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Running time 2:50 - one intermission
Price range $25 - $150
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a one-of-a-kind visual feast
Winner of the Ushers' Favorite Show Award for July
Click here to buy the CD

Storyline: The stage adaptation expands on the Disney animated film but retains its basic plot line of the king of beasts raising his son to succeed him but who is killed by his jealous brother who then sends the son off into exile and assumes the throne. When the son grows up he returns to reclaim his birthright and save the animal kingdom from the ruinous rule of his evil uncle.

Directed by Julie Taymor. Music and Lyrics by Elton John and Tim Rice. Additional music and lyrics by Lebo M, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Julie Taymor, Hans Zimmer and Tsidii Le Loka. Book by Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi. Adapted from the Screenplay by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts and Linda Woolverton. Choreographed by Garth Fagan. Music direction by David Kreppel. Design: Richard Hudson (set) Julie Taymor (costumes) Julie Taymor and Michael Curry (masks and puppets) Michael Ward (hair and makeup) Donald Holder (lights) Steve C. Kennedy (sound) Robert Elhai and David Metzger (orchestrations) Joan Marcus (photography). Principal cast: Nicholas L. Ashe or Marquis Kofi Rodriguez, Timothy Carter, Randy Donaldson, Andrew Frace, Tony Freeman, André Jackson, Ben Lipitz, Phindile Mkhize, Sadé LouAnn Murray or Ah-Niyah Neal, Dionne Randolph, LaShanda Reese-Fletcher, Mark Shunock, Jayne Trinette, Dan’yelle Williamson.

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Running time 1:40 - no intermission
An impressionistic modern Japanese drama with music
v some nudity

Storyline: Despondent over the death of his mother, a young man rejects the stepmother his elderly father has chosen and sets off into the underworld in search of the mother who lost her life saving his.

Director Ninagawa has an international reputation for strikingly visual stagings of stark dramas, including the works of Shakespeare. This production was one of five he staged in as many years in London.  Fujiwara made his debut at age 15 in that production in 1997 and he has gone on to become something of a Japanese film star. He repeats his role here at the Kennedy Center as the young man who descends into a visually striking version of hell in search of his mother only to be overtaken by a vision which turns out to be not his mother but his stepmother. Also returning to a staring role from the 1997 premiere is Kayoko Shiraishi as the stepmother. An early version of the story dating to the seventeenth century had the young man driven out of the family by his stepmother, but in a subsequent play in the tradition of the Noh theater, it was his father who has made life at home intolerable. In Terayama's version, it seems more a matter of fate and the combined effects of the encroaching world that motivates the young man. Whichever way one views the impetus, it is the journey through fantasy and abstract visions of heaven and hell that matter here.

Fujiwara's persona commands attention. But Ninagawa takes no chances on mere persona. He presents Fujiwara in the only white costume and gives him the brightest spotlight through most of the short evening. Fujiwara and Shiraishi work smoothly together while a large ensemble consisting of adults of all sizes, as well as the young Kohta Nakasone, expand the drama and provide a theatrical sense of the bizarre.

Ninagawa uses all of the space of the large Opera House stage, bringing the sixteen-member ensemble downstage oh-so-slowly in an assortment of outlandish costumes. The show actually begins in the dark, with a shower of sparks as four workers apply grinders to a bridge suspended above the stage. By the end of the evening, the ensemble recedes just as slowly and the sparks fly again. Accompanied by a nearly constant score of instrumental music by Akira Miyagawa, the production flows smoothly in the choreography of Kiyomi Maeda and Kinnosuke Hanayagi. Without a background in the multiple disciplines of Japanese theater and without fluency in the Japanese language, the production is difficult to appreciate completely or even to fully comprehend. But it is an opportunity to experience a significantly different genre of theater. Its very uniqueness practically guarantees that it will remain vivid in memory for quite a while.

