2006-2007 Season
The Diary of Anne Frank
By Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman
In this gripping new adaptation by Wendy Kesselman, from the original stage play by Goodrich and Hackett, newly discovered writings from the diary of Anne Frank, as well as survivor accounts, are interwoven to create a contemporary impassioned story of the lives of people persecuted under Nazi rule. This is an adaptation for a new generation able to confront the true horrors of the Holocaust. "Undeniably moving. It shatters the heart. The evening never lets us forget the inhuman darkness waiting to claim its incandescently human heroine." —NY Times. "An extraordinary theatrical adventure! Go and remember." —NY Post. "…new DIARY is chillingly honest about the Holocaust. Wendy Kesselman's work has restored the terror." —NY Daily News. "Wendy Kesselman's finely textured new DIARY tells a deeper story. A sensitive, stirring and thoroughly engaging new adaptation." —NY Newsday. "A powerful new version that moves the audience to gasp, then tears." —A.P.
"The new version presents Anne Frank's story with an unflinching view of the Holocaust and its aftermath. It must be seen." —Gannett. "One of the year's ten best." —Time.
Bang, Bang, You're Dead
By William Mastrosimone
"Bang Bang You're Dead" is a resource for dealing with a broken world that's violent, unhealthy, unfair, and beyond the power of anyone to fix except today's generation. The play is a free gift for students to perform in schools, garages, street corners, parks, houses of worship -- anyplace there can be communication and discovery about how we've made the world's violence our own. And how we can change it. It's about a theater of life.
Disney's Beauty and the Beast
Music by Alan Menken, Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice
Book by Linda Woolverton
Step into the enchanted world of Broadway’s modern classic, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Based on the Academy Award winning animated feature, the stage version of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast includes all of the wonderful songs from the film, written by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman, (the team responsible for Little Shop of Horrors), plus new songs written especially for the Broadway version by Mr. Menken and Tim Rice (Aladdin, Aida). The story is set in a lovely French provincial town where the beautiful Belle lives with her father – a dotty inventor. When her father doesn’t return from a trip to the local fair, Belle rushes off to find him. To her dismay, she discovers he is being held captive in an old castle by a horrible beast. She trades her freedom for his and the “tale as old as time” begins. How Belle tames the unfortunate Beast and his ultimate transformation into a handsome prince is both a beautiful and important story which
provides an important lesson about compassion for its audience.
2005-2006 Season
Dearly Departed
By Jessie Jones and David Botrell
In the Baptist backwoods of the Bible Belt, the beleaguered Turpin family proves that living and dying in the South are seldom tidy and always hilarious. Despite their earnest efforts to pull themselves together for their father's funeral, the Turpin's other problems keep overshadowing the solemn occasion: Firstborn Ray-Bud drinks himself silly as the funeral bills mount; Junior, the younger son, is juggling financial ruin, a pack of no-neck monster kids, and a wife who suspects him of infidelity in the family car; their spinster sister, Delightful, copes with death as she does life, by devouring junk food; and all the neighbors add more than two cents. As the situation becomes fraught with mishap, Ray-Bud says to his long-suffering wife, "When I die, don't tell nobody. Just bury me in the backyard and tell everybody I left you." Amidst the chaos, the Turpins turn for comfort to their friends and neighbors, an eccentric
community of misfits who just manage to pull together and help each other through their hours of need, and finally, the funeral.
Henry & Ramona
Based on the books Henry and Beezus, Henry and the Clubhouse, and Henry and the Paper Route by Beverly Cleary. Dramatized by Cynthia J. McGean
Welcome to Klickitat Street, home of Henry Higgins, his faithful dog Ribsy, Ramona the Pest, and her long-suffering sister Beezus. Newbery Award-winning author Beverly Cleary's irrepressible hero saves the day in this adaptation of one of the best-loved children's book series of all time. Ten-year-old Henry wants to do something important; he wants to deliver newspapers, just like that showoff Scooter McCarthy and the other boys. But first Henry has to prove to his parents he can handle the responsibility. That won't be easy with Ramona Quimby around! Then when the boys form a clubhouse excluding girls, Henry's friendship with Beezus is tested and the girls wreak their hilarious revenge. All of Henry's most memorable adventures are here including riding to the dump in a bathtub and getting his first bike. Along the way, with the "help" of Ramona, he learns some valuable lessons about friendship and maturity.
