PTC planning 7 productions
Pioneer Theatre Company has announced its 2008-09 season. "It's a big season, and it's one we think will have a very broad appeal," said Charles Morey, artistic director.
Offering theater classics, regional and world premieres, PTC has seven different reasons to get up off the couch and go see a show.
• "My Fair Lady": It has been 15 years since PTC has done the Lerner and Loewe classic. Many say its "the perfect musical," and Morey agrees. "It's the best musical of its genre, period. Best book, best score, most pertinent piece of musical theater ever written. Period."
Based on George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion," the musical was an instant hit on Broadway in 1956 and, with songs such as "Get Me to the Church on Time," "On the Street Where You Live," and the incomparable, "I Could Have Danced All Night," boasts one of Broadway's most memorable scores.
• "Noises Off": PTC hasn't done "Noises Off" for almost 20 years, but Morey describes it as "the best farce ever written" having become a staple of theater on all levels.
Written by Michael Frayn, "Noises Off" is a play-within-a-play, the story of what happens behind the scenes during a show. Frayn has commented that shows are sometimes "funnier from behind than in front."
• "The Light in the Piazza": In 2005, a good chunk of Tony Awards went to this musical, and PTC is producing the regional premiere.
Based on the Elizabeth Spencer novella of the same name, "Piazza" tells the love story of Clara, a young American tourist, and an Italian, Fabrizio. Morey describes it as, "a lovely, uplifting love story."
The beautiful, lush, Tony-winning score for "Piazza" has a very classical feel and, when sung well, is exquisite. By the way, the composer/librettist is the grandson of Richard Rodgers (yes, that Rodgers, of Rodgers and Hammerstein.)
Morey thinks even though "Piazza" was not well-known, "it's one our audiences will really like."
• "The Yellow Leaf": This is the world premiere of Morey's latest play. An accomplished and award winning playwright, his works have been produced around the country in many regional theaters and festivals.
"The Yellow Leaf" is the story of the poets Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Wollstoencraft Godwin (later Shelley) and their companions in the fateful summer of 1816 during which Mary began to write "Frankenstein."
Morey, who has written eight other plays, said, "These were fascinating, witty, funny, extraordinary people whose lives were intimately entangled. That summer was to define the course of their lives."
• "Romeo and Juliet": One of William Shakespeare's most popular tragedies, "Romeo and Juliet," needs very little introduction. It has been 15 years since PTC has done the classic story of the star-crossed lovers, which continues to be one of the Bard's most-produced works.
• "Dial M for Murder": Written by Frederick Knott but associated more closely with film director Alfred Hitchcock, this classic murder mystery has never been staged at PTC.
Almost identical to the movie, the story is about a man who arranges to have his wife murdered. Critics call "M" a "classic example of a stage thriller."
• "Miss Saigon": PTC is tackling another monster of a musical. Coming off last year's record-breaking, sold-out run of "Les Miserables," PTC is going back to the work of famed composing team Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boubil ("Saigon" was the duo's second hit after "Les Miz.")
A modern adaptation of Puccini's opera "Madame Butterfly," this tragic love story is set in the '70s during the Vietnam War.
"'Miss Saigon' is a deeply moving and compelling piece of theater and one we've been on the verge of producing for the past few years. I'm very pleased that the time is right for it in many ways."
And what about the musical's show-stopping scene with the helicopter? "The helicopter is, of course, an enormous technical challenge — but not necessarily any more so than the barricade in 'Les Miz.' I know we'll find a theatrical and effective way of doing it."
E-mail: ehansen@desnews.com
Recent comments
This should be a fantastic season. I am particularly excited to...
Shelby | April 17, 2008 at 4:43 p.m.
What a great line up. I am very much looking forward to this coming...
Anonymous | April 15, 2008 at 4:52 p.m.