Written by Shuji Terayama. Adapted by Rio Kishida. Directed by Yukio Ninagawa. Music by Akira Miyagawa. Choreographed by Kiyomi Maeda and Kinnosuke Hanayagi. Design: Nobutaka Kotake (set) Lily Komine (costumes) Katsunobu Takahashi (hair and make-up) Sumio Yoshii (lights) Masahiro Inoue (sound) Shinichi Akashi (stage manager).  Principal cast: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Kenichi Ishii, Kohta Nakasone, Yoko Ran, Toru Shinagawa, Kayoko Shiraishi,

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Running Time  2:55 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for splendor, elegance and youthful rowdiness
 in this lavish musical
Note: This touring production played the Hippodrome in Baltimore in November - click here to read Brad Hathaway's review of that show
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Storyline: The musical version of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion adds personal romance to the original’s love affair with the English Language as Henry Higgins, a dialectician who believes that the way a person speaks "absolutely classifies him," takes on the challenge of teaching Eliza Doolittle, a flower girl from Covent Garden, to speak well enough to be accepted as a princess at a court function. He (and she) succeeds. But in the process, he "grows accustomed to her face" and wants her in his world permanently, despite his protestations that he would "never let a woman in my life."

When Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe decided to take on the musicalization of Shaw’s Pygmalion they were fully up to it. They were able to produce a full set of yearning love ballads, joyful comedy songs, hilarious novelty songs, and glorious production numbers that pushed forward the plot and action. More critically, the score and lyrics add to the audience’s personal connection to the characters. The show has been rewarded handsomely over the years. The winner of six Tony Awards in 1957, My Fair Lady ran for 2,717 performances. It has been revived on Broadway three times and most recently in London, winning additional theater awards. Its music is legendary: “Wouldn’t it be Loverly?” “With a Little Bit of Luck,” “The Rain in Spain,” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “On the Street Where You Live,” “Show Me," “Get Me to the Church on Time” and “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” to name a few in their order of appearance.

Times passes, the world changes and beautiful memories can become artifacts in a revival. However, director Trevor Nunn’s assured original direction provides for no disappointment. There is everything from a flamboyant, energetic, show-stopping, hip-hop sexy “With a Little Bit of Luck” sung and danced with banging steel trash cans to a haughty Ascot horse race scene and a stiff Embassy ball presented with beautifully costumed women looking like too cool objets d’art. The featured actors and the large ensemble are all life and vigor, making us care about the characters. Lisa O’Hare’s Eliza Doolittle is simply captivating; her voice heavenly. She is spot-on as a poor flower girl and then grows over the course of the evening into feminine splendor and elegance. She brings womanly assertiveness to Act II when she stands up for herself both to an erstwhile but wimpy would-be lover, played by Justin Bohon, and to her major protagonist, Christopher Cazenove, who does illuminating work as the misogynist Henry Higgins. O’Hare's rendition of “Show Me,” asking for actions from a man to show his love for her has bite in the words. When Bohon sings his devotional, “On the Street Where She Lives” his voice is an unexpected revelation and leaves the house in awe. Christopher Cazenove is a very likeable soul even as he moves from abrasiveness to vulnerability. He even seems to grow younger as the show progresses, so that the age difference between Higgins and Eliza becomes less of a barrier to believability in their relationship. Sally Ann Howes as Mrs. Higgins is more that just the actress who played Eliza on Broadway 50 years ago. As Higgins' mother, her delivery of one-liners is dead-on and her timing flawless. For over all show stopping, there is Tim Jerome. He just lays out all with his animated acting and his jubilant musical talents as Liza’s father, one of the “undeserving poor.”

The production on the Kennedy Center Opera House stage is satin smooth. The handsome choreography and musical staging shine throughout. There is flawless delivery of set pieces and scenery from the wings and the fly areas. It is a marvel to watch, especially given that this is a touring show. The lighting as it moves from day to night and from pubs and balls to libraries is exquisite. These are big time theatrical experiences to savor that don’t come to us often enough. The ensemble cast fills every nook and cranny of the stage with essential movement. No space is wasted on stage, but for those in the deeper orchestra seats or the balconies, seeing quieter nuances of facial movements may be a distant dream.

Music by Frederick Loewe. Lyrics and book by Alan Jay Lerner. Adapted from the play by George Bernard Shaw. Directed by Trevor Nunn. Redirected for the US tour by Shaun Kerrison. Choreography and musical staging by Matthew Bourne. Musical direction by James Lowe. Choreography restaged by Fergus Logan. Orchestrations by William David Brohn. Dance arrangements by Chris Walker. Design: Anthony Ward (original set and costumes) Matt Kinley (tour set associate) Christine Rowland (tour costume associate) David Hersey (lights) Oliver Fenwick and Rob Halliday (tour lighting design adaptation) Paul Groothuis (sound) Ed Clarke (tour sound associate). Principal cast: Justin Bohon, Christopher Cazenove, Walter Charles, Sally Ann Howes, Tim Jerome, Lisa O'Hare or Dana Delisa.

