Category: News

If you’re looking for suggestions on where to eat or where to stay while you’re in Lancaster to catch one of our many shows, why not check out the offerings of some of our local restaurant and hotel partners.

Close to AMT you’ll find a number of terrific places to enjoy a meal or snack before or after the show. If you’d like to sample some authentic PA Dutch cooking, try Good ‘n Plenty Restaurant with their family or menu style dining — we recommend the fried chicken! If buffet is more to your liking, try Miller’s Smorgasbord, featuring plenty of delicious options from appetizers through desserts. Just up the road is Applebee’s, offering their new “jazzed-up 2 for $20 Menu” and Red Robin, with their “insanely delicious Gourmet Burgers.” If you prefer something a little more formal, we recommend The Greenfield Restaurant & Bar with their live music and award-winning wine cellar or The Iron Horse Inn, “where fine food meets good times.”

Need ideas for a nice place to stay? How about Holiday Inn Express or Comfort Suites. Both hotels are less than a mile from AMT. At each location, guests are treated to a complimentary hot breakfast every morning. If you enjoy something a little different, you may want to try The Limestone Inn Bed & Breakfast, offering comfortable rooms in a historic setting.

Want to find some place with food and a room on the same property where you don’t have to get back in the car? Consider Country Inn of Lancaster/Your Place Restaurant & Pub for a tasty stromboli and a brew, Fulton Steamboat Inn where you can stay and dine aboard a steamboat, or Hershey Farm Restaurant & Inn, where they serve up their world famous whoopie pies!

In future blogs we’ll be spotlighting some of these great partners, so check back often, and make sure to visit them when you’re in the area.

At American Music Theatre, we aim to keep our celebrity concerts calendar filled with acts that you know and love. Our high-profile performers can frequently be found all over the media spectrum.

Our acts present themselves in the media in a variety of ways. They’ve been stars of their own shows (Bill Cosby and Buddy Valastro on The Cake Boss), they can often be seen on late night TV (Jungle Jack Hanna on The Late Show with David Letterman video below), and have been known to grace many red carpets (Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers at The 54th Grammy’s). Artists such as Neil Sedaka, Johnny Mathis, and Frankie Vallie have all graced the small screen, but in song only. Each of these acts has been featured on the Emmy-award winning show Mad Men. Mad Men is set in the 1960’s, and focuses on the lives of Madison Avenue advertising executives in their heyday.

From the small screen to the big screen, three upcoming AMT performers — Montgomery Gentry, Wynonna, and Trace Adkins are featured on the soundtrack for the film Act of Valor. Act of Valor is about a team of Navy SEALs on a mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent. The film features an unprecedented look into these covert operations, and features actual Navy SEALs in the cast.

Whether they’re on the big-screen or the small screen, the acts we bring to our stage in Lancaster are always entertaining.

To see more acts, check out our complete concert lineup.

In the early months of each new year, Singers and Dancers from all across the country attend a non-union open call audition in New York City. Each of these auditionees is hoping to be cast in one or more of our upcoming Original Shows that year.

We chatted with Matthew V. Gotwalt, AMT’s Company Show Manager, to find out just what’s involved in the New York audition process.

Long before heading to The Big Apple, the first order of business is to select audition dates. Once finalized, Matthew reserves studio space and audition rooms, schedules piano players, and places audition announcements in numerous theatrical publications and websites. The audition announcements will give the Dancers and Singers all the info they’ll need to come prepared for their audition.

The first few hours of Audition Day 1 is a Dancer call, and both Dancers and Dancer/Singers attend. During these open auditions, no appointments are made — the Dancers are seen in the order they arrive. They’re placed in a holding room where they can stretch and warm up while they wait their turn to audition. Once their names are called, the Dancers are assembled in a group of 15-20. The group is then taught two different dance style combinations and they’re given some time to practice the moves. They audition for Andrea McCormick, AMT’s Artistic Director/Choreographer, Missy Clayton, our Show Captain, and Matthew, the Show Manager in pairs or groups of four until everyone has had a chance to be seen. Once everyone in the group has auditioned, they are given the opportunity to demonstrate any tumbling or specialty dances they may do. The process begins again with the next group of 20.

