Variety of shows ahead

Three of the Wasatch Front's major players — Pioneer Theatre Company, Hale Centre Theatre and the Broadway in Utah series — have announced their new seasons.

PTC, for the first time in its history, is repeating a show from the previous season. The 2005-06 season's centerpiece — as it was last year — will be a monthlong run of "Disney's Beauty and the Beast."

Meanwhile, Hale Centre Theatre will be showcasing two Disney shows during its 2006 season — "Aida" and "Beauty and the Beast."

Broadway in Utah will be bringing some big names to Salt Lake City, including Maureen McGovern (currently in the recent Broadway run of "Little Women: The Musical," and headlining that show's first national touring edition), Cathy Rigby's farewell tour of "Peter Pan" and Patrick Cassidy co-starring with Amy Adams in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."

---

PIONEER THEATRE COMPANY — "Disney's Beauty and the Beast" was sold out before it even opened last season, and PTC Artistic Director Charles Morey figures that, in addition to those who couldn't get in last year, there are others who will want to bring their children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews to see it again.

In the meantime, theaters all over the country have lined up, asking to buy PTC's costumes, so "we thought we'd give our audiences one more chance to see this show with PTC's spectacular sets and costumes."

Also on PTC's lineup this coming season are three regional premieres and a couple of classics.

• "Metamorphoses" (Sept. 14-Oct. 1), Mary Zimmerman's acclaimed adaptation of Ovid's myths of timeless tales of transformation and love. Morey notes that the theatrical setting alone — around a large pool of water — will make it one of PTC's most exciting projects in years.

• "Sherlock Holmes & The West End Horror" (Oct. 19-Nov. 5), an intriguing new murder mystery adapted by Anthony Dodge and Marcia Milgrom Dodge from Nicholas Meyer's novel. It's centered around a murder in the back-stabbing world of theater in 19th century London, with Holmes and Watson engaged in a duel of wits with such renowned celebrities as George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde and Gilbert & Sullivan.

• "Disney's Beauty and the Beast" (Nov. 30-Dec. 24), with some of the original cast back again. Plus all those costumes and George Maxwell's stunning scenery.