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Running Time 2:30 - one intermission 
t A Potomac Stages Pick for the most beautiful new musical of this young century
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Storyline: A mother and daughter from Winston-Salem are on vacation in Italy in 1953 when the daughter's hat is blown off in the wind only to be caught by a charming young Italian boy. Love ensues, to the consternation of the over-protective mother who carries the burden of guilt from an accident in the girl's childhood that left her slightly mentally challenged. As the daughter learns what love is, so does the mother.

The score is by Adam Guettel. He is so often identified as Richard Rodgers' grandson and Mary Rodgers' son that you might think his credentials are familial rather than personal. Don't believe it! His is a talent facilitated by skill earned in study and honed on impressive earlier works including the country-sound infused score for Floyd Collins and the jazz toned Myths and Hymns - neither of which really sounds like country music or jazz but both of which sound like the product of the same musical brain. Here that brain is working in a classically arioso frame that some will even find a bit operatic, but it is the same facility of structure and long-lined melodic inventiveness that mark the work. His lyrics are marvels of mixture, using Italian when the local characters talk among themselves, English for the visiting Americans and a halting, evolving mixture as they learn to communicate with each other. The effort of the Italian boy to find the words to express his feelings to the daughter include struggles like "Now is I am happiness. Never I am unhappiness. Now is I am happiness with you." That is just lovely, especially as set by Guettel to a lilting melodic line. Many who think of show music as Hello, Dolly may find the near-operatic feel of some of the score a bit off-putting, but those who want more than a rousing 32 bar AABA song and who appreciate vocal purity will thrill to this score.

Craig Lucas' book is based on a novella published in The New Yorker in 1960 which was made into a movie starring Olivia de Havilland in 1962. The appeal of his book is that he makes the right choices both in the clarity of the storytelling and in the selection of elements to be told in song as opposed to text. He leaves just the right emotional moments in Guettel's oh-so-capable hands, while moving the story forward with important information revealed in proper order and at proper times. The audience gets caught up in the romance of it all and comes to care not just about the young couple falling in love - it is easy to get audiences to care about young lovers - but about the mother, the boy's parents and even his siblings.

The visual impact of the set is your first clue of the magic to come. As the show begins, Michael Yeargan's lovely piazza begins to glow under Christopher Akerlind's equally lovely lighting. The warmth, beauty and charm of the setting, augmented by Catherine Zuber's equally lovely pastel costumes, continues throughout the evening, building in intensity along with the progress of the loves involved in the story, and darkening as difficulties are presented. That description matches both the score and the book as well, which accounts for why, if you fall under this show's spell, you are in for a memorable experience.

Music and lyrics by Adam Guettel. Book by Craig Lucas based on the novella by Elizabeth Spencer. Directed by Bartlett Sher. Musical staging by Jonathan Butterell. Musical direction by Kimberly Grigsby. Conducted by James Lowe. Orchestrations by Ted Sperling and Adam Guettel with additional orchestrations by Bruce Coughlin. Design: Michael Yeargan (set) Catherine Zuber (costumes) Christopher Akerlind (lights) ACME Sound Partners (sound) Joan Marcus (photography) Anna Belle Gilbert (stage manager). Principal cast: Christine Andreas, Craig Bennett, David Burnham, Laura Griffith, Jonathan Hammond, Evangelia Kingsley, David Ledingham, Elena Shaddow, Brian Sutherland, Diane Sutherland.

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Reviewed December 22
Running time 2:50 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a big, bold, musical spectacle
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Storyline: Glinda, who would ever be known as “The Good Witch” and Elphaba, who would always be known as “The Wicked Witch of the West” as a result of the movie The Wizard of Oz, were in fact, college roommates in their youth. How that came to be, why Elphaba was green, what the Wizard’s reign was like and how other characters from that famous story/movie came to be a tin man, a lion and a scarecrow, is the basis for this musical extravaganza staged as only Broadway could present it.

