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2012-2013 Season Survey
The Erie Playhouse continuously strives to better serve our audiences. To this end, we are conducting a survey for your input concerning musicals, holiday shows, plays and Youtheatre shows we are considering for our 2012-2013 season. Below you will find a brief description of each show we are considering. Please take the time to read each synopsis so you can make an educated choice.
SHOW SYNOPSES
MUSICALS
LEGALLY BLONDE - Sorority star Elle Woods doesn't take "no" for an answer. So when her boyfriend dumps her for someone "serious," Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and sets out to go where no Delta Nu has gone before: Harvard Law. Along the way, Elle proves that being true to yourself never goes out of style. The West End production was nominated for five Laurence Olivier Awards and won three of them, including Best New Musical.
"Ridiculously enjoyable from start to finish." - Paul Taylor, The Independent
Check out this video from the UK tour of LEGALLY BLONDE
SUNSET BOULEVARD - weaves a magnificent tale of faded glory and unfulfilled ambition. Silent movie star Norma Desmond longs for a return to the big screen, having been discarded by Tinseltown with the advent of "talkies." Her glamour has faded in all but her mind. When she meets struggling Hollywood screen-writer Joe Gillis in dramatic circumstances, their subsequent passionate and volatile relationship leads to an unforeseen and tragic conclusion.
Tony Awards — 7 Awards for the Original Broadway Production including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book of a Musical
Outer Critics Circle Awards - 2 Awards for the Original Broadway Production including Outstanding Broadway Musical
Drama League Awards - 9 Awards for the 1994 Los Angeles Production including Outstanding Production, Outstanding Original Music, Outstanding Direction, Outstanding Writing
Here is Glenn Close' performance from the Tony Awards
SPAMALOT - Lovingly ripped off from the classic film comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail, SPAMALOT retells the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, and features a bevy of beautiful showgirls, not to mention cows, killer rabbits, and French people.
"Raises silliness to a new art form" - The Sunday Times
"A no holds-barred hit" - The New Yorker
Tony Awards - 3 awards including Best Musical.
Here is some video from the National touring company of SPAMALOT
SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS - Goin’ courtin' has never been as much fun as in this rip-roaring stage version of the popular MGM movie.
Millie is a young bride living in the 1850's Oregon wilderness whose plan to civilize and marry off her six rowdy brothers-in-law to ensure the success of her own marriage backfires when the brothers, in their enthusiasm, kidnap six women from a neighboring town to be their brides. Bursting with the rambunctious energy of the original film, SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS is all boisterous fun and romance that harkens back to the glory days of the movie musical.
"...the show offers non-stop pleasure." - NY Times
"The musical. . . fairly explodes off the stage in this robust and exuberant revival." - Show Business Weekly
"This high energy musical is stupendous from start to finish. . . . Run, do not walk, to purchase your ticket because this is the must see show of the season. Bravo." - Theatre Mirror
Check out this video from the 2007 NSMT production
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR - It seems especially fitting that the first rock opera, created as a concept album at the end of the turbulent '60s, should have at its center a social and political rebel. Jesus' meteor-like rise in renown provides, as the title suggests, a parallel to contemporary celebrity worship. As his radical teachings are evermore embraced, Judas increasingly questions the enlightened motives of this new prophet, resulting in betrayal. Christ's final days are dramatized with emotional intensity, thought-provoking edge and explosive theatricality. Propelled by a stirring score, by turns driving and majestic, satirical and tender, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR illuminates the transcendent power of the human spirit with a passion that goes straight to the heart.
Here is Video of the original Broadway Cast of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
THE KING AND I - East versus West makes for a dramatic, richly textured and ultimately uplifting tale of enormous fascination. It is 1862 in Siam when an English widow, Anna Leonowens, and her young son arrive at the Royal Palace in Bangkok, having been summoned by the King to serve as tutor to his many children and wives. The King is largely considered to be a barbarian by those in the West, and he seeks Anna's assistance in changing his image, if not his ways. With both keeping a firm grip on their respective traditions and values, Anna and the King grow to understand and, eventually, respect one another, in a truly unique love story. Along with the dazzling score, the incomparable Jerome Robbins ballet, "The Small House of Uncle Thomas," is one of the all-time marvels of the musical stage.
Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical.
Various TV Commercials for Broadway's KING AND I
RAISIN - Based on Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun
Winner of Tony and Grammy Awards as Best Musical, RAISIN ran for three years on Broadway and enjoyed a record-breaking national tour. Lorraine Hansberry's classic is transformed into a soulful, inspiring musical, as a proud Black family's quest for a better life explodes in song, dance, and incisive human drama.
"Pure magic...dazzling! Tremendous!...Warms the heart and touches the soul with a human dimension that takes the measurement of man!" - The New York Times
"A tidal wave of soul!" - Ebony
A song from RAISIN
SOPHISTICATED LADIES - The musical legacy of Duke Ellington is celebrated in this stylish and brassy retrospective that has taken audiences and critics alike by storm throughout the world. Act I takes us from his early days at The Cotton Club through his widening acceptance abroad, while Act II explores the private man as captured in his music. It's a high-stepping salute inspired by the glamorous nightlife and sensuous high life of a man who lived to love.
Here is a musical number from SOPHISTICATED LADIES
XANADU - follows the journey of a magical and beautiful Greek muse, Kira, who descends from the heavens of Mt. Olympus to Venice Beach, California in 1980 on a quest to inspire a struggling artist, Sonny, to achieve the greatest artistic creation of all time - the first ROLLER DISCO! (Hey, it's 1980!) But, when Kira falls into forbidden love with the mortal Sonny, her jealous sisters take advantage of the situation and chaos abounds.
This hilarious, roller skating, musical adventure about following your dreams despite the limitations others set for you, rolls along to the original hit score composed by pop-rock legends Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, and includes, "Magic," "All Over The World," "Suddenly," "I'm Alive," "Evil Woman," "Have You Never Been Mellow" and "Xanadu," to name a few, and is based on the Universal Pictures' cult classic movie of the same title, which starred Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly.
"Can a musical be simultaneously indefensible and irresistible? Why, yes it can. Witness XANADU, the outlandishly enjoyable stage spoof of the outrageously bad movie from 1980 about a painter and his muse who find love at a roller disco in Los Angeles..." - New York Times
Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical
Drama Desk Award for Best Book.
Check out these promo videos for XANADU
NEXT TO NORMAL - is the acclaimed, groundbreaking musical "that pushed Broadway in new directions" ( Rolling Stone ). With a thrilling contemporary score, NEXT TO NORMAL is an emotional powerhouse of a musical about a family trying to take care of themselves and each other.
Tony Awards - Best Original Score, Best Orchestration and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for Alice Ripley.
2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, becoming just the eighth musical in history to receive the honor.
"A brave, breathtaking musical. It is something much more than a feel-good musical: it is a feel-everything musical."" -Ben Brantley, The New York Times
"Grade: A. Agonizingly beautiful." - Entertainment Weekly
"A hallmark of a great musical is that it can grab you, shake you and take you into its world. NEXT TO NORMAL did before - and still does." - New York Daily News
"The future of American Musicals." - The Washington Post
"Rock is alive and rolling like thunder in NEXT TO NORMAL. The best musical of the season by a mile." - Rolling Stone
Here is the Tony Award performance from NEXT TO NORMAL
GREASE - Here is Rydell High's senior class of 1959: duck-tailed, hot-rodding "Burger Palace Boys" and their gum-snapping, hip-shaking "Pink Ladies" in bobby sox and pedal pushers, evoking the look and sound of the 1950s in this rollicking musical. Head "greaser" Danny Zuko and new (good) girl Sandy Dumbrowski try to relive the high romance of their "Summer Nights" as the rest of the gang sings and dances its way through such songs as "Greased Lightnin'," "It's Raining on Prom Night," and "Alone at the Drive-In Movie," recalling the music of Buddy Holly, Little Richard and Elvis Presley that became the soundtrack of a generation. An 8-year run on Broadway and two subsequent revivals, along with innumerable school and community productions place GREASE among the world's most popular musicals.