42nd Street
Music by Harry Warren, Lyrics by Al Dubin, Book by Michael Stewart & Mark Bramble, Based on the Novel by Bradford Ropes, Original Direction and Dances by Gower Champion, Originally Produced on Broadway by David Merrick.
This is the story of hard work, being in the right place at the right time, talent and love. 42nd Street is a celebration of Broadway and the people involved in shows. It focuses on aspiring chorus girl Peggy Sawyer, and takes us along her journey. Musical hits include “You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me,” “Dames,” “I Know Now,” “We're In the Money,” “Lullaby of Broadway,” “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” and “Forty-Second Street.” Every audience enjoys watching the underdog succeed!
2004-2005 Season
The Taming of the Shrew
By William Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s classic tale about the complications of love, marriage, and gender gets a new twist when set among New York’s elite. Baptista Minola, who of the richest men in America, never met an adversary he couldn’t handle—except for his won daughter Kate, labeled by the tabloids as “Kate the Curst.” When he refuses to allow his much sought after daughter Bianca marry before the Kate, the search is on to find someone insane enough marry Kate. Hope comes in the form of Petruchio, a man just crazy and arrogant enough to take on the task of taming Manhattan’s wildest woman. Mistaken identities, insane schemes, and passionate affairs prove that love is tricky, but ultimately worth it!
Seussical
Book by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, Music by Stephen Flaherty, Co-Conceived by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty and Eric Idle
"I can see that you’ve got quite a mind for your age!
Why, one Think and you dragged me right onto the stage!
Now, I’m here, there is no telling what may ensue
With a Cat such as me, and a Thinker like you!"
So says the mischievous Cat in the Hat at the onset of this fantastical, magical, musical extravaganza! Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Lucky Stiff, My Favorite Year, Once On This Island, and Ragtime) have lovingly brought to life all of our favorite Dr. Seuss characters, including Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, Lazy Mayzie and all of the Whos of Whoville! These classic, colorful tales are seamlessly brought together by Jojo, a young boy and “thinker of strange and wonderful thinks”! As each story unfolds you will marvel at how relevant and profound Seuss’s subtle themes are; making this musical one that appeals to all ages.
2003-2004 Season
Play On!
By Rick Abbot
Perfect for any theatre group, this is the hilarious story of a theatre group trying desperately to put on a play in spite of maddening interference from a haughty authoress who keeps revising the script. Act I is a rehearsal of the dreadful show, Act II is the near-disastrous dress rehearsal, and the final act is the actual performance in which anything that can go wrong does. When the authoress decides to give a speech on the state of the modern theatre during the curtain calls, the audience is treated to a madcap climax to a thoroughly hilarious romp. Even the sound-effects reap their share of laughter.
Anything Goes
Words and Music by Cole Porter
Nothing is as pleasing as the age-old tale of boy-meets-girl and the complications which ensue. Our hero and heroine, Billy Crocker and Hope Harcourt, coincidently meet at an overcrowded party one hot summer night in the early '30s. A leisurely drive through Central Park and a chaste kiss put the finishing touches on an evening that speaks of promise. Unfortunately, Hope slips away into the night without giving her name and address to Billy.