Stephen Schwartz's score sounds very much like something we would expect from the composer/lyricist of Godspell and Pippin who collaborated on songs for the movies Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. They are folk-rock flavored show pieces with a tendency to lushness in the melody, pop influence in the rhythms and spirituality in the lyrics. All of this works well for this show. Wordplay with puns, repeated rhymes and multiplying meanings has always been a feature of Schwartz' work, and here he has the additional material of the unique vocabulary of Oz to spice up some of the songs -- he fits in words like “braverism,” “rejoycify” and “swankified.”  The numbers have the virtue of making effective scenes for the show, establishing story or character clearly and providing designers and cast members with opportunities to shine -- opportunities which are never wasted in this carefully constructed concoction with its eye-filling sights and full-sounding audio system blending the vocals with the playing of the eighteen member contingent of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra in the pit.

The cast of the touring company is headed by a hugely talented Stephanie J. Block as the green-skinned future-witch, and a delightfully flippant Kendra Kassebaum as the oh-so-popular Glinda. Block, who made quite a splash in her Broadway debut playing Liza Minnelli in the musical The Boy From Oz, belts with amazing abandon in songs like "Defying Gravity" and "The Wizard and I." Kassebaum gets all the humor of the pert blond party girl and manages a touch of emotion as the pair's story heads to conclusion.

The Wizard is David Garrison, remembered by many for his role as the father in the Kander and Ebb musical Over & Over at Signature Theater. He charms at first and then disturbs as this version of  history of the Wizard is unveiled. Derrick Williams is strong and clear as the young man both girls fall for. Jenna Leigh Green sparks her few scenes as the wicked witch's younger, wheel-chair bound sister, and there are fine supporting performances as well from Logan Lipton as a munchkin who is not small minded (to borrow a reference from a Schwartz lyric) and Carole Shelley who recreates her role of the evil headmistress at the girl's college which she played on Broadway. Timothy Britten Parker is particularly impressive as he manages to communicate a wide range of emotions even though he wears a full head mask as a goat who has risen to be a full professor at the college where the girls meet. 

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Book by Winnie Holzman based on the novel by Gregory Maguire. Directed by Joe Mantello. Musical staging by Wayne Cilento. Music Direction by Robert Billig. Design: Eugene Lee (set) Susan Hilferty (costumes) Tom Watson (hair and wigs)  Alex Lacamoire and Stephen Oremus (music arrangements) James Lynn Abbott (dance arrangements) William David Brohn (orchestrations) ZFX, Inc (flying effects) Kenneth Posner (lights) Elaine J. McCarthy (projections) Tony Meola (sound). Cast: Aaron J. Albano, Timothy George Anderson, Annaleigh Ashford, Stephanie J. Block, Angela Brydon, Dominic Chaiduang, Nicolas Dromard, Laura Dysarczyk, Maria Eberline, Brooke Elliott, Luis Figueroa, David Garrison, Jenna Leigh Green, Cliffton Hall, Lori Holmes, Kendra Kassebaum, Logan Lipton, Erin Mackey, Kyle McDaniel, Kristen F. Oei, Timothy Britten Parker, Emily Rozek, Christopher Russo, Adam Sanford, Carole Shelley, Brian Slaman, Paul Slade Smith, Charlie Sutton, James Tabeek, Barbara Tirrell, Brooke Wendle, Derrick Williams, Briana Yacavone, Sunny Yokoyama.

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Reviewed December 29
Running time 2:30

Storyline: None - selections from Lloyd Webber's catalogue are arranged by the shows for which they were written: Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Song & Dance (Tell Me On A Sunday), The Beautiful Game, The Woman in White, Cats, Aspects of Love, Starlight Express, Whistle Down the Wind, Sunset Boulevard, Evita, The Phantom of the Opera.

Each of the six vocalists had ample opportunity to show off their strengths (and reveal an occasional weakness) during the evening. Most notable were Hugh Panaro and Sarha Pfisterer in the segment of music from The Phantom of the Opera. This should not surprise, given that both have starred on Broadway in the roles they sang, and thus, the songs took on some of the dramatic intensity inherent in theater music. Strangely, it was Pfisterer and not Ripley who sang "Unexpected Song" which Ripley had performed so marvelously when she starred in Tell Me On A Sunday here at the Kennedy Center. Ripley's best work of  the night came in a song from Evita, "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" where she acted as well as sang the song. Of course, the song was written as a musicalized political speech and the delivery in a concert setting still comes across much like the scene in the play with the vocalist singing directly too the audience. The evening included two songs from Lloyd Webber's latest production, The Woman in White which just opened in London. "I Believe My Heart" proves that Mr. Lloyd Webber's ability to craft an emotionally involving melody is undimmed.