"A lively and funny musical - as well as the dancingest one in town. It's a winner...the songs are dandies [that portray] the early rockers with zip and charm. The sheer energy of GREASE carries all before it." - New York Daily News
Video from the Broadway revival of GREASE
A CHORUS LINE - In an empty theatre, on a bare stage, casting for a new Broadway musical is almost complete. For 17 dancers, this audition is the chance of a lifetime. It's what they've worked for - with every drop of sweat, every hour of training, every day of their lives. It's the one opportunity to do what they've always dreamed -- to have the chance to dance. This is A CHORUS LINE, the musical for everyone who’s ever had a dream and put it all on the line. This singular sensation is the longest-running American Broadway musical ever.
Tony Awards - 9 including Best Musical
Winner of the Pulitzer prize for Drama
A montage video from the recent Broadway revival
DRACULA, THE MUSICAL – Drink deep... and live forever! Join us for a terrifying and passionate new musical based on one of the most frightening novels ever written.
DRACULA, THE MUSICAL, with music by Broadway Composer Frank Wildhorn is a thrilling drama of suspense and a Gothic romance of dreamlike temptation. Set in Europe at the end of the Victorian Age, the production follows Dracula's lust for new blood and a small band of mortal men and women who must face his overwhelming seduction and mesmeric supernatural powers.
The Finale from the Broadway production of DRACULA
Excerpts from DRACULA
THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL - is a swashbuckling, adventurous romantic musical. Set against the backdrop of the bloody French Revolution, this is a tale of courage, betrayal, justice, intrigue, trust, honor and love. The show is packed with action, romance and comedy. Appalled at the frequent be-headings in Paris, a group of English nobles cross the channel and use disguises, ruses, and wit to foil the French army and rescue the innocents who are sentenced to death. While on English soil, the "League of the Scarlet Pimpernel" pose as the fanciest of fops to avoid suspicion. The group's leader - The Scarlet Pimpernel himself - is none other than Sir Percival "Percy" Blakeney, Baronet. Percy has married a French actress, Marguerite St. Just, who has a shadowy past, including an affair with the Pimpernel's arch-nemesis, Chauvelin. To raise the stakes even higher, Chauvelin - an agent of the French Republic - blackmails Marguerite into helping him discover the identity of the Pimpernel.
This show comes complete with moving ballads, hilarious dialogue, a macabre guillotine, daring rescues and a thrilling sword-fight. Seek it here, seek it there....
From the Rosie O'Donnell Show.
THE LAST STAND OF THE POLISH SHARPSHOOTERS: THE MUSICAL - An exciting new musical adaptation of the hilarious Joe Palka comedy set in Erie. Adapted by Charles Corritore, with music by Michael Malthaner, THE LAST STAND OF THE POLISH SHARPSHOOTERS tells the story of the Members of the Polish Sharpshooters, struggling to maintain self-respect as their community crumbles, take on a rival club in a challenge to build the best float in the Polish Day parade. Despite their constant carping, they love their town and are proud of their heritage. Of course, everything that could possibly screw up their plans happens, but their will to succeed forces them to work as a team and revives their sagging spirits.
THE DROWSY CHAPERONE - A rare combination of unprecedented originality and blinding talent, THE DROWSY CHAPERONE boldly addresses a great unspoken desire in all of our hearts: to be entertained. If you've ever sat in a dark theatre and thought, "Dear Lord in heaven, please let it be good," this is the show for you!
It all begins when a die-hard musical-theater fan plays his favorite cast album on his turntable, and the musical literally bursts to life in his living room, telling the rambunctious tale of a brazen Broadway starlet trying to find, and keep, her true love.
The DROWSY CHAPERONE at the Tony Awards
HOLIDAY MUSICALS
THE SOUND OF MUSIC - 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.
Tony Awards - 5 including Best Musical
The 1998 Broadway Revival at the Tony Awards
THE HOMECOMING - Known on television as The Waltons, they're called The Spencers in the original book, which is how they're named here. The time is the Great Depression, and the large Spencer family, living at the foot of a Virginia mountain, is struggling hard just to survive. With his father having to take the only available job a long way from home, Clay-Boy is stuck with unusual responsibility for his brothers and sisters. Just reaching manhood, Clay-Boy has a secret yearning that's quite extraordinary for the practical, earth-bound community in which he lives. He wants to write! Such foolishness is utterly foreign to his hardworking father, who tells him to prepare to become a responsible man—to build a home and raise a family. Clay-Boy could explode with frustration at his inability to communicate with this man whom he admires most. He is also worried because his father is already long overdue in getting home. In the climax, the father makes it—just as they are in despair about him. He brings a special gift for his son, a gift that reveals unexpected understanding and the strength of a loving family.
