNmusic presents a “Teacher Feature” highlighting trumpet player Connor Young, on Friday, Oct. 3, at The Phoenix Art Gallery & Music Hall.

They say those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach.

They’re wrong.

Drummer Andy Gagnon and multi-instrumentalist Kyle Saulnier join forces as The Mischievists, stirring up groove-forward, jazz-adjacent chaos in this ongoing concert series featuring a stellar crew of music educators/exceptional performers. Bold, spontaneous, and a little mischievous, this is improvised music that plays hard and colors way outside the lines.

This October performance features Connor Young, trumpet player and educator at Middlebury

Union Middle School and Addison Daniels, jazz saxophonist and elementary school music, band and chorus teacher for the Orange Southwest School District.

The Phoenix opens at 7 p.m. with music at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $15-30 on a sliding scale; youth and caregivers are free. BYOB.

Oct. 5: TURNmusic founding members Dan Liptak, Nic Cannizzaro

*Dan Liptak and Nic Cannizzaro. Courtesy photo*

Two of TURNmusic’s founding members, Dan Liptak and Nic Cannizzaro, team up for “Pocket Grooves!” – a concert featuring modern works for bass clarinet and percussion. Having played together for over a decade in many different formats, this will be their first time joining together as a duo for a full concert.

They will feature new music and world premieres by composers Kyle Saulnier, Liz Reid and Brian Boyes, who also joins Liptak and Cannizzaro playing trumpet and keyboards.

*Brian Boyes rehearses at Harwood Union High School, where he is band director. Photo by Gordon Miller*

The concert will feature:

Habenera for bass clarinet and percussion by Kyle Saulnier
Pocket Grooves by Gene Koshinski
Velvet Night by Erik Nielsen
When a Tree Falls by Elizabeth Reid
Untitled new work by Brian Boyes
Miniature Set no 6 by Erberk Eryilmaz
Get it! by Gene Koshinski

The Phoenix opens at 6:30 p.m. with music at 7 p.m. Tickets: $15-30 on a sliding scale; youth and caregivers are free. BYOB.

Oct. 15: Jazz Jam hosted by Nina Towne

*Jazz Night at The Phoenix in August. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti*

Growing in popularity, the monthly Jazz Jam at The Phoenix, led by Nina Towne, is building a following around the region.

The regular loosely structured jam sessions from 6 to 9 p.m. provide an opportunity for a community musicians of all ages – from school-age to elders – to gather and play, sing, and hear jazz and socialize in an organized, relaxed, and welcoming atmosphere.

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

Admission by donation, $5+ suggested.

Oct. 18: TURNmusic hosts a Montreal trio

*Sarah Neufeld, Richard Reed Parry, and Rebecca Foon. Courtesy photo*

Saturday, Oct. 18, offers a treat from Montreal as TURNmusic hosts neoclassical trio Sarah Neufeld, Richard Reed Parry and Rebecca Foon who will play selections from their debut album, First Sounds.

Violinist Neufeld, multi-instrumentalist Parry and cellist Foon originally met in Montreal during the late 1990s while independently finding their footing in the local arts and culture community. For two years, they collaborated in various capacities before embarking on their respective musical careers.

Parry and Neufeld’s careers have been deeply intertwined over the past 20 years. Best known for their involvement in Grammy-award winning indie-rock group Arcade Fire, and instrumental outfit and Juno-award winning Bell Orchestre, both musicians have spent the better part of the past two decades writing and releasing music and touring the globe.

Similarly, composer and cellist Foon has been a fixture of the Montreal music scene during that time, performing and recording in a wide array of contexts (Esmerine, Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra, Set Fire To Flames, Saltland).

They say they have always felt as though the connection they share as a trio was special and everlasting. And so, 25 years later, they are reuniting to pick up where they left off.

The Phoenix opens at 7 p.m. with music at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $30-50 on a sliding scale; youth and caregivers are free. BYOB.

Oct. 18: ‘No wigs’ Tom Petty tribute

The Barre Opera House welcomes Boston’s The Breakers with A Tribute to Tom Petty on Saturday, Oct. 18, at 7:30 p.m. The show is part of the venue’s Celebration Series.

While “tribute band” may conjure images of blonde wigs and mediocre-at-best vocals, Breakers band members say they offer audiences much better. “We wanted to approach the tribute genre as a true live band, and in (lead vocalist) Chris Chartier, we have what no one else has — the most genuine sounding Petty experience in the country,” keyboardist Tom Smith said.

