PTC announces lineup

Cyrano de Bergerac, Dr. Jekyll (and his alter-ego, Mr. Hyde), Elvis Presley, Alexandre Dumas, Neil Simon, Tom Stoppard and Andrew Lloyd Webber are just a few of the names to be dropped during Pioneer Theatre Company's newly announced 2003-04 season.

There are a couple of revivals ("Cyrano de Bergerac" hasn't been done on the Lees Main Stage for almost 16 years, and "Evita" is returning by popular demand), along with the world premiere of Artistic Director Charles Morey's latest play, "Alexandre Dumas and the Lady of the Camelias" and the regional premiere of the new Royal Shakespeare Company version of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

Also on the calendar are "Smokey Joe's Cafe," Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs" (being produced at PTC for the first time), and Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing."

Of the latter, Morey said, "I've had this on my personal list of things I want to direct for 20 years, along with 'Arcadia' and 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead." Stoppard is the most extraordinary mind writing for theater today. This is surprisingly funny and his most personal, warmest and most accessible play."

Before launching his new production of "Camelias," Morey will be workshopping it for two weeks during the summer at Connecticut Repertory Theatre, which is also taking an option for a future production.

Dumas' original work, "Lady of the Camelias," was first a novel and then a successful play. Verdi turned it into "La Traviata," noted Morey, "but most people know it as the Greta Garbo movie 'Camille.' You think of the girl who's coughing herself to death. It's based on the real-life love affair that Dumas had with a courtesan."

For Morey's stage adaptation, the action will be "set in Paris in 1894 during a rehearsal for 'La Traviata,' juxtaposing the real events against the artifice of the opera and the novel and play that Dumas made out of it."

During the workshop in Connecticut, "we'll work on integrating the music from the opera into the text." The script is also a semifinalist in the prestigious O'Neill Conference playwriting competition.

PTC offers a variety of season-ticket and discount options, including the Broadway Choice Series, the Critics' Choice Series and the Pick-5 package. Season tickets are now available at the box office, 300 S. 1400 East, or by calling 581-6961, or on the Internet at www.ptc.utah.edu.