PETER PAN - First produced on Broadway with Mary Martin and Cyril Richard and more recently a major hit starring Cathy Rigby, this is one of the world's most celebrated musicals. Here is all the charm of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, the children Wendy, Michael and John, pirates and Indians, embellished with show-stopping songs such as, "Never Never Land," "I Won't Grow Up" and "I'm Flying."
"As wondrous as it has been since in first appeared on Broadway." — Boston Globe
"Bountiful, good-natured. ... A vastly amusing show." — N.Y. Times
"A delightful entertainment. . . . The young in heart of all ages will love it.'' — N.Y. Daily Mirror
CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG - “The most fantasmagorical Broadway musical in the history of everything!” CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG is the enthralling story of the adventures of a magical car Chitty’s eccentric inventor, Caratacus Potts, and his enchanting children, Jemima and Jeremy, as they join scrumptious Truly Scrumptious and batty Grandpa Potts to outwit the dastardly Baron and the evil child catcher in this non-stop adventure for all ages. It was the longest running show ever at the London Palladium.
Here is video from the Broadway production
PLAYS
BOEING-BOEING – Winner of the Tony award for Best Revival, this farce features self-styled Parisian lothario Bernard, who has French, German and American fiancées, each beautiful airline hostesses with frequent "layovers." He keeps "one up, one down and one pending" until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris and Bernard's apartment at the same time.
“This latest edition of a play named for an aircraft soars right out of its time zone and into some unpolluted stratosphere of classic physical comedy. Propelled by the same gusty spirit that animated Commedia dell’Arte and the silent films of Keaton, Chaplin and Lloyd, [this] may be earthy, but it’s seldom earthbound.” - The New York Times
BOEING-BOEING on Broadway
EMMA - Pledging never to marry, the mischievous Emma Woodhouse is nevertheless the “matchmaker of Highbury.” Her newest project, Harriet Smith, has already received a proposal, but Emma insists she marry the eligible vicar Mr. Elton, while an older family friend, Mr. Knightley, warns her to give up matchmaking. When Emma discovers Mr. Elton is more interested in her, she is forced to fend him off and find another suitor for Harriet. Highbury welcomes two new guests, a mysterious Jane Fairfax and the charming Frank Churchill, and Emma finds herself falling just a little in love with him. Ultimately, she decides that Frank is better suited to Harriet, but when she suggests the match, Emma is astonished to discover that Harriet has fallen for Mr. Knightley. A horrified Emma suddenly realizes she has always been in love with Mr. Knightley. In the end, all is set right as Frank reveals his secret engagement to Jane, Harriet receives a second offer from her first beau, and Mr. Knightley proposes to the deliriously happy Emma.
“A delightful retelling of a comedy.” — TalkinBroadway.com
“Joyful....” — Cleveland Plain Dealer
Here is video of EMMA from the Cleveland Playhouse production
PLAY DATES - PLAY DATES is a play all about love: falling in, falling out and everything in between. From the childhood innocence of your first everlasting crush, to the challenge of trying to keep the spark alive after ten years of marriage, to the tortuous single years in between when you think you'll never find anybody, PLAY DATES hilariously reminds us that love is never easy...and kindergarten is just the beginning.
PLAY DATES becomes a delightfully disarming take on the travails of finding and maintaining love." - Los Angeles Times
"PLAY DATES is terrific fun." - Splash Magazine
playdates from Jennifer Chambers on Vimeo.
LEADING LADIES - In this hilarious comedy by the author of Lend Me a Tenor and Moon Over Buffalo, two English Shakespearean actors, Jack and Leo, find themselves so down on their luck that they are performing "Scenes from Shakespeare" on the Moose Lodge circuit in the Amish country of Pennsylvania. When they hear that an old lady in York, PA is about to die and leave her fortune to her two long-lost English nephews, they resolve to pass themselves off as her beloved relatives and get the cash. The trouble is, when they get to York, they find out that the relatives aren't nephews, but nieces! Romantic entanglements abound, especially when Leo falls head-over-petticoat in love with the old lady's vivacious niece, Meg, who's engaged to the local minister. Meg knows that there's a wide world out there, but it's not until she meets "Maxine and Stephanie" that she finally gets a taste of it.