Later in the day, it’s time to see the Singers and Singer/Dancers. They begin the same way as the Dancers, waiting their turn in a holding room. Once it’s time for them to be seen, they’re lined up outside the auditioning room in groups of 12. In contrast to the Dancers, the Singers audition by themselves, after having a chance to go over their song selections with the piano player. Prior to arriving, the Singers are asked to prepare 16 bars of two contrasting style songs, whatever they feel would best show off their voice. Once finished singing, they may be asked to come back the next day for a Call Back.

During a Call Back, the Singers are asked to sing a song from a music book which is separated into specific AMT Show sections. If a Singer is being considered for a certain show, they will be asked to sing one or two of the songs from that show. The wait then begins for the Singers after Call Backs, to see if they are selected for any or all of the Original Shows that season.

It’s now Audition Day 2, and the process begins again with a whole new group of hopefuls!

In the theatre, we live by the old saying that “the show must go on.” However, with the winter months upon us, there is always the threat of inclement weather, and occasionally we’ll have to make a decision as to whether a show will go on as planned or not. Below are AMT’s snow policies regarding both Original Shows and Celebrity Concerts:

Regarding AMT Original Shows — On the slight chance we do cancel a show due to bad weather, ticket holders will be notified and a message will be posted on our website. Ticket holders will have the option of exchanging their tickets for another date during the run of that same show.

Regarding Celebrity Concerts — If the artist/band arrives at AMT, the show will go on as scheduled and tickets will remain non-refundable and non-exchangeable. If the artist/band is unable to make it, and we cancel or reschedule the show, ticket holders will be notified and a message will be posted on our website.

Even though we’re in the midst of an extremely successful run of The 2011 Christmas Show, we’re also super busy planning an exciting year of Celebrity Concerts and Original Shows for 2012. We think we’ve put together a line-up of shows and concerts that’s hard to beat.

We’re excited to have some AMT favorites returning to our stage like Bill Engvall, STOMP, Michael W. Smith, Chicago and Johnny Mathis. We’re also thrilled to welcome some new artists including Howie Mandel, Wynonna & The Big Noise, Riverdance, the Happy Together Tour and Yanni.

Not only will we have terrific concerts all year long, but we’ll also be debuting three all-new Original Shows — Country Classics in May, American Icons in July and The 2012 Christmas Show in November.

To get all the latest info on our upcoming shows, click here. 2012 is going to be an exceptional year at AMT. Make sure you’re part of the action!

With one week of performances under their belt, our cast is presenting a terrific, high-quality Christmas Show that guests are raving about. We’re thrilled to know that they’re thoroughly enjoying the music, singing, dancing, costumes and staging. Here is a sampling of the types of comments we’re hearing from guests who’ve seen the show:

— “The singers and dancers were top notch. We would not be able to find a higher standard of entertainment at any other establishment!”

— “It was delightful. We loved it.”

— “Everything was wonderful — not a dull moment at all. Beats NY shows any time!”

— “Can’t wait to see it again!”

In addition to enjoying an exceptional show, guests are being treated to gorgeous decorations as they enter our lobby. Three magnificent Christmas trees in shades of blue, lavender, silver and white are true highlights on the lobby balconies, while giant snowflakes and fluffy white snow can be seen everywhere.

If you’re ready for a true Christmas experience, make sure you attend The 2011 Christmas Show. As one guest put it — “Just a really great show that puts you in the Christmas spirit!” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

If you’d like to check on show times, ticket prices, and seating availability, click here.

With less than a week before the curtain rises, we decided to take a balcony seat and check out the sights and sounds going on inside the Theatre.

We found out that today is a very important day — it’s the first “Technical Rehearsal” for The 2011 Christmas Show. Up to now, all the elements of the show have been worked on individually, and today is the first time that “all the pieces of the puzzle” will be put together. So, at this rehearsal, the lights, costumes, sound, sets, music and performers will all be incorporated to create the full show.

In addition to putting all these elements together, this is also considered a “Stop and Go” rehearsal, where the show will start from the beginning, but each time something needs to be moved, tweaked, or adjusted, everyone stops and holds their position until the adjustment is made. Once corrected, the rehearsal continues on.

Just before the rehearsal formally begins, we find that the orchestra is on stage warming up, the singers and dancers are in costume and in their positions waiting for their cues, and the crews are busy securing sets, checking sound levels, testing lights and making sure props and stairways are sturdy and safe.

Overseeing this entire production is Artistic Director, Andrea McCormick, making sure that every aspect of her vision for the show is carried out. From what we’ve seen, we’re sure that Andrea and her cast and crew are creating a show that guests of all ages will love.