Charlotte’s Web
Adapted by Joseph Robinette from the book by E.B. White
The Children's Literature Association named this "the best American children's book of the past two hundred years," and Joseph Robinette, working with the advice of E.B. White, has created a play that captures this work in a thrilling and utterly practical theatrical presentation. The costumes and unit set may be quite simple—it's the story and relationships that make the show—or they may be as colorful and elaborate as you wish. All the enchanting characters are here: Wilbur, the irresistible young pig who desperately wants to avoid the butcher; Fern, a girl who understands what animals say to each other; Templeton, the gluttonous rat who can occasionally be talked into a good deed; the Zuckerman family; the Arables; and, most of all, the extraordinary spider, Charlotte, who proves to be "a true friend and a good writer." Determined to save Wilbur,
Charlotte begins her campaign with the "miracle" of her web in which she writes, "Some pig." It's the beginning of a victorious campaign which ultimately ends with the now-safe Wilbur doing what is most important to Charlotte. This is a beautiful, knowing play about friendship that will give your actors a great opportunity and your audience an evening of enchantment.
2002-2003 Season
The Crucible
By Arthur Miller
The story focuses upon a young farmer, his wife, and a young servant-girl who maliciously causes the wife's arrest for witchcraft. The farmer brings the girl to court to admit the lie—and it is here that the monstrous course of bigotry and deceit is terrifyingly depicted. The farmer, instead of saving his wife, finds himself also accused of witchcraft and ultimately condemned with a host of others.
The Sound of Music
Music by Richard Rodgers, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, Suggested by "The Story of The Trapp Family Singers"
The final collaboration between Rodgers & Hammerstein was destined to become the world's most beloved musical. When a postulant proves too high-spirited for the religious life, she is dispatched to serve as governess for the seven children of a widowed naval Captain. Her growing rapport with the youngsters, coupled with her generosity of spirit, gradually captures the heart of the stern Captain, and they marry. Upon returning from their honeymoon they discover that Austria has been invaded by the Nazis, who demand the Captain's immediate service in their navy. The family's narrow escape over the mountains to Switzerland on the eve of World War II provides one of the most thrilling and inspirational finales ever presented in the theatre. The motion picture version remains the most popular movie musical of all time.
2001-2002 Season
Bad Seed
By Maxwell Anderson, from William March's novel
The scene is a small Southern town where Colonel and Christine Penmark live with their daughter, Rhoda. Little Rhoda Penmark is the evil queen of the story. On the surface she is sweet, charming, full of old-fashioned graces, loved by her parents, admired by all her elders. But Rhoda's mother has an uneasy feeling about her. When one of Rhoda's schoolmates is mysteriously drowned at a picnic, Mrs. Penmark is alarmed. For the boy who was drowned was the one who had won the penmanship medal that Rhoda felt she deserved.
Father of the Bride
By Caroline Francke
Mr. Banks learns that one of the young men he has seen occasionally about the house is about to become his son-in-law. Daughter Kay announces the engagement out of nowhere. Mrs. Banks and her sons are happy, but Mr. Banks is in a dither. The groom-to-be, Buckley Dunstan, appears on the scene and Mr. Banks realizes that the engagement is serious. Buckley and Kay don't want a "big" wedding—just a simple affair with a few friends! We soon learn, however, that the "few" friends idea is out. Then trouble really begins. The guest list grows larger each day, a caterer is called in, florists, furniture movers and dressmakers take over, and the Banks household is soon caught in turmoil—not to mention growing debt. When Kay, in a fit of temper, calls off the wedding, everyone's patience snaps.
But all is set right, and the wedding (despite more last-minute crises) comes off beautifully. In the end, the father of the bride is a happy, proud man, glad that the wedding is over, but knowing too that it was worth all the money and aggravation to start his daughter off so handsomely on the road to married life.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lyrics by Tim Rice
The Biblical saga of Joseph and his coat of many colors comes to vibrant life in this delightful musical parable. Joseph is a boy blessed with prophetic dreams, and his father's favorite son. When he is sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and taken to Egypt, Joseph endures a series of adventures in which his spirit and humanity are continually challenged. He is purchased by the Potifars where thwarting advances from the Mrs. lands him in jail. When news of Joseph's gift to interpret dreams reaches the Pharaoh (wryly and riotously depicted as Elvis),
Joseph is well on his way to becoming second in command. Eventually his brothers, having suffered greatly, unknowingly find themselves groveling at the feet of the brother they betrayed but no longer recognize. After testing their integrity, Joseph reveals himself leading to a heartfelt reconciliation of the sons of Israel. Set to an engaging cornucopia of musical styles, from country-western and calypso to bubble-gum pop and rock 'n' roll, this Old Testament tale emerges both timely and timeless.