"Ludwig's newest farce is so funny, it will make sophisticated and reasonable men and women of the 21st century cackle till their faces hurt." - Houston Press
"LEADING LADIES is consistently funny-indeed, increasingly hilarious as it progresses." - Houston Chronicle
"LEADING LADIES is a highly combustible and continuously hilarious new comedy by Ken Ludwig, Broadway's reigning gagmeister." - Cleveland Plain Dealer
THE FOX ON THE FAIRWAY - A tribute from Ken Ludwig to the great English farces of the 1930s and 1940s, THE FOX ON THE FAIRWAY takes audiences on a hilarious romp which pulls the rug out from underneath the stuffy denizens of a private country club. Filled with mistaken identities, slamming doors, and over-the-top romantic shenanigans, it's a furiously paced comedy that recalls the Marx Brothers' classics.
A charmingly madcap adventure about love, life, and man's eternal love affair with… golf.
“A grand slam…a joy to behold!”− Washington City Paper
“THE FOX ON THE FAIRWAY is phenomenally funny!” - NJ Star Ledger
“Joyously ridiculous!”− TalkinBroadway.com
Promo video from George Street Playhouse
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY - Sisters Elinor and Marianne find themselves captivated by two very different men in this lively and dynamic adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel. Sensible Elinor is charmed by the quiet, bumbling goodness of Edward, while passionate Marianne is swept off of her feet by the dashing and mysterious Willoughby. But when Willoughby's scandalous past and Edward's secret fiancee come to light, the sisters are forced to rely upon themselves and one another to weather their heartache -- and learn that when sense and sensibility meet, love can't be far behind.
"[Has] a freshness, speed and immediacy that, while always in sync with the humor, sentiments and manners of Austen's late 18th century English country-and-city society, gives the storytelling a contemporary energy that is downright irresistible. ...Flows like an effortlessly danced gavotte, finding just the right balance between formality, playfulness and the real pain that invariably accompanies love and hope." - Chicago Sun-Times
"Adapter and director Jon Jory, formerly of the Actors Theatre of Louisville, faithfully preserves Austen's singular dialogue and the integrity of her estimable heroines. His sprightly production is notable for its solid storytelling...an estimable incarnation of the 1811 novel." - Daily Herald (Chicago)
Video from Actors Theatre of Louisville
THE 39 STEPS - Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have THE 39 STEPS, a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre! This 2-time Tony® and Drama Desk Award-winning treat is packed with nonstop laughs, over 150 zany characters (played by a ridiculously talented cast of 4), an on-stage plane crash, handcuffs, missing fingers and some good old-fashioned romance!
In THE 39 STEPS, a man with a boring life meets a woman with a thick accent who says she's a spy. When he takes her home, she is murdered. Soon, a mysterious organization called "The 39 Steps" is hot on the man's trail in a nationwide manhunt that climaxes in a death-defying finale! A riotous blend of virtuoso performances and wildly inventive stagecraft, THE 39 STEPS amounts to an unforgettable evening of pure pleasure! THE 39 STEPS, was Broadway's longest running comedy, and played its 500th performance on Broadway, May 19th, 2009!
Winner! 2 Tony and Drama Desk Awards, 2008
Winner! Best New Comedy, Laurence Olivier Award, 2007
A video montage from the Broadway production.
THE QUALITY OF LIFE - Dinah and Bill, a devout, church-going couple from the Midwest, are struggling to keep their lives intact after the loss of their daughter. Dinah is compelled to reconnect with her left-leaning cousins in Northern California, who’re going through their own trials. Jeannette and Neil have lost their home to a wildfire, and Neil has cancer. However they seem to have accepted their situation with astounding good humor, living in a yurt on their burn site and celebrating life with hits of pot and glasses of good red wine. Bill and Dinah are both moved and perplexed by their cousins’ remarkable equanimity. But their sympathy turns to rage when they find out that Jeannette is planning to take her own life to avoid a life of grief without her beloved Neil.
