STAGE

OPERA ITHACA FESTIVAL

OCTOBER 21–NOVEMBER 6

Get ready for a grand spectacle like you’ve never seen before!

Opera Ithaca Festival will feature various performances and activities at several locations in the Finger Lakes Region throughout the fall.

TO LEARN MORE AND PURCHASE TICKETS, VISIT

OPERAITHACA.ORG/2022-FESTIVAL

Wade Preston’s mix of Billy Joel covers and his own material has made him a five-year hit performer at CRT (Photo: Provided)

“Piano Man” Preston Returns to CRT

By Bryan VanCampen

Wade Preston, “ e Piano Man,” worked with Billy Joel on the Broadway musical “Movin’ Out” and is back at CRT for a h time to share Joel’s songs, from the big hits to the deep cuts. Preston spoke to the Ithaca Times.

Ithaca Times: is is the h time you’ve played at CRT.

Wade Preston: Yeah, I really love it. e audiences are always into it. Upstate New York has a lot of die-hard Billy fans. [laughs] And that theater just seems to really suit the solo concert. It’s really intimate, you know. It’s too small for a band, it would be too loud in there. Doing solo concerts is really my favorite thing, ‘cause all I gotta do is be myself. As long as I give them a healthy dose of Billy, I can throw other stu in there to let ‘em know I have my own identity as well. It’s a venue that does well when I play there, that makes me happy. I guess one of the keys to this business is repeat business. [laughs] If I do well for them, then it’s good for me as well.

IT: Yeah, it’s one thing to sell out a show once, but to come back multiple times, you know you’re a draw.

WP: Yeah. I’m very grateful to get to do what I do. People are very kind to me.

IT: And it’s gonna be your birthday.

WP: Mm-hm. Yeah. A whopping 61 years old. Oh, boy. I don’t know if I want to see that in print.

IT: Well, you told me, I didn’t ask.

WP: Here’s the funny thing about my birthday. I was actually born on the 14th but my birth certi cate says the 15th, so I just have a two-day birthday. [laughs]

IT: Right.

WP: When I was a younger man, I used it as an excuse to party for two days. I don’t do that anymore. So it’s actually a birthday show, I still think of it as a birthday show. It seems that every time I play at CRT, it’s always on or close to my birthday. Nothing I’d rather be doing on my birthday than entertaining folks.

IT: Speaking of birthdays, Billy Joel’s “ e Nylon Curtain” is 40 years old this year. So if you played “She’s Right on Time”, not only would you be paying tribute to that album, you’d be rst out with a Christmas song.

WP: at’s an interesting suggestion. I may take you up on that. It’s a great song. Do you remember the music video?

IT: No.

WP: Well, this was back when MTV was still a thing.

IT: I do remember that.

WP: It’s a very funny video. It’s him and this model trying to get together, and the disasters that ensue as they’re on the way to meet, and when they do, they’re completely disheveled. It’s a very funny video, and Billy is a really funny guy. He’s a natural when it comes to joke telling.

Wade Preston, “ e Piano Man,” plays at the Cortland Repertory eatre (CRT), 24-26 Port Watson Street, Cortland, (607) 756-2627, https://cortlandrep. org/, on Friday, October 14 at 7:30 p.m.