The Kennedy Center's Opera House Orchestra provides the true musical highlights of the night. The overture from Lloyd Webber's musical about the troubles in Ireland which has never played in the United Stages, The Beautiful Game, sounded fresh and inventive. The orchestral suite from Evita, the dance piece "The Jellicle Ball" from Cats and the medley from Aspects of Love demonstrated the impressive breadth of style for which Mr. Lloyd Webber is frequently denied credit. They gave the lie to any accusation that his music all sounds alike. Indeed, the entire evening was a solid refutation of any such claim. Because of Lloyd Webber's affinity for woodwinds, the work of Stephani Stang-McCusker tripling on flute, alto flute and piccolo was notable throughout the night. Her work on "The Beautiful Game" was beautiful and her support for Alice Ripley's "A Pharaoh's Story" equally impressive. 

It is just possible, however, that one of the reasons the orchestral interludes were so refreshing is that they were the only times that the distractingly echoey and frustratingly inconsistent amplification for the vocalists wasn't pulling attention away from the music. All six vocalists were using hand held microphones but only Panaro and Pfisterer seemed to have any skill in handling hand helds. The others just kept the microphone as close as possible to their mouths whether they were belting out at top volume, handling tricky patter in semi-conversational recitative or trying for the quiet intensity of a whispered term of endearment.

Directed by Tom Kosis. Music direction by Edward G. Robinson. Design: James Noone (set) House of Valentino (costumes) Brian Nason (lights) Lucas J. Corrubia, Jr. (sound) Kelley Kirkpatrick (stage manager). Cast: Liz Callaway, Rob Evan, Hugh Panaro, Sarah Pfisterer, Alice Riley, Ray Walker.

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Reviewed December 9
Running time 2:35 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for good old musical comedy fun
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Storyline: Retaining the basic story of the famous movie, the Broadway musical tells of a young woman who comes to New York at the height of the flapper era determined to follow Vogue’s advice to the modern woman
– marry money. In the process, she stumbles into a "white slavery" racket that kidnaps unattached young women who come to New York to break into show business and ships them off to China to become street walkers. Naturally, she breaks up the criminal activity while finding true love.

The best of the touring cast is Darcie Roberts who gets more out of the physical comedy of the title role than the Tony-Award winning Sutton Foster did while belting the big numbers and tapping away with aplomb, and John Ganun whose take on the comic role of Millie's boss echoes the hilarious work of Marc Kudisch. Roberts acrobatic comic bit in which she gets tangled up under her typing desk earned a round of applause, not just lots of laughs. Ganun's booming "I'm In Love With Someone" duet with Millie's best friend works like a charm. Millie’s true love interest is nicely played but not quite as well sung by Bryan McElroy as it has been with others. Stephanie Pope sells her two big blues numbers as a wealthy club singer and handles her non-singing chores well too. The big disappointment in the cast is Pamela Hamill whose faux-Chinese villain shtick is delivered without charm or humor.

The score very properly and effectively lifts material from the original movie and adds some nice new material. There are ten new songs. Some of the show’s best musical moments come from music composed by James Van Heusen (the title song), Jay Thompson ("Jimmy"), Peter Il’ych Tchaikovsky ("The Nuttycracker Suite"), Sir Arthur Sullivan ("The Speed Test") and Victor Herbert ("I’m Falling in Love with Someone"). There’s even a little Offenbach in the orchestra. The songs that were written by Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan specifically for the musical are nice and one is even a standout – "Forget About the Boy." That number, indeed all the score, sounds tremendous as played by the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra under the batton of Eric Stern who travels with the show with just three touring musicians. The solid sound and rollicking jazziness of the playing give energy to the entire evening.

The book that Scanlan cobbled together with screenplay writer Richard Morris has its problems, but the book isn’t the real reason for doing this show, and when it really counts, it delivers. The tour’s sets aren’t quite as brightly colored or art deco-ish as the Broadway version. At a top price of $93 (only eight dollars less than a seat at the Marquis on Broadway would have cost) they seem a tad flimsy, but the set for the sky scrapper ledge on which Millie and her beaux cavort is nicely done (only in musical comedy would breaking into a soft shoe on a sky scrapper’s ledge seem not only sensible, but inevitable) and the drop-down screen for the translation of ... well, lets not give away all the gags!