Chartier agreed to join the group on the condition that the band wasn’t planning to dress up and wear wigs. “I said if it was just play the music as authentically as possible, I’m all in,” Chartier recounts.

The goal is to offer fans of the late great rocker a memorable live experience, they said. So far, the band’s attention to detail is paying off with a busy touring schedule and a growing fan base.

Tickets: $32-$42 online at barreoperahouse.org.

Oct. 18-19: Vermont Philharmonic opens 67th season

*Vermont Philharmonic opens its 67th season the weekend of October 18. Courtesy photo*

The Vermont Philharmonic opens its 67th season, promising some “out-of-this-world music” with a concert program that includes Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony and Gustav Holst’s The Planets.

Season-opening concerts are Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 18-19. The Saturday performance is at 4 p.m. at the Highland Center for the Arts in Greensboro, and Sunday’s performance is at 2 p.m. at the Barre Opera House.

Music Director and Conductor Lou Kosma continues his leadership of the orchestra since 1999.

A seven-movement orchestral suite, The Planets was composed between 1914 and 1917 with each movement named after a planet of the solar system and its supposed astrological character: Mars, the Bringer of War; Venus, the Bringer of Peace; Mercury, the Winged Messenger; Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity; Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age; Uranus, the Magician; and Neptune, the Mystic. As a result, the movements offer a variety of moods.

Mozart composed his last symphony, appropriately nicknamed “Jupiter,” in 1788. It is regarded as one of the greatest symphonies in classical music, celebrated for its grandeur, formal complexity, and contrapuntal mastery.

The concert is sponsored by Community National Bank. Tickets: $25 for adults, $20 for seniors, $5 for students. More information and tickets: vermontphilharmonic.com.

Oct. 19 at Zenbarn: Strength & Hope with VSO’s Jukebox Quartet

The Vermont Symphony Orchestra introduces its fall Jukebox Quartet series, “Jukebox: Strength & Hope,” with a powerful program celebrating music as a catalyst for resilience, protest, and change. The quartet plans performances Oct. 15-19 in St. Johnsbury, Burlington, Rutland, Bennington, and Waterbury. The latter is the final show in the series set for Zenbarn on Oct. 19, 5-6 p.m. (Tickets on a sliding scale, $15-$35.)

Matt LaRocca. Courtesy photo

Curated and hosted by VSO Artistic Advisor and Project Conductor Matt LaRocca, the program spans centuries and genres. It features modern composers, such as Canadian artist Frank Horvat, an associate composer at the Canadian Music Centre and the inaugural recipient of the Kathleen McMorrow Music Award, and Milad Yousufi, a pianist, composer, and visual artist born during the Afghan Civil War in 1995.

The program also celebrates legendary figures such as Beethoven and Shostakovich and concludes with Woody Guthrie’s beloved American anthem, This Land Is Your Land, inviting the audience to join in song.

Quartet members include Brooke Quiggins-Saulnier and Joana Genova on violin, Stefanie Taylor playing viola, and cellist John Dunlop.

“This Jukebox program is about music that comes out of struggle—pieces written in the middle of really dark, difficult times,” LaRocca said. “Some of these composers were literally writing in prison camps or bomb shelters, or while fleeing their homes. It’s heavy stuff, but it’s also deeply inspiring. It reminds us that even in the worst moments, people turn to music to survive, to push for change, and to connect with others. That’s what we want audiences to feel: that spark of strength and hope that music can give.”

Find full details and tickets for all of the performances in the series online at vso.org/events.

Oct. 23: TURNmusic’s Outer Sounds with Weston Olencki

An artist and musician from South Carolina, Weston Olencki now lives in Berlin. Their projects position musical instruments as sites of cultural inscription, working fluidly between experimental sound, traditional musics, and various spaces and times.

On a release tour for the LP Broadsides (Outside Time, 2025), Olencki will perform a set on electromechanical banjo. Building on their work in Verd Mont (SUPERPANG, 2021) and Old Time Music (Tripticks Tapes, 2022), Olencki’s interpretation of the bluegrass standard “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” captures the euphoria of melancholy in motion. Permutational plucks of banjo are bounced around the frame by a computer, its pitches determined within algorithmic sequences and transcriptions of classic three-finger licks.

