[NEohioPAL] Beck Center Announces 2008-09 Professional Theater Season

[Fran Storch]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 28, 2008
Contact: Yvette Hanzel, Director of Marketing
(216) 521-2540 ext. 22
yvette at beckcenter.org <mailto:yvette at beckcenter.org> 
 
 
 
Beck Center for the Arts
Proudly Presents its 2008/09 Professional Theater Season
Some things old, some things new, some things Sci-Fi AND inventors of
'The Tube'
 
Lakewood, Ohio - Beck Center for the Arts announces its 2008/09 season
featuring the much anticipated return of some 'oldies but goodies,' an
electrifying new drama, plenty of scandalous entertainment, and the
Mother of Blues.
 
"I feel like we've hit the mark yet again!" says Scott Spence, Beck
Center's Artistic Director, referring to the eclectic mix Beck has
become known for.  "Beck continues its tradition of providing Northeast
Ohio audiences with a great balance of titles they know, and area
premieres...all directed by some of the area's most respected
directors."
 
The season opens with the much anticipated encore production of Tony
Award winner, Urinetown The Musical, featuring the return of the
original Beck cast that made the show the area's must-see production
three seasons ago! Also returning are Cleveland legends Dorothy and
Reuben Silver in Talking Heads 2, Alan Bennett's (The History Boys)
sequel to his acclaimed BBC monologue series.  Then, with fond memories
of Beck's beloved production of Beauty & the Beast...Peter Pan, the
story of the boy who didn't want to grow up is Beck's next amazing
musical adventure for the holidays!  
 
The season continues with two powerful pieces, Chicago blues legend Ma
Rainey sets out to record her latest album in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom,
by Pulitzer prize-winning American playwright, August Wilson and
compelling answers come to life as two ambitious television visionaries
race against each other in The Farnsworth Invention.  Also, premiere
musical theater director, Victoria Bussert serves up the NYC
Off-Broadway hit and indie favorite Grey Gardens, a musical telling the
tale of the reclusive and fascinating Bouvier sisters, adding another
wild chapter to the Kennedy legacy. 
 
Closing the season, Beck Center promises a summer of larger than life -
or death - entertainment with cult smash Evil Dead: The Musical and
cult-gone-mainstream Little Shop of Horrors.
 
Theater subscriptions for the 2008/09 season are now available.  For
more information, contact Linda Hefner at the Beck Center Box Office at
(216) 521-2540, ext. 29.  Individual tickets sales begin August 1, 2008.
Convenient free on-site parking is available.  The Beck Center for the
Arts is located just 10 minutes west of downtown Cleveland at 17801
Detroit Avenue in Lakewood.  www.beckcenter.org
<http://www.beckcenter.org/> .
 
Urinetown The Musical
Musical by Mark Hollman and Greg Kotis
Directed by Scott Spence
September 12 - October 12, 2008
Mackey Main Stage
 
2002 Tony Award winner for Best Original Score and Best Book of a
Musical
 
Consider it a privilege...If you lived in Urinetown you'd have to pay to
pee!
A wild and happy mix of biting satire and loving parody, Urinetown The
Musical transports audiences to a Gotham-like city where ecological
disaster has made the simplest human necessity, water, more precious
than gold.  Attempting to regulate its consumption, the government has
imposed a bizarre law-the use of private restrooms is banned and an
omnipotent corporation, the Urine Good Company, is charging citizens
money to use the toilet!  Beck's original cast reunites!
 
Talking Heads 2
Written by Alan Bennett
Directed by Reuben Silver and Tracee Patterson, Featuring Dorothy Silver
November 7 - December 7, 2008
Studio Theater
 
>From the author of The History Boys comes a second round of monologues
created for BBC television. Bennett's magnificent style conveys British
life like no other, providing actors with mini tour-de-forces. The first
couple of Cleveland theater, again team up to present new pieces in this
compelling night of intimate theater.
 
