THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, musical, Georgetown Palace, May 17 - June 16, 2013

presents




Thoroughly Modern Millie

a musical by Jeanine Tesori, Dick Scanlan and Richard Morris

directed by David Sray

May 17 to June 16
Friday and Saturday shows are at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday shows are at 2:00 p.m.

Ticket prices are $24 General Admission, $22 Seniors (55+), $14 Students (10-22) and Active Military, and $10 Children (9 and younger). 
Available on-line via the Palace website.

Rated for General Audiences 

Georgetown’s Historic Palace Theatre opens Thoroughly Modern Millie on May 17 for a five-weekend fun-filled music and dance fest! With music by Jeanine Tesori, lyrics by Dick Scanlan, and book by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan, the stage production of Thoroughly Modern Millie is based upon the 1967 film of the same name starring Julie Andrews.

It is New York City in 1922, a New York full of intrigue and jazz – a time when the rules of love and social behavior were changing forever. Thoroughly Modern Millie tells the story of a small-town girl, Millie Dillmount, in search of a new life for herself. Millie comes to New York City to marry for money instead of love – a thoroughly modern aim in 1922, when women were just entering the workforce. Filled with frisky flappers, dashing leading men, and a dragon-lady of a villainess, Thoroughly Modern Millie is a perfectly constructed evening of madcap merriment.

Sara Burke (Millie) and Stephen Jack (Jimmy Smith) star in this musical romp! Sara made her first musical theatre splash sharing the coveted role of Annie in the Palace’s 2003 production with two other lucky young ladies! Her most recent triumph at the Palace was as Kathy Seldon in the Palace’s hit production of Singin’ in the Rain. Sara has performed all around the Austin area, as well: as Kira/Clio in Xanadu, Wendla in Spring Awakening, Amber in Hairspray, Serena in Legally Blonde, Cathy in Last 5 Years, and Charity in Sweet Charity. Most recently, Sara studied vocal performance with Adam Roberts. She will teach and direct for the Palace’s Theatrical Education Program this summer.

Stephen Jack (Jimmy Smith) has Austin credits that include Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Blue Theatre), Standing on Ceremony (ZACH Theatre), I Love You Because (Hyde Park Theatre), Drone (City Theatre), and RENT (ZACH Theatre); his Palace Theatre credits include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Man of La Mancha, and Big River. Additional credits include numerous galas and season previews for Austin Theatre Project, Penfold Theatre, and ZACH Theatre.

A strong supporting cast includes Melita McAtee as ‘Mrs Meers’ (The Villainess!); Scott Shipman as ‘Mr. Trevor Graydon’; Nikki Bora as ‘Matilda’; Tiffany Blackmon as ‘Miss Dorothy Brown’; Lariena Brown as ‘Muzzy Von Hossmere’; and Samantha Watson as ‘Miss Flannery’!

David Sray, who has both acting and directing recognition at the Palace, directs Millie. David’s Palace acting credits include Carl-Magnus in A Little Night Music, Edward Rutledge in 1776, and Curly in Oklahoma!; plus a B. Iden Payne Outstanding Cast Award-winning Austin performance in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. Palace directing credits include I Hate Hamlet, Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Cheaper by the Dozen. David has the inimitable support of Clifford Butler for music direction and Jesee Smart for choreography.

Thoroughly Modern Millie plays at the Palace on weekends from May 17 to June 16. Actual production dates are May 17-19, 24-26, 31-June 2, June 7-9, and 14-16. Friday and Saturday shows are at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday shows are at 2:00 p.m. Ticket prices are $24 General Admission, $22 Seniors (55+), $14 Students (10-22) and Active Military, and $10 Children (9 and younger). Rated for General Audiences 

The Palace seats about 295, with reserved seating paid for in the ticket price. The Palace office in the lobby of the theatre is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. (except for some holiday dates). Purchase tickets and select seating on-line at www.georgetownpalace.com or by calling (512) 869-7469 or (512) 869-5081. (Please call ahead regarding special needs seating.) 


Visa, Master Card, and Discover Card are accepted.

The Historic Palace Theatre is located at 810 South Austin Avenue in downtown Georgetown and is part of the most beautiful Town Square in Texas!


(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Auditions in Georgetown for Thoroughly Modern Millie, Pace Theatre, March 2 - 4, 2013

Strap on your tap shoes because auditions are coming up soon for the Georgetown Palace Theatre production of Thoroughly Modern Millie!

