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by Seth Rogovoy
STOCKBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 14, 1996 -- Ray Davies, the founder and leader of the rock group The Kinks, will be bringing his solo show of spoken word and music to the Berkshire Theatre Festival for five performances from Sept. 25 through Sept. 29.
The show, "An Evening With Ray Davies: Twentieth Century Man," is based on Davies' recent, so-called unauthorized autobiography, "X- Ray" (Overlook Press), which traces the life of an English rock star much like Davies from his youth in a postwar London suburb through his rise to fame in the late-'60s and early-'70s.
"The script is wonderful," said Kate Maguire, managing director of BTF, explaining why the theater took the unusual step of booking a show by a rock musician in the off-season. "It's great fun, very theatrical, and with great storytelling. It's a good script we're looking at, which is what we do -- we look for good scripts."
Maguire said that the festival hopes that Davies' show may attract new audiences to the theater. "The difference is that it's a rock star," she said. "We're really trying to reach young audiences and bring something fairly refreshing in, so we're going to give it a go."
Maguire noted that Davies himself was attracted to the idea of coming to the Berkshires, with which he was somewhat familiar as a place friendly to musicians. In fact, this will not be Davies' first visit to the Berkshires. In the '70s, the Kinks performed at the legendary Music Inn, in a concert that was immortalized when photographs of the crowd in Stockbridge were included in the jacket of a subsequent live album.
"His name is on the plaque where the Music Inn used to be," said Maguire. "I can't wait to bring him over there."
Maguire also said that Davies was drawn to the theater's small house, which seats just over 400. "He likes the size of the house," she said. "The piece is intimate and works well in a small house."
Maguire said the show was first brought to BTF's attention by its producer, James L. Nederlander, a member of the BTF board who first produced the show last fall in New York City. Nederlander offered it to BTF on its current tour, which will kick off in Stockbridge before travelling to Boston, Toronto, Philadelphia, Seattle and Vancouver. In addition to New York, the show has previously been seen in Chicago, Los Angeles, England and Australia, and on the VH-1 cable network.
Davies, 52, who is best known for writing and performing such seminal rock 'n' roll hits as "You Really Got Me," "All Day and All of the Night" and "Lola," has long straddled the worlds of rock and theatre. Among the rock operas he has composed are "Arthur," "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society" and "Soap Opera." He collaborated with Barrie Keefe in 1981 on his first stage musical, "Chorus Girls," and he wrote "80 Days with Snoo Wilson," which was produced and directed by Des McAnuff at the LaJolla Playhouse in 1988. His film appearances include "Return to Waterloo," which he wrote and directed, and the Julien Temple film "Absolute Beginners." He also played the lead in the TV play "The Long Distance Piano Player."
Davies' show includes readings from his book as well as solo renditions of such vintage Kinks songs as "Waterloo Sunset," "Celluloid Heroes" and "Days."
The Kinks, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, were founded by Davies and his brother, Dave, in 1962. Along with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who, the Kinks were part of the mid-'60s "British Invasion" of bands that dominated America's airwaves for the latter-half of the decade.
With songs such as "Victoria," "Dedicated Follower of Fashion," "Young Conservatives" and "Sunny Afternoon" to his credit, Davies is considered by some to be the quintessential English rock songwriter. Songs such as "Well Respected Man" and "Dead End Street" chronicled the lives of ordinary, working-class people, and were key influences on punk-rock bands and on the new wave of contemporary British bands including Blur, Pulp and Oasis. Other groups that have had hits with songs by the Kinks include Van Halen, The Pretenders and The Jam.
Tickets for "An Evening with Ray Davies: Twentieth Century Man," which will be performed on the Berkshire Theatre Festival Mainstage from Sept. 25 to Sept. 29, are $35 and $25 and are on sale now at the BTF box office at 298-5576. They are also available at Tune Street in Great Barrington and at Record Express Music in Adams. All shows are at 7:30pm except for the show on Sunday, Sept. 29, which begins at 6pm.
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