2015-2016 Production Synopses

Over the weekend we posted the great line up of productions coming up in our 2015-2016 Season. We found that while a few were familiar with most of the shows, some of you had only heard of one or two – and we think that’s a good thing!

We’ve compiled a list of synopses for the season to peruse. This should help get everyone up to speed and on the same page:

On the Main Stage

Catch Me If You Can, the Musical

September 18 – October 18, 2015

  • Book by Terrence McNally
  • Music by Marc Shaiman
  • Lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman
  • Based on the DreamWorks Motion Picture

Based on the hit film and the incredible true story, Catch Me If You Can, is the high-flying musical comedy about chasing your dreams and not getting caught.

Nominated for 4 TONY awards, including Best Musical, this delightfully entertaining show was created by a TONY Award-winning “dream team”, with a book by Terrence McNally (The Full Monty, Ragtime) and a swinging score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray).

Seeking fame and fortune, precocious teenager Frank Abignale, Jr. runs away from home to begin an unforgettable adventure. With nothing more than his boyish charm, a big imagination and millions of dollars in forged checks, Frank successfully poses as a pilot, a doctor and a lawyer – living the high life and winning the girl of his dreams. But when Frank’s lies catch the attention of FBI agent Carl Hanratty, Carl pursues Frank across the country to make him pay for his crimes. 

White Christmas (Musical)

November 20 – December 19, 2015

  • Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin
  • Based Upon the Paramount Pictures Film Written For the screen by Norman Krasna, Norman Panama and Melvin Frank
  • Book by David Ives and Paul Blake

Based on the beloved, timeless film, this heartwarming musical adaptation features seventeen Irving Berlin songs and a book by David Ives and Paul Blake.

Veterans Bob Wallace and Phil Davis have a successful song-and-dance act after World War II. With romance in mind, the two follow a duo of beautiful singing sisters en route to their Christmas show at a Vermont lodge, which just happens to be owned by Bob and Phil’s former army commander. The dazzling score features well known standards including “Blue Skies,” “I Love A Piano,” “How Deep Is the Ocean” and the perennial favorite, “White Christmas.”

 Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons)

January 15 – 31, 2016

  • By Christopher Hampton
  • From the novel by Choderlos de Laclos

A tale of seduction set in France among aristocrats before the revolution, this is a classic drama for exploring decadent sexuality, morals and manipulation played as the ultimate game with tragic results.

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s stunning production met with acclaim in Stratford, London and on Broadway. The film, Dangerous Liaisons, starred Glenn Close, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer.

“A compelling evening of malicious wit.” – The New York Times

“An evening of high comedy, high drama and surprising passion.” – NY Post

“Perfect.” – New York Daily News

Little Women, the Musical

February 26 – March 20, 2016

  • Music by Jason Howland
  • Lyrics by Mindi Dickstein
  • Book by Allan Knee
  • Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott

Produced nationally and internationally, Little Women has been praised by critics for its ambition in adapting such a well-known story for the stage. This timeless captivating story is brought to life in this glorious musical filled with personal discovery, heartache, hope, and everlasting love. The original production starred the unparalleled Sutton Foster, who received TONY, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk nominations for her performance.

Based on Louisa May Alcott’s life, Little Women, follows the adventures of sisters Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy March. Jo is trying to sell her stories for publication, but the publishers are not interested – her friend Professor Bhaer tells her that she has to do better and write more from herself. Begrudgingly taking this advice, Jo weaves the story of herself and her sisters and their experience growing up in Civil War America.

The Fox on the Fairway

April 8 – May 1, 2016

  • By Ken Ludwig

A tribute from Ken Ludwig (Lend Me A Tenor, Moon Over Buffalo) to the great English farces of the 1930s and 1940s, The Fox On the Fairway takes audiences on a hilarious romp which pulls the rug out from underneath the stuffy denizens of a private country club. Filled with mistaken identities, slamming doors, and over-the-top romantic shenanigans, it’s a furiously paced comedy that recalls the Marx Brothers’ classics. A charmingly madcap adventure about love, life, and man’s eternal love affair with… golf.

