Great things are happening on summer stages.
I just saw 42nd Street in Sullivan at the Little Theatre on the Square.
Having seen back in 1980 the original Broadway production, which began with
a slow curtain rising on what seemed to be 100 pairs of tap-dancing feet, I
wondered how effective the opening would be handled here. Well, let me just
say that it was thrilling and that the Little Theatre proved once again its
ability to beautifully re-create big musicals on a small stage.
The show, which runs through this weekend, is the
season opener for the Little Theatre. The fast-paced production, directed
and choreographed by Ann Nieman in her Sullivan debut, boasts a great cast
that includes Michael Haws as Julian Marsh. Other standouts are Gina Hardy
as Maggie Jones; Chrissy Wright, wonderful as the somewhat over-the-hill
actress Dorothy Brock; and young Kristen J. Smith as Peggy Sawyer, the
understudy who becomes a star. The strong singing and dancing ensemble will
be showing off their stuff next in the dance show Swing!, which runs June 22-July 3.
For tickets, call 217-728-7375 or 888-261-9675.
Things are nicely under way at Theatre in the Park at
New Salem with that group’s colorful, well-sung production of the
Lerner and Loewe musical Paint Your Wagon. The show, which concludes its run this weekend, fits the
outdoor stage well, and it’s a good example of the 1950s period-piece
musicals, even though it’s definitely not in the same league as
Lerner and Loewe’s classics My Fair Lady and Camelot. For tickets, call 217-632-5440 or 800-710-9290.
The Muni has ended its run of Sound of Music, which brought in
huge crowds. Next up is Ragtime, opening Friday, June 24, and running two weekends,
through July 3. Ragtime features Mary Jo Curry, Tony D. Young, Duane Fant, Clarissa
Williams, Stephen A. Kaplan, and a large cast of singers to bring E.L.
Doctorow’s novel about turn-of-the-century New York to life onstage.
Interspersed with the fictional characters are the real-life characters of
Harry Houdini, Emma Goldman, Booker T. Washington, J.P. Morgan, and Henry
Ford. Laurie O’Brien directs this mammoth production, with vocal
direction by Steve Rotello, musical direction by Dia Langellier, and
choreography by Kathy Wagner. Call 217-793-6864 for tickets.
Auditions for the Springfield Theatre Centre’s
season opener, The Man Who Came to Dinner, continue at the Hoogland Center for the Arts at 6 p.m.
Tuesday and Wednesday, June 21 and 22. I had a great time directing this
1939 comedy by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman in California a few years
ago; here, the Theatre Centre has landed Richard Norton Smith for the title
role.
Smith, executive director of the Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library and Museum, will play Sheridan Whiteside, modeled
after author and critic Alexander Woolcott. The ensemble play, which was
revived on Broadway in 1996 with Nathan Lane as the star, features a large
cast. The show runs for five performances, Sept. 22-25; rehearsals begin in
mid-August.
Phil Funkenbusch directs STC’s production of The Man Who Came to Dinner, is the
dramaturgist for the Muni’s production of Ragtime, and heads theater programs at the presidential
library and museum.
This article appears in Jun 16-22, 2005.
