Bearsville Theater, the local music venue with a national reputation, kicks off the new year with a new beginning as General Manager Frank Bango steps aside to seek a rhythm to life beyond nightlife.
“It’s a beautiful job and a beautiful place,” said Bango, 56, who moved to High Falls after running the Bowery Ballroom in New York City from 1997 to 2012. “For me, it was taking up 100 percent of my bandwidth, all day, just about every day. I was finding there were other aspects of my life that weren’t getting attention.”
Bango took on his role when music impresario Peter Shapiro took over Bearsville on June 1 of last year.
Rather than replacing Bango, Shapiro is splitting Bango’s role among three key staff members and elevating their positions. Jenn Glickman, Mike Campbell and Max Siegel, three Bearsville Theater veterans, assumed their new roles on Tuesday. Bango exited after Saturday’s Robyn Hitchcock show.
“The theater is 100 percent in good hands,” Bango said.
The reshuffle builds on a legacy that has been growing, with some twists and turns, across decades. A vision of the late Albert Grossman, Bob Dylan’s manager, the theater anchors what for years was called the Bearsville Theater complex.
These days, it’s known as Bearsville Center after being reimagined and renamed by owner Lizzie Vann, who invested at least $2.5 million into the site after buying it in 2019. She brought on Shapiro, who runs music venues nationwide, to expand the legacy she inherited.
Shapiro and Bango worked together to augment Vann’s overhaul of the theater. Along with Campbell, they landed high-profile acts including Little Feat, Bruce Hornsby and Benmont Tench from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.
Steering the Bearsville Theater now:
- Glickman, who has a long history with Shapiro’s Dayglo Productions. She was hospitality coordinator and is now director of operations and community outreach.
- Siegel, who was the production manager and is now director of production and facility. He previously worked at Levon Helm Studios and the Broadway Theater at Ulster Performing Arts Center in Kingston.
- Talent Buyer Mike Campbell, whose long history in Woodstock includes booking acts at the Colony Woodstock, is now director of talent.
Bango said he looks forward to a lower-key life.
“My aspirations as a musical artist are different now that I’m older,” he said. “I still like to live a creative life, which means I need some silence and some time, allowing other things to bubble up. I’d like to live a life with a circadian rhythm, up in the morning and asleep at night. I’ve also been renovating a barn in High Falls.”
That’s not to mention some nudging from Alfie, his dog.
“My dog told me the other day, ‘You’re always on your phone,’” he joked.
John W. Barry is a reporter for The Overlook. Reach him at john@theoverlooknews.com.