2000-2001 Season
The Diviners
By Jim Leonard, Jr.
This marvelously theatrical play is the story of a disturbed young man and his friendship with a disenchanted preacher in southern Indiana in the early 1930s. When the boy was young he almost drowned. This trauma and the loss of his mother in the same accident has left him deathly afraid of water. The preacher, set on breaking away from a long line of Kentucky family preachers, is determined not to do what he does best. He works as a mechanic for the boy's father. The town doesn't have a preacher and the women try to persuade him to preach while he tries to persuade the child to wash. When the preacher finally gets the boy in the river and is washing him, the townspeople mistake the scene for a baptism. They descend on the event and, in the confusion, the boy drowns.
Grease
Book, Music and Lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey
This is the 1950's rock 'n' roll musical. Rydell High's spirited class of '59; gum chewing, hubcap stealing, hot rod loving boys with D.A.'s and their wise cracking girls in bobby sox and pedal pushers---capture the look and sound of the 1950s in a rollicking musical. While hip Danny Zuko and wholesome Sandy Dumbrowski resolve the problems of their mutual attraction, the gang sings and dances its way through such nostalgic scenes as the pajama party, the prom, the burger palace, and the drive in movie. Songs recall the Buddy Holly hiccups, the Little Richard yodels and the Elvis Presley wiggles that made the music of the 50s a gas. Grease's eight-year run made Broadway history and its recent long running revival put it among today's most popular musicals.
1999-2000 Season
The Miracle Worker
By William Gibson
This stirring dramatization of the story of Helen Keller is one of the most successful and warmly admired plays of the modern stage. Blind and mute, and nobody knows what Helen's fate might have been had she not come under the tutelage of Annie Sullivan, an Irish girl who had been born blind. The Miracle Worker is principally concerned with the emotional relationship between the lonely teacher and her blind charge. Little Helen, trapped in her secret world, is bitter, violent, spoiled and almost animal like. Only Annie realizes that there is a mind waiting to be rescued from that dark, tortured silence. Annie's success with Helen comes only after some of the most turbulent, violent, and emotion packed scenes ever presented on the stage.
My Fair Lady
Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, Music by Frederick Loewe, Adapted from George Bernard Shaw's Play and Gabriel Pascal's motion picture Pygmalion
This show is the standard by which all others are measured. Based on Shaw's play and Pascal's movie Pygmalion, with book, music and lyrics by Lerner and Loewe, My Fair Lady is triumphant. “With Wouldn't It Be Loverly?” “With a Little Bit of Luck, “The Rain in Spain,” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “On the Street Where You Live,” “Get Me to the Church on Time,” and “I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face” it's no wonder everyone-not just Henry Higgins-falls in love with Eliza Doolittle.
The Front Page
By Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
An irresistible comedy with thrills and derring do set in the news room. Hildy wants to break away from journalism and go on a belated honeymoon. There is a jailbreak and into Hildy's hands falls the escapee as hostage. He conceals his prize in a rolltop desk and phones his scoop to his managing editor. Their job is to prevent other reporters and the sheriff from opening the desk and finding their story. Some hoods are enlisted to remove the desk, but they get mixed up with a Boy Scout troop and the mayor and a cleaning woman, among others. It's a whirlwind wrap up with Hildy finally making his breakaway, but the cynical managing editor has him arrested before he leaves town for having stolen a watch he planted on Hildy.
1998-1999 Season
It’s a Wonderful Life
Dramatized by James W. Rodgers. Adapted from the film by Frank Capra.