Music by Jeanine Tesori and others. Book by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan. Lyrics by Dick Scanlan and others. Directed by Michael Mayer. Choreography by Rob Ashford. Orchestrations by Doug Besterman and Ralph Burns. Dance arrangements by David Chase. Music direction by Eric Stern. Design: David Gallo (set) Martin Pakledinaz (costumes) Donald Holder (lights) Jon Weston (sound). Principal Cast: John Ganun, Pamela Hamill, Daniel May, Bryan McElroy, Stephanie Pope, Darcy Robert, Janelle A. Robinson, Anne Warren, Emir Younzon.

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Mature audiences - brief partial nudity
Reviewed February 17
Running time 2 hours 45 minutes
Performed in French with English surtitles
Price range $40 - $150

Storyline: Offenbach's 1866 comic operetta set in then-contemporary Paris spoofs the passion of Parisian's for the good life. A gentleman poses as a tour guide to entertain a wealthy Swedish Baroness but ends up having to provide diversions for her husband on their first visit to the French capital city. He is forced to enlist his servants to pose as guests at a large party for the Baron but the mixture of high society visitors and less than well mannered pretend-guests creates havoc.

As with so many of Offenbach's diverting entertainments, this operetta dispenses with any of the heavy accoutrements of grand opera to concentrate on melody, comedy, female charms and not a little dancing of the cancan. It opens with an explosion of melody and rarely stops pouring out new tunes for long. There are few lengthy dialogue scenes and these are primarily comedy routines. Most of the exposition of important plot points come either in the songs themselves or in brief strings of a dozen or so lines.

This is the American debut of the Opéra Comique, itself an important source for the art form that evolved into today's musical theater. It was well established long before Offenbach perfected the approach which became the symbol of Parisian high life in the nineteenth Century. The singers are all first rate and the comic performances are clear and cleanly delivered. The fourteen members of the orchestra which traveled to Washington with them have been augmented by seven local musicians to give the sound coming from the orchestra pit heft. The company even includes a contortionist who enlivens most of the finales of the five acts.

This production is approached as a delightful entertainment and not as a museum piece. Their are modernisms in both the visual elements and in the text projected as surtitles in a translation that includes references that would probably not have been recognized in the 1860's such as a costume being "over the top" or the inclusion in a stutterer's list of words starting in "p" of the word "porno." Some of the more egregiously dated stereotypes of the original have been excised, such as the  obsequious black porters at the trade station.

Music by Jacques Offenbach. Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Stage adaptation and direction by Jérôme Savary. Choreography by Nadége Maruta. Orchestration and musical direction by Gérard Daguerre. Surtitle translations by Mike Sens. Design: Michel Lebois (set) Michel Dussarrat (costumes) Alain Poisson (lights) Pierre-Francois Lizee (stage manager). Cast: Marie-Stéphane Bernard, Martial Defontaine, Maryline Fallot, Isabelle Fleur, Éric Huchet, Frédéric Longbois, Ghislaine Maucorps, Patricia Samuel, Michel Tellechéa, Frank T’Hézan, Michel Trempont.

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Reviewed July 11
Running time 2 hours 40 minutes
Price Range $20 - $79
t Potomac Stages Pick

Music by Elton John. Lyrics by Tim Rice. Book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls and David Henry Hwang. Directed by Robert Falls. Choreography by Wayne Cilento. Orchestrations by Steve Margoshes, Guy Babylon and Paul Bogaev. Dance Arrangements by Bob Gustafson, Jim Abbott and Gary Seligson. Conducted by Steven Cosmo Mallardi. Design: Bob Crowley (set and costumes) Natasha Katz (lights) Steve C. Kennedy (sound). Cast: Jeremy Kushnier, Paulette Ivory, Kelli Fournier, Robert Neary, Eric L. Christian, Peter Kapetan.

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Reviewed December 20
Running time 2 hours

Music by Richard Rodgers. Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Adapted for the stage by Tom Brigs from the teleplay by Robert L. Freedman. Directed by Gabriel Barre. Choreographed by Ken Roberson. Musical supervision and arrangements by Andrew Lippa. Orchestrations by David Siegel. Design: James Youmans (set) Tim Hunter (lights) Pamela Scofield (costumes) Duncan Edwards (sound) Greg Meeh (special effects.) Puppet designs by Integrity Designworks. Cast: Eartha Kitt, Jessica Rush, Paolo Montalban, Leslie Becker, Sandra Bargman, Victor Trent Cook, Ken Prymus, Everett Quinton, NaTasha Yvette Williams.