Olencki has performed at numerous festivals, including the Borealis Festival, Counterflows, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Lampo, Musica Nova (as a soloist with the Helsinki Philharmonic), philharmonie luxembourg, the American Academy in Rome and more. They have held guest residencies and visiting artist positions at universities including the University of Huddersfield, Harvard, NYU, Columbia, Princeton, Stanford and Northwestern, CalArtsAnd and EMS Stockholm.

Other works of solo discography include pearls ground down to powder (Full Spectrum, 2024), I Went to the Dance (Longform Editions, 2024) and Broadsides (Outside Time, 2025); other recording projects were released by PAGANS, Dinzu Artefacts, Lobby Art, Astral Spirits, Out of Your Head, Sound American, HatHut, and Astral Spirits.

Olencki performs in many contexts on low brass instruments, winds, banjo and electronics.

The Phoenix opens at 7 p.m. with music at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $15-30 on a sliding scale; youth and caregivers are free. BYOB.

Oct. 25: Bluegrass Gospel Project reunites

*Bluegrass Gospel Project reunites at the Barre Opera House on Oct. 25. Courtesy photo*

A mainstay of the Vermont Americana music scene returns to the stage after an eight-year hiatus. The Barre Opera House welcomes back The Bluegrass Gospel Project on Saturday, Oct. 25, at 7:30 p.m., as part of its BOH Presents series.

Formed in 2000 as a one-time First Night act, the Bluegrass Gospel Project went on to enjoy a 16-year run, earning a fan base across New England and beyond. The group built a reputation for pure, unvarnished traditional music with impeccable instrumentals and mesmerizing harmonies.

Now the musicians are reuniting for a special performance with a lineup that includes founding members Patti Casey (guitar, vocals), Paul Miller (guitar, vocals), Taylor Armerding (mandolin, vocals), Steve Light (banjo, vocals), and Andy Greene (guitar, vocals). They’re joined by bassist and former 8-year band member Kirk Lord along with new addition on fiddle and vocals, Colin McCaffrey.

Tickets: $35 online at barreoperahouse.org or call 802-476-8188.

The band will also play a student matinee for all grades on Friday, Oct. 24.

THEATER

Oct. 2-19: Lost Nation presents award-winning musical, ‘Next to Normal’

The curtain is up on Lost Nation Theater’s production of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning rock musical “Next to Normal.” The show opened Oct. 2 and will run through Oct. 19 as the finale to the company’s 2025 season at Montpelier’s City Hall Arts Center.

Hailed by Rolling Stone as “an emotional powerhouse with a fire in its soul and a wicked wit that burns just as fiercely,” the play focuses on a woman struggling with bipolar disorder and the impact that struggle has on her family.

The story is told through a raucous, dynamic and soaring pop-rock score by Tom Kitt and poignant book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey. Next to Normal – winner of Tony Awards for both the music and lyrics – paints an empathetic portrait of resilience and loss. And although it tackles serious subjects of mental illness and self-destructive behavior, it manages to remain emotionally honest, often funny, and ultimately hopeful.

The show is directed by Joanne Greenberg, who also directed Lost Nation’s “I Am My Own Wife,” with musical direction by Tim Guiles, who also was music director for the company’s productions of “The Prom” and “Sweeney Todd.”

The cast includes Tommy Bergeron as son Gabe, Kathleen Keenan as mother Diana; Nick Rubano as Henry, Natalie Steele as daughter Natalie, Jake Thomason as husband Dan, and Nick Wheeler as the psychiatrist.

“‘Next to Normal’ is a show I’ve loved since I was too young to even fully grasp the beauty and the heartbreak of it all, and it is a dream come true to get to be a part of it,” Rubano said. “This story and the music that carries it along are so moving and validating for anyone who has ever experienced love, loss, or heartbreak and is a beautiful reminder that without darkness, we wouldn’t be able to see the light!”

*The cast of Lost Nation Theater’s upcoming performance of “Next to Normal.” Courtesy photo*

The creative team includes Kianna Bromley as choreographer and intimacy coordinator, Jessica Della Pepa with costumes, Eli Goldberg on lighting, Ann Harvey handling props, Jeff Modereger on scenic design, Andrew Vachon handling sound and live mix. Band members include Jacob Banicki on percussion, Michael Corn on guitar, Mary Gibson playing violin, Tim Guiles on keys, Bruno John on bass, and cellist Fran Rowell.

Lost Nation’s Founding Artistic Director Kim Bent’s role is technical director. Bent describes that experience: “As I’ve been constructing set designer Jeff Mudereger’s vision of our ‘Next to Normal’ environment, I’m most deeply impressed by his intuitive understanding of the complex emotional dynamics of this story. He’s literally giving us a visual reality that’s almost ‘normal,’ and yet not! It’s truly thrilling to participate in that creative process with him.”