“It’s a grand slam! A slam dunk! A Dunkin’ Donut hole! A hole in one! [A Fox on the Fairway] hums like a well-oiled machine but retains its human soul.” – The Washington City Paper

“The Fox on the Fairway is phenomenally funny!” – New Jersey Star Ledger

“Three words best describe The Fox on the Fairway… Hilarious, hilarious, and hilarious. The audience was howling with joy.” – The Examiner

Ghost, the Musical

May 20 – June 19, 2016

  • Book & Lyrics by Bruce Joel Rubin
  • Music & Lyrics by Dave Stewart & Glen Ballard
  • Based on the Paramount Pictures film written by Bruce Joel Rubin

Adapted from the hit film by its Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Bruce Joel Rubin, GHOST THE MUSICAL follows Sam and Molly, a young couple whose connection takes a shocking turn after Sam’s untimely death. Trapped between two worlds, Sam refuses to leave Molly when he learns she is in grave danger. Desperate to communicate with her, he turns to a storefront psychic, Oda Mae Brown, who helps him protect Molly and avenge his death.

In the Studio

 Evil Dead: The Musical

October 16 – November 15, 2015

  • Book and Lyrics by George Reinblatt
  • Music by Frank Cipolla, Christopher Bond, Melissa Morris, and George Reinblatt
  • Additional Music by Christopher Bond, Melissa Morris and George Reinblatt

Based on Sam Raimi’s 80s cult classic films, Evil Dead tells the tale of 5 college kids who travel to a cabin in the woods and accidentally unleash an evil force. And although it may sound like a horror, it’s not!The songs are hilariously campy and the show is bursting with more farce than a Monty Python skit. Evil Dead: The Musical unearths the old familiar story: boy and friends take a weekend getaway at abandoned cabin, boy expects to get lucky, boy unleashes ancient evil spirit, friends turn into Candarian Demons, boy fights until dawn to survive. As musical mayhem descends upon this sleepover in the woods, “camp” takes on a whole new meaning with uproarious numbers like “All the Men in my Life Keep Getting Killed by Candarian Demons,” “Look Who’s Evil Now” and “Do the Necronomicon.”

“The next Rocky Horror Show!” – The New York Times

“A ridiculous amount of fun.” – Variety

“Bloody Hilarious! This devilishly entertaining show [has] never forgotten why it was created: To make people laugh!” – The Toronto Star 

Sordid Lives

January 29 – February 21, 2016

  • By Del Shores

A black comedy about white trash! The author of Daddy’s Dyin’ (Who’s Got the Will?) brings you a comedy that was nominated for over thirty awards during its long run in Los Angeles. When Peggy, a good Christian woman, hits her head on the sink and bleeds to death after tripping over her lover’s wooden legs in a motel room, chaos erupts in Winters, Texas.

“[This play by] the master of Texas Comedy…is maybe funnier than Daddy’s Dyin’. His colorful eccentrics are dead on, teetering on a Bowie knife’s edge between the hilarious improbable and the achingly real.” – The Los Angelas Times

“Run, don’t walk to Del Shores new play!” – DramaLogue

 Hapgood

March 18 – April 10, 2016

  • By Tom Stoppard

Does light come in waves or particles? Experiments will show either: the experimenter can choose.

“A double agent is like a trick of the light,” Kerner (the physicist) tells Blair (the spy catcher). “You get what you interrogate for.”

Dual natures, of light and of people, are the theme of Tom Stoppard’s espionage thriller.

Kerner’s secret research is being leaked to Moscow. Is Ridley the double? Or is Kerner a triple? Hapgood is the person to find out, and maybe it will need two of her.

“Intriguing and thoroughly absorbing.” – London Broadcasting

“Vastly entertaining.” – Jewish Chronicle

Fiction

April 29 – May 21, 2016

  • by Steven Dietz

Linda and Michael Waterman are both successful writers, happily married to one another. They thrive on the give and take of their unusually honest and candid relationship. However, when they decide to share their diaries with one another, the boundaries between past and present, fact and fiction, trust and betrayal begin to break down. No life, as it turns out, is an open book.

“A work of uncommon insight; an adult, unsparing and yet often witty look at the intimate relationship between a man and a woman during a time of crisis.” – The Associated Press

“Everything about the play has an elegance and richness our theater sees too seldom.” – The New York Daily News

“A provocative spin on the eternal love triangle.” – Variety

Ticket Sale Dates

Which of the above productions do you think will be your new favorite?

Ticket sale dates:

  • Tickets for our Season Donor Members go on sale March 2, 2015

  • Season Subscribers may purchase May 15, 2015

  • and single ticket sales are live August 3, 2015.

     

2014-11-26T18:08:44+00:00