”Playwright Jane Anderson explores a myriad of ethical, religious, and moral beliefs, as well as (some would say) personal rights issues concerning life and death in her remarkable and completely engrossing new play, The Quality of Life.” — Terri Roberts, Theater Mania
Winner! 2007 Ted Schmitt Award for the world premiere of an Outstanding New Play — Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle
Winner! 2008 Ovation Award for Best New Play
GOD OF CARNAGE - A playground altercation between eleven-year-old boys brings together two sets of Brooklyn parents for a meeting to resolve the matter. At first, diplomatic niceties are observed, but as the meeting progresses, and the rum flows, tensions emerge and the gloves come off, leaving the couples with more than just their liberal principles in tatters.
"[A] streamlined anatomy of the human animal…delivers the cathartic release of watching other people's marriages go boom. A study in the tension between civilized surface and savage instinct, this play is itself a satisfyingly primitive entertainment." — NY Times
"Elegant, acerbic and entertainingly fueled on pure bile. It's Reza's sharpest work since Art." — Variety
"Brutally entertaining…in another of Christopher Hampton's exquisite translations, [Reza] cannily manipulates social observations that appeal to vast audiences and creates characters that bring out the best in actors." — NY Newsday
"Reza has established herself as a master [of] magnificently constructed plays." — Entertainment Weekly
Winner of the 2009 Tony Award.
Here is a promo video from the Goodman theater production.
THE RABBIT HOLE - Becca and Howie Corbett have everything a family could want, until a life-shattering accident turns their world upside down and leaves the couple drifting perilously apart. RABBIT HOLE charts their bittersweet search for comfort in the darkest of places and for a path that will lead them back into the light of day.
“David Lindsay-Abaire has crafted a drama that’s not just a departure but a revelation — an intensely emotional examination of grief, laced with wit, insightfulness, compassion and searing honesty.” — Variety
“Grade: A! A transcendent and deeply affecting new play, which shifts perfectly from hilarity to grief.” “One of the 10 best plays of 2006.” — Entertainment Weekly
LOMBARDI - Sport produces great human drama and there is no greater sports icon to bring to theatrical life than Hall of Fame football coach Vince Lombardi, unquestionably one of the most inspirational and quotable personalities of all time. Though football's Super Bowl trophy is named for him, few know the real story of Lombardi the man — his inspirations, his passions and ability to drive people to achieve what they never thought possible.
Video from LOMBARDI on Broadway
YOUTHEATRE
THE MUSICAL ADVENTURES OF FLAT STANLEY JR. - The beloved children's book written by Jeff Brown in 1964 has become a literary and pop cultural phenomenon - delighting readers and travelers all around the world. Stanley Lambchop is your ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill ten-year-old: normal mom and dad, normal little brother, normal life. That's just the problem...for Stanley, life is too normal. He wants to travel the world, do something amazing, something no one's ever seen before. Careful what you wish for, Stanley!
One night, the bulletin board on the wall above Stanley's bed comes loose and falls - right on top of Stanley! The next morning, Stanley Lambchop wakes up flat. Not just a little flat...really, REALLY flat! I n a whirlwind musical travelogue, Stanley - the ultimate exchange student - scours the globe for a solution to his unusual problem. He's stamped, posted and cancelled from Hollywood to France to Honolulu and beyond. And whether he's thwarting a robbery at the Louvre Museum in Paris, or "hanging ten" off the coast of Hawaii, Stanley is closing in on his goal of being a three-dimensional boy once more.
Here is a promo video for FLAT STANLEY
LYLE THE CROCODILE- LYLE is the story of a friendly crocodile who turns up in a bathtub in an apartment in New York City’s Upper East Side. Lyle becomes good friends with the folks in the building, except for Mr. Grumps, who hates Lyle, parades, people, and pretty much everything. However, when Lyle rescues Mr. Grumps and his cat Loretta from a fire, Mr. Grumps has to apologize for the way he’s treated Lyle. In the end, Lyle helps those around him learn that they should not judge others by how different they appear to be, but to love people (and crocodiles) for what they are.
