PREVIEW: The Waiting: Exploring Love, Loss, and the Space Between
6/12 - 6/15 @ Cohoes Music Hall
“The Waiting brings together homegrown talent, original music, and a story that reaches beyond the supernatural.”
A new kind of ghost story is taking the stage at Cohoes Music Hall.
From June 12–15, Playhouse Stage Company will present the world premiere of The Waiting, an original folk musical co-created by Capital Region native Maria Isabella Andreoli and her longtime writing partner, EmmaLee Kidwell.
Andreoli, a Clifton Park native and former student of Playhouse’s youth programs, co-wrote the musical with Kidwell after meeting at Pace University. They’ve been workshopping the show together for several years, and this production marks its first full staging.
Set in the woods of Vermont, The Waiting imagines a mystical purgatory known as “The In-Between,” a place where the living and the dead coexist in grief and memory. When a young girl named Willow vanishes without a trace, her mother’s desperate search leads her beyond the veil.
There, in the space between worlds, she stirs a reckoning that forces the dead to confront what they’ve lost, and the living to let go. Rooted in haunting melodies and earthy, poetic lyricism, The Waiting asks one simple, impossible question: What if death wasn’t the end?
The production is directed by Abigail Grubb, with choreography by Ryland J. Mar and orchestrations by Brian Axford, who also leads the on-stage seven-piece band. The cast includes NYU Tisch alum and Playhouse veteran Ariana Papaleo, along with Dan Texiera, Gabriella Mancuso, Falan Nuhring, Ash Hudak, M-Jay He, and Sophie DeLange.
“It’s an absolute thrill to be premiering a piece co-created by one of our alums,” said Producing Artistic Director Owen Smith. “Maria and EmmaLee have built something really beautiful, and we’re excited to share it with audiences.”
The Waiting brings together homegrown talent, original music, and a story that reaches beyond the supernatural. It’s a local premiere, but it doesn’t feel small, and it marks an exciting next step for both the show and the people behind it.
Evening performances will take place Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 PM, with matinees at 2:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $40 for adults, $30 for seniors, and $20 for those under 18. They’re available at playhousestage.org, by phone at (518) 434-0776, or at the Cohoes Music Hall box office.