Cedar City shows will be featuring familiar faces

The Utah Shakespearean Festival's 2004 fall season will have three productions playing in repertory — the regional premiere of the musical "The Spitfire Grill," plus Shakespeare's "Macbeth" and Noel Coward's classic "Blithe Spirit."

Patrons will see a mix of familiar faces from previous seasons along with some performers who are coming to Cedar City for the first time. And the three guest directors should be familiar to most festivalgoers.

Paul Barnes, who directed last fall's acclaimed "Little Shop of Horrors," is returning to direct Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit." Brad Carroll, who has previously directed such USF hits as "1776" and "The Man of La Mancha," is directing "The Spitfire Grill." And J.R. Sullivan, who most recently directed the summer season's production of "Henry IV, Part One," is back to direct the intense psychological tragedy of "Macbeth." (This is Sullivan's fifth season with the festival, where he also serves as associate artistic director.)

On stage, patrons will find Henry Woronicz in the title role of "Macbeth" and as Dr. Bradman in "Blithe Spirit." He directed this past summer's production of "The Taming of the Shrew" and has performed such USF roles as Richard in "Richard III" and Vincentio in "Measure for Measure."

Other actors returning to the festival include Libby George as Madame Arcarti in "Blithe Spirit" and Lennox in "Macbeth"; Tim Casto as Duncan in "Macbeth" and The Visitor in "Spitfire Grill"; Danforth Comins as Sheriff Joe Sutter in "Spitfire" and Ross/Porter in "Macbeth"; and Rex Young as Macduff in "Macbeth."

First-timers at the festival include Misty Cotton, Stephanie Erb, Arthur Hankett and Erik Stein.

Carol Healey is returning to Cedar City after an absence of 12 years. She last played Regan in "King Lear" (1992) and Katherine in "Taming of the Shrew" (1991). This season she'll play Ruth in "Blithe Spirit" and Lady Macbeth.

This is the first time in this region for James Valcq and Fred Alley's musical version of "The Spitfire Grill," a homespun, slice-of-Americana piece based on the 1996 nonmusical film. The action revolves around Percy Talbott, a woman who has just been released from prison after serving a five-year term. She decides to settle in the rural Wisconsin town of Gilead, after seeing a photograph in a travel magazine.

"Macbeth" is considered one of Shakespeare's four great tragedies. Haunted by witches' prophecies and driven by his wife's ambitions and his own taste for power, Macbeth dares to twist fate in this psychological thriller.