“King’s adaptation creates a theatrical version that is true to the spirit of the books, yet adds an extra dimension of camp and humor that gives the production a distinctive stylistic signature.” – St. Paul Pioneer Press
Video from LYLE THE CROCODILE at Imagination Stage
A LITTLE PRINCESS - The musical is based on Francis Hodgson Burnett's children's novel, popular since the late 19th century. The story has been made into several films, including the darling little Shirley Temple Fox film in 1936. The setting of the musical has been moved from India to West Africa in 1838. Sara Crewe is treated like a little princess in colonial West Africa since she is the daughter of Captain Crewe, a wealthy and renowned adventurer. His main purpose in life at this time is to try to stop the slave trade that is flourishing in the area. He means to travel to the forbidden city of Timbuktu, where no white man has ventured. Captain Crewe has no alternative but to send Sara to Miss Minchin's Academy for Young Ladies in London.
A song from A LITTLE PRINCESS
INTO THE WOODS JR. The Brothers Grimm "go Broadway" as Sondheim and Lapine offer up a cockeyed fairy tale where all of your favorite characters—Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (and his beanstalk) and The Witch—meet and interact on their journeys.
The Broadway commercial for INTO THE WOODS
IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE - It all began so simply…the Boy remembers, “Mom had gone to aunt Rose’s house to bring her over a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.” They’re the best cookies in the world, and she left some for him. He’s also got a new comic book, Jungleman, Beastmaster of the Amazon, so he heads for the backyard. Then the Mouse shows up, hungry – talkative – and not to be ignored. The Boy gives the Mouse a cookie, milk, and a straw to drink it with. Tidying up after, the Mouse needs a napkin and a mirror, which leads to a haircut. What a mess! The boy begins to feel like he’s on a roller coaster ride and still on the way up. There’s no stopping this Mouse! Not only can he talk and cut his own hair and use a handkerchief, he can dance with his own reflection. And he’s only getting started. The Mouse is anxious to help – he helps at home he says – and he wants to clean up his own messes. The only problem is that his clean-ups leave a bigger mess behind than when he started. (Still, it’s awfully fun to watch him try.) The Mouse is like the Energizer Bunny – he just keeps going and going and going - and the Boy can think of nothing to stop him, short of a nap. So, they build a soft, sweet smelling bed…they find a way for the Mouse to undress…they find a blanket…a pillow…and the Mouse settles down…but there’s still one big problem: he’s not tired. They try the story, Jungleman, Beastmaster of the Amazon. The Mouse imagines himself the hero, and gives a passionate performance of the plot. It doesn’t put him to sleep, but it does inspire him to make art. He colors a picture of his family, gives it to the Boy, signs it (so the Boy won’t forget him – as if he could!) and mounts it on the refrigerator, which is no small task. Of course, being so near the refrigerator makes the Mouse think of milk, and he gets very, very thirsty. The Boy resigns himself to the inevitable, gives the Mouse milk and waits for the line we all know is coming…”As long as you’re getting the milk…could I have a cookie?”
“For children, MOUSE is a time for the free, joyful sort of chaos grown-ups frown on in real life. For grown-ups, it’s a freeing invitation to feel younger – even if just for a little while.” - Orlando Sentinel
“In Jody Davidson’s witty adaptation, the silently perplexed boy of the book has become an ingratiating young narrator and his visitor such a hyperactive chatterbox that you suspect that the little mouse is on [something].” - The New York Times
A Promo video from the Arden Theatre production
GODSPELL JR. - Drawing from various theatrical traditions, such as clowning, pantomime, charades, acrobatics and vaudeville, GODSPELL JR. is a groundbreaking and unique reflection on the life of Jesus, with a message of kindness, tolerance and love. Featuring the international hit "Day By Day."
THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER - is the irresistible story of a fourteen-year-old boy growing up in the heartland of America. This Broadway musical version of Mark Twain's immortal novel is set in 1840 in St. Petersburg, Missouri, a bustling town on the banks of the Mississippi River. In the course of the story, Tom matches wits with his stern Aunt Polly, falls in love with the beautiful, feisty Becky Thatcher, and goes on the adventure of his life with Becky and that irresistible renegade, Huckleberry Finn. Along the way we meet a terrifying villain named Injun Joe, Tom's bratty half-brother Sid, and all the other boys and girls in the village - providing one scene-stealing role after the other!
"Joyous, wholesome, literate and wonderfully realized... guaranteed to dazzle and enchant children and adults alike." - TalkinBroadway.com
Video from THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER
Performances
