05/24/2010

. THE 2010 SEASON


On Golden Pond


Book by Ernest Thompson

 

This is the love story of Ethel and Norman Thayer,  who are returning to their summer home on Golden Pond for the forty-eighth year. He is a retired professor, nearing eighty, with heart palpitations and a failing memory—but still as tart-tongued, observant and eager for life as ever. Ethel, ten years

younger, and the perfect foil for Norman, delights in all the small things that have enriched and continue to enrich their long life together. They are visited by their divorced, middle-aged daughter and her dentist fiancé, who then go off to Europe, leaving his teenage son behind for the summer. The boy quickly becomes the "grandchild" the elderly couple have longed for, and as Norman revels in taking his ward fishing and thrusting good books at him, he also learns some lessons about modern teenage awareness—and slang—in return. In the end, as the summer wanes, so does their brief idyll, and in the final, deeply moving moments of the play, Norman and Ethel are brought even closer together by the incidence of a mild heart attack. Time, they know, is now against them, but the years have been good and, perhaps, another summer on Golden Pond still awaits.

 

 

Swing


Original Concept by Paul Kelly

 

"Two thirds rhythm and one third soul." That's how Fats Waller defined the uniquely American form of popular music and dance known as "swing." Requiring only joyful enthusiasm and a ready partner, swing exploded out of pre-war Harlem's hotbed of youth culture and swept the world. It shattered ethnic and cultural barriers, generating specialty styles such as Jive, Swing, Lindy Hop, West Coast Swing, and Hip-Hop Swing. SWING! celebrates this remarkable diversity to the beat of the most exhilarating songs of the period. But as this enthralling song-and-dance show makes abundantly clear, swing was never a time or place -- it has always been a state of mind!

 

 

Breaking Legs


Written by Tom Dulac

 

The worlds of the Mafia and the theatre clash hilariously when a professorial playwright seeks funding for his new play from the family of a former student. The "family" turn out to be minor Mafia godfathers who are willing to underwrite the play provided they never have to read it. The fact that the lusty, unwed daughter of the house falls in love with the playwright only furthers his involvement with the Mob. "There is a buoyant joy to be had in the comic confrontation between two of the wackiest gangster chieftains ever to wack…" —NY Post. "There are funny lines throughout." —NY Daily News.

 "BREAKING LEGS is a crowd pleaser that should provide an additional layer of enjoyment for people in and of the theatre. It is what comedies on Broadway used to be like not that many years ago. Welcome back." —BackStage.

 

 

Ain't Misbehavin'


Music by Thomas "Fats" Waller, Lyrics by Various 


Based on an idea by Murray Horwitz & Richard Maltby,Jr.

 

The outrageously prodigious comic and musical soul of 1930s Harlem lives on in this rollicking, swinging, finger snapping revue that is still considered one of Broadway's best. The inimitable Thomas "Fats" Waller rose to international fame during the Golden Age of the Cotton Club, honky tonk dives along Lenox Avenue, rent parties, stride piano players and that jumpin' new beat, Swing. Although not quite a biography,"Ain't Misbehavin'" evokes the delightful humor and infectious energy of this American original as a versatile cast struts, strums and sings the songs he made famous in a career that ranged from uptown clubs to downtown Tin Pan Alley to Hollywood and concert stages in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

 

 

Five Women Wearing the Same Dress


A Comedy by Alan Ball

 

During an ostentatious wedding reception at a Knoxville, Tennessee, estate, five reluctant, identically clad bridesmaids hide out in an upstairs bedroom, each with her own reason to avoid the proceedings below. As the afternoon wears on, these five very different women joyously discover a common bond in this wickedly funny and touching celebration of the women's spirit. “An irreverent and funny look at the intricacies of friendship and the power of similar dressing. "…[a] wonderfully entertaining play…" -NY Post. "This show is a fresh-as-a-daisy comedy, funny as can be…" -NY Daily News.

 

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