Details: Performances run Thursdays-Sundays, Oct. 2 –19. Curtain is 7:30 p.m. for Thursday-Saturday shows; 2 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets: $15-48. The Friday, Oct. 3, performance features a pre-show party (included with ticket purchase) featuring live music and snacks. Run time is approximately two hours plus intermission. City Hall’s elevator remains inoperable, requiring climbing stairs to attend in person. Events are streamed to be accessible. See details on the ticket page at lostnationtheater.org or call 802-229-0492 or email info@lostnationtheater.org for more information.

Oct. 10-26: ‘Blithe Spirit’ in black-and-white in Waitsfield

‘Blithe Spirit’ cast photos by Jennifer Brittenham-Jones. Click to enlarge.

For their fall production, The Valley Players present the play “Blithe Spirit,” by Noël Coward, Fridays-Sundays, Oct. 10-26, at the Valley Players Theater in Waitsfield.

This production promises a reimagined presentation of the story in black and white with styling inspired by 1940s cinema. Every element of the production – from costumes to makeup – embraces the elegant world of old Hollywood.

The story is a glamorous ghost story of sorts: a supernatural comedy with charm, chaos, and vintage style.

When a séance by Madame Arcati (played by Sarah Storjohann of Barre) goes sideways, Charles Condomine (Lee Chasen) finds himself haunted by his first wife, Elvira (Sorsha Anderson, of Middletown), who has some strong opinions about Charles’ second wife, Ruth (Shannon McDermott, of Burlington). Also participating in the séance are Charles’ skeptical friends, Dr. Bradman (Ray Merrill, of Montpelier) and his wife, Violet (Sarah McDougal, of Warren). Providing them with enthusiastic household service is their maid, Edith (Cassandra Demarais, from Websterville).

The production is directed by Shannon Sanborn of Barre with lighting design by Irene Halabozak from Williston. Sanborn is also the set designer.

“Directing ‘Blithe Spirit’ in black and white has been such a fun ride,” Sanborn said. “Every choice from the bold makeup to the clothes and sets has to pop without color. It’s all about mood, texture, and timeless style. I look forward to audiences experiencing the magic!”

Friday and Saturday night shows begin at 7 p.m. Sunday matinees are at 2 p.m. Tickets: $14 for seniors and students, $18 for adults. Find tickets and more information online at valleyplayers.com or email boxoffice@valleyplayers.com.

Looking ahead, Nov. 7-8: ‘Simple Sage’ by White River Valley Players

*Rebecca Smith and Peg Perdue rehearse their improbable meeting in ‘Simple Sage.’ Photo by Don Crickard*

In Central Vermont, as the saying goes, all the women are strong. The evidence: the remarkable cast just announced by the White River Valley Players for their production of “Simple Sage,” a new one-act by local playwright Kate Youngdahl-Stauss.

The play features five women living in the same Granville, Vermont, farmhouse in two different centuries. In the 19th century, the three Lamb sisters share romance, heartbreak, and their love of a vanishing landscape, while the 20th-century women explore the limits of friendship and social constraints.

The play turns on an extraordinary historical fact: Two of the Lamb girls married John Deere, the famous inventor of the plough that broke the plains and transformed a continent. Hancock’s Jeanie Levitan plays Demarius, his feisty first wife. Mischa Spittle, of Rochester, is Mellona, the youngest sister who marries a neighboring farmer, and Granville’s Rebecca Smith is Lucenia, the sister who’s left behind. Lucenia is also the only character who transcends time. Her spirit remains in her childhood home, Simple Sage, which still stands today on North Hollow Road. Peg Purdue, of Starksboro, plays Rose, a Depression-era socialite from Scarsdale, who wins the place sight unseen in a card game. Waterbury’s Kitty Coyne portrays her best friend, who comes to visit and pushes Rose to reconsider all of her values.

Granville’s Rick Smith provides voices and silhouettes for the men who remain firmly in the story’s wings.

Co-directed by Michael Purdue and Mian O’Dowd and produced by Don Crickard, the play premieres at The Theater located at the Valley Hub (former Rochester High School) on Friday, Nov. 7, with a matinee and evening performance on Saturday, Nov. 8. For more information, visit wrvp.org.

October performances: Comedy, Music, Theater