Drama fare includes 'Sound of Music'

Musicals and Shakespeare comprise most of this week's new stage offerings across the region.

• THE SOUND OF MUSIC, Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic musical based on the Von Trapp Family Singers, is playing Friday through April 21 in Rodgers Memorial Theatre, 292 E. Pages Lane, Centerville.

Directed by John Williams and choreographed by Susan Holland, the double-cast ensemble includes Addie Holman and Kimberly Roderick sharing the role of Maria, Sterling Hanks and Michael DuBois as Captain Von Trapp, Glenn Carpenter and Alan Edwards as Max, Jennie Whitlock and Catherine Nelson as the Baroness and twins Staci and Stefanie Turner as the Mother Abyss.

Performances are Mondays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $9-$16 (298-1302).

• O PIONEERS! a musical adaptation of Willa Cather's 1913 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, will play Thursday through March 31 in Utah Valley Stage College's Black Box Theatre, located in Room 627 of the Gunther Trades Building on the school's Orem campus.

Guest-directed by Katherine J. Farmer and choreographed by David Tinney, the cast includes Elise Hardman as Alexandra Bergson, the story's heroine; Alex Ungerman as Carl, Penny Pendleton Omer as Marie and Amos Omer as Alexandra's younger brother, Emil.

The story centers on Swedish immigrants who have settled on the often hostile Nebraskan plains in the 1880s. UVSC cautions that the stage adaptation, as in the original text, explores some adult themes. The play is not recommended for those under 16.

Performances are Mondays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for general admission, $8 for students and $6 for UVSC students (863-8797).

• YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN, the Broadway musical about a day in the life of the "Peanuts" gang, will play Friday through May 5 in the Empress Theatre, 9104 W. 2700 South, Magna.

Directed by Kristopher Heywood and choreographed by Kelli Hales, the cast includes Jamie Terry as Charlie Brown, Robert Yuen as Snoopy, Shawn Timothy as Linus, Jennifer Joseph as Lucy, Wendy Chipman as Sally and Fergus Brown as Schroeder.

Tickets for the Oquirrh Hills Performing Arts Alliance production are $11 for adults, $10 for students and $9 for children, 12 and under. On Monday nights, all tickets are $6 each and toddlers are welcome.

Performances are Fridays-Saturdays and Mondays at 7:30 p.m., with Saturday matinees at 2 p.m. on April 7 and 21 (347-7373).