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The fall theater season has much to offer. Here is
just some of what will be happening on area stages.
The season starts off in a big way Sept. 21-23 at the
Hoogland Center for the Arts, when The Pirates
of Penzance, featuring recording artist and
Broadway actor Rex Smith as the Pirate King, takes the stage. Smith played
Frederic in the acclaimed 1980 New York production featuring Kevin Kline
and Linda Ronstadt. Pirates, directed by Gus Gordon and Doug Hahn, will be staged
concert-style, with choreography by Gary Shull and Grace Nanavati. For
tickets, call 217-523-2787.
The Jacksonville Theatre Guild has Disney’s High School Musical, directed
by Eric A. Thomas, Sept. 26-30 at the Sophie Leschin Theatre. Scott
Richardson was the first in the area with his sellout weekend of shows last
winter on the University of Illinois at Springfield campus, in the Sangamon
Auditorium, but this show will probably be produced by many more theaters
in the near future. For tickets, call 217-254-1402. A touring company of the hit musical Hairspray makes a stop at the
Sangamon Auditorium at 7 p.m. Sept. 30. Defending
the Caveman plays there Oct. 5 and 6. Other
shows in the fall lineup include Marvin Hamlisch in concert on Sept. 14,
the amazing Georgian State Dance Company on Oct. 3, the Cashore Marionettes
on Oct. 12, Stomp on
Oct. 23, and another fantastic dance company, Diavolo, on Nov. 9. For
tickets, call 217-206-6160. The Springfield Theatre Centre opens its season with The Spitfire Grill, featuring
Pat Pennington and Molly Mathewson. Don Russell directs the production,
which runs Oct. 5-7 and 12-14. Russell directed this wonderful musical at
Theatre in the Park a few years ago. For tickets, call 217-523-2787. The cast of last spring’s The Last of Mrs. Lincoln is back
for three performances of the show in the Union Theatre at the Abraham
Lincoln Presidential Museum, Oct. 19-21. For information, call
217-558-8934. Country & western musical The Honky Tonk Angels is presented Oct. 18-21
and 25-28 at the Little Theatre on the Square in Sullivan. This show
has been playing around the country, but the Sullivan production will be
the first in the area. For tickets, call 888-261-9675. The teen theater troupe Active and Creative Teen
Theatre will perform what will be the fun show of the fall season: Return to the Forbidden Planet,
a sci-fi version of Shakespeare’s The
Tempest. Performances at the Hoogland Center
for the Arts take place Oct. 26-28 and Nov. 2-4. For tickets, call
217-523-2787. One of Illinois’ best stage directors, Randi
Jennifer Collins Hard, stages To Kill a
Mockingbird at the Parkland College
Theatre, in Champaign, Sept. 26 and 28-30 and Oct. 4-6. This should be one
of the must-see shows of the season. For tickets, call 217-351-2528. Local theater group ADHD Productions offers a new
comedy, The Armageddon Dance Party, Oct. 12 and 13 in the Club Room at the Hoogland Center
for the Arts. (This is the group that staged Danger:
Adult Content earlier this year.) Call
217-523-2787. William Inge’s American classic ’50s play
Picnic will be
staged by Missy Thibodeaux-Thompson in the Studio Theatre at UIS Oct. 26-28
and Nov. 1-3.
The Roxy Group is back with its musical-comedy revue Halloween Dreams, Oct. 26-28 at
the Hoogland Center for the Arts. This variety show, featuring humorous
songs, is always fun. Call 217-523-2787. A comedy titled Bull in a
China Shop will be performed at the
Beardstown Opera House Oct. 26-28. The historic opera house is located at
123 State St. Call 217-323-5476. A touring production of Rent
plays the Fox Theatre in St. Louis Oct. 19-21;
it’s followed by the hit Broadway musical The Drowsy Chaperone Oct. 30-Nov. 11.
For tickets, call 314-534-1111.
The Celebration Company at the Station Theatre in
Urbana always offers new, innovative works, and this fall the company
offers Iron Kisses,
running Sept. 13-16, 19-23, and 26-29, and the Tony Award-winning drama Rabbit Hole, Oct. 25-28 and 31
and Nov. 1-4 and 7-10. Call 217-384-4000. Not to be missed: The Pulitzer Prize-winning play Driving Miss Daisy will be
staged by Ron Seney at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in a Springfield
Theatre Centre production running Nov. 9-11 and 16-18. Auditions will take
place at the center 7-9 p.m. Oct. 1 and 2. Call 217-523-2787.
Decatur’s Theatre 7 stages the 1962 hit musical
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Nov. 2-4 and 9-11 at the Decatur Civic Center
Theater. For tickets, call 217-422-6161. Springfield senior-citizens performing group the
Mature Mob presents Remembering the Harvest
Moon Ball at the Hoogland Nov. 8-11. Call
217-523-2787. One of the most interesting recent American plays is
Sara Rule’s Passion Play: A Cycle, which is being performed at the Goodman Theatre in
Chicago through Oct. 21. The drama examines the staging of Passion plays in
three different eras: Elizabethan England, pre-World War II Germany, and
Reagan-era South Dakota. For tickets, call 312-443-3800.
Director/writer/actor Phil Funkenbusch is a regular
contributor.
This article appears in Sep 6-12, 2007.