In our American culture It's a Wonderful Life has become almost as familiar as Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The story is a natural for a stage adaptation: the saga of George Bailey, the Everyman from the small town of Bedford Falls, whose dreams of escape and adventure have been quashed by family obligation and civic duty, whose guardian angel has to descent on Christmas Eve to save him from despair and to remind him—by showing him what the world would have been like had he never been born—that his has been, after all, a wonderful life. This faithful adaptation has all your favorite characters: George and Mary Hatch, Clarence, Uncle Billy, Violet, and, of course, the Scrooge-like villain, Mr. Potter. This fine dramatization not only celebrates the faith of the season, it also celebrates the American philosophy of life: hard work, fair play and the love and support of one's family and community will be rewarded.
Our Town
By Thornton Wilder
Wilder violated nearly every convention of modern theater in having minimal set, no props and characters that spoke directly to the audience. His quintessential piece of Americana follows the lives and loves of the Gibbs and Webb families as they struggle with living and dying in a young country. As the Stage Manger intimates, “In our town, we like to know that facts about everybody.”
Sweet Charity
Book by Neil Simon, Music by Cy Coleman , Lyrics by Dorothy Fields, Based on an original screenplay by Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli and Ennio Plaiano, Produced for the Broadway Stage by Fryer, Carr and Harris, Conceived, Staged and Choreographed by Bob Fosse
Have you ever known a girl who wanted something so badly, that she tried too hard to get it? Meet Charity, the girl who wants to be loved so much, that she has lost sight of who she is. Charity sings, dances, laughs and cries her way through romances with the "animal magnetism" hero, the "ultra-chic continental" hero, and the "impossible-to believe-but-he's-better than nothing" type hero. Her world is the all too real world of Times Square, and the people who pass through her world are as deceptively charming a group as ever swept across any stage. From her cynical, hard-core trio of girlfriends at the dance hall, to the phony evangelist, the Coney Island "fun people", the Central Park "strollers" and the YMHA "self-improvers," every character is interesting. This is a bright and sophisticated show in every sense. Cy Coleman has captured the rhythms and sounds, and Dorothy Fields the vernacular and fun of New York.
It's a comedy in every sense of the word. Neil Simon has a particular talent for looking at the truly amusing side of life. It's a dancing show too, with great opportunity for use of dramatic movement. Wonderful musical numbers include Big Spender, If My Friends Could See Me Now, Too Many Tomorrows, There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This, I'm a Brass Band and Baby, Dream Your Dream.
1997-1998 Season
Hello, Dolly!
Book by Michael Stewart, Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman, Based on the Play, "The Matchmaker" by Thornton Wilder, Original Production Directed and Choreographed by Gower Champion, Produced for the Broadway Stage by David Merrick and Champion-Five, Inc.
"And what do you do for a living, Mrs. Levi?" asks Ambrose Kemper in the first scene of this most delightful of musical comedies. "Some people paint, some sew...I meddle," replies Dolly. Hello, Dolly! is full of memorable songs including “Put On Your Sunday Clothes,” “Ribbons Down My Back,” “Before the Parade Passes By,” “Elegance,” “Hello, Dolly!,” “It Only Takes a Moment,” and “So Long, Dearie.” And we are off on a whirlwind race around New York at the turn of the twentieth century, as we follow the adventures of America's most beloved matchmaker!
You Can’t Take It With You
By George S. Kauffman and Edna Ferber
Two worlds collide in this 1937 Pulitzer Prize winner as Tony Kirby becomes engaged to Alice Sycamore. Alice loves her eccentric family, but isn’t sure how Tony’s socialite parents will react to her eccentric relatives. At the helm is Grandpa Vanderhof, who quit his job to enjoy life and refuses to pay taxes. Alice’s mother is writing a novel that will never end; her sister dances all day; and her father is building explosives in the basement. When the Kirby’s announce a full day early for dinner, mayhem ensues and all look to Grandpa to restore the calm.