Peter Pan
Based on J.M. Barrie's tale
Music by Mark Charlap and Jule Styne
Lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Directed by Fred Sternfeld
December 5, 2008 - January 4, 2009
Mackey Main Stage
 
This high flying musical story of Peter Pan, Wendy, John, and Michael
and their adventures in Neverland is brought to life on Beck Center's
Main Stage for the holidays.  Audiences of all ages will love this
timeless story filled with pirates, fairies, death-defying feats of
flying, and the dastardly Captain Hook.  An exhilarating journey through
Neverland for the whole family!
 
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
By Pulitzer prize-winning American playwright, August Wilson
Directed by Sarah May
January 30 - February 22, 2009
Mackey Main Stage
 
Gertrude Malissa Nix Pridgett Rainey, better known as Chicago blues
legend Ma Rainey sets out to record her latest album in the only one of
Wilson's 10 plays set outside Pittsburgh.   The play is set in Chicago
in the 1920s and deals with issues of race, art, religion, and the
historic exploitation of black recording artists by white producers.
Generational and racial tensions escalate among Ma Rainey's band and
producers, as the studio explodes in violence and tragedy.  Beck honors
this year's passing of August Wilson and the 25th anniversary of the
Broadway production!
 
Grey Gardens 
Book by Doug Wright
Music by Scott Frankel
Lyrics by Michael Korie
Directed by Victoria Bussert
February 27 - March 29, 2009
Studio Theater
 
2007 three-time Tony Award winner
 
Scandalously entertaining, Grey Gardens brings to life the alternately
hilarious and heartbreaking story of two indomitable women, Edith
Bouvier Beale and her adult daughter 'Little' Edie - the delightfully
eccentric aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, in Broadway's
acclaimed musical smash hit with music composed by Cleveland native,
Scott Frankel.  Once among the brightest names in the pre-Camelot social
register, these two women became East Hampton's most notorious recluses
and Jackie O's most scandalous relatives.


The Farnsworth Invention
A new play by Aaron Sorkin
Directed by Scott Spence
March 13 - April 12, 2009
Mackey Main Stage
 
The turning point of the 20th Century wasn't ON television, it WAS
television!
 
Separated by two thousand miles, two ambitious visionaries race against
each other to invent and promote a device that would one day be called
the "television."  Each knowing that if he stops working the other will
gain the edge. Who will unlock the key to the greatest invention of the
20th century:  the ruthless media mogul or the self-taught Idaho farm
boy?  The answer comes to compelling life in this new play from Aaron
Sorkin, creator of The West Wing.
 
Evil Dead: The Musical
Based on Sam Raimi's 1980s cult classic films
Book and Lyrics by George Reinblatt 
Music by Frank Cipolla, Christopher Bond, Melissa Morris, and George
Reinblatt
Directed by Scott Spence
May 8 - June 14, 2009
Studio Theater
 
What can go wrong when five college students break into an abandoned
cabin in the woods? Apparently a whole heck of a lot! They unleash evil
spirits, turn into demons... and sing show tunes!  Sam Raimi's cult
classic 1980s films are brought to life in this hilarious, campy show
that will make you crave 'live theater' again. With songs such as "All
the Men in my Life keep getting Killed by Candarian Demons" and "Do The
Necromonicon" - Evil Dead is bursting with more farce than a Monty
Python skit!  
 
Little Shop of Horrors
Written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman
Directed by William Roudebush
June 26 - August 2, 2009
Mackey Main Stage
 
It's everyone's favorite boy-meets-girl, plant-eats-world phenomenon.
>From the producers of Hairspray and The Producers, and the songwriters
of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, comes the biggest MONSTER hit!  This
musical comedy masterpiece is about a 'nobody' kinda guy, the girl he
loves, and the man-eating plant that changes their lives forever.   Look
out!  Here Comes Audrey Two!!!


Programming at the Beck Center is made possible through the generous
support of The Cleveland Foundation, The George Gund Foundation, The
John P. Murphy Foundation, The Kulas Foundation, The Eva L. & Joseph M.
Bruening Foundation, The Abington Foundation, and the Thomas H. White
Foundation.  Beck Center gratefully acknowledges the citizens of
Cuyahoga County for their support through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture. 
 
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