Directed by David Sray, Choreography by Jesee Smart, Music Direction by Clifford Butler, Stage Managed by Jessie Drollette

Auditions will be held Saturday, March 2nd, starting at 2pm, Sunday, March 3rd, starting at 5:30pm, and Monday March 4th at 7pm



To audition, please send an email to auditions@thegeorgetownpalace.orgmailto:auditions@thegeorgetownpalace.org (include your name, phone number, and which day you'd prefer to audition.)
 Filled with frisky flappers, dashing leading men, and a dragon-lady of a villainess, Thoroughly Modern Millie is a perfectly constructed evening of madcap merriment. It is New York City in 1922. Young Millie Dillmount has just moved to the city in search of a new life for herself. It’s a New York full of intrigue and jazz - a time when women were entering the workforce and the rules of love and social behavior were changing forever. Based on the 1967 motion picture that starred Julie Andrews.

Music for Thoroughly Modern Millie is by Jeanine Tesori, lyrics by Dick Scanlan, and book is by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan.

I am very excited to be directing this production and look forward to having a blast with everyone on it. This show is all about dancing, singing, and showing the audience a good time, and I am convinced we’re going to have a fabulous time pulling it all together. The show is very dance heavy and it is absolutely required that everyone will sing. So be prepared for a fun but demanding workout.

The Audition:
On March 2nd and 3rd, we will be be conducting vocal and monologue auditions. Please come prepared with a brief monologue that showcases your acting ability and a prepared song with sheet music. Since Millie is a comedy, I recommend a comedic monologue; though if you blow my socks off with a downer, that’s great too. For the vocal audition, I am not asking that you specifically do a song from the show as I’d much rather hear something that shows you at your best. If that’s something from Millie, lovely. If not, it’s cool, bro.

On Monday, March 4th, you will attend the dance portion of the audition. All auditioners need to attend this portion of the audition. Please come dressed in clothing you can move in (no jeans). All levels of dance will be considered. You will be taught various dance combinations throughout the evening and you will be asked to perform these combinations in a small group. Once you have completed the first portion of the dance audition, you either will be asked to stay for the advanced audition or you will be finished for the evening. If you are not asked to stay, please know that it does not mean you are not being considered for a role. Please do not purchase shoes for this audition.

Men: 7:00-7:45pm - one dance combination (jazz/character)
Ladies: 7:45-9:00pm - two dance combinations (jazz/character and tap)
Advanced (by invitation): 9:00-10:00pm

Callbacks will be on March 5th by invitation only.

Please come prepared! If you are not prepared you will not be considered.

Click to view character list and descriptions at AustinLiveTheatre.com

Strap on your tap shoes because auditions are coming up soon for our production of Thoroughly Modern Millie!

Directed by David Sray

Choreography by Jesee Smart

Music Direction by Clifford Butler

Stage Managed by Jessie Drollette

Auditions will be held Saturday, March 2nd, starting at 2pm, Sunday, March 3rd, starting at 5:30pm, and Monday March 4th at 7pm

ABOUT THE PLAY Filled with frisky flappers, dashing leading men, and a dragon-lady of a villainess, Thoroughly Modern Millie is a perfectly constructed evening of madcap merriment. It is New York City in 1922. Young Millie Dillmount has just moved to the city in search of a new life for herself. It’s a New York full of intrigue and jazz - a time when women were entering the workforce and the rules of love and social behavior were changing forever. Based on the 1967 motion picture that starred Julie Andrews.

Music for Thoroughly Modern Millie is by Jeanine Tesori, lyrics by Dick Scanlan, and book is by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan.

I am very excited to be directing this production and look forward to having a blast with everyone on it. This show is all about dancing, singing, and showing the audience a good time, and I am convinced we’re going to have a fabulous time pulling it all together. The show is very dance heavy and it is absolutely required that everyone will sing. So be prepared for a fun but demanding workout.

The Audition:
On March 2nd and 3rd, we will be be conducting vocal and monologue auditions. Please come prepared with a brief monologue that showcases your acting ability and a prepared song with sheet music. Since Millie is a comedy, I recommend a comedic monologue; though if you blow my socks off with a downer, that’s great too. For the vocal audition, I am not asking that you specifically do a song from the show as I’d much rather hear something that shows you at your best. If that’s something from Millie, lovely. If not, it’s cool, bro.

On Monday, March 4th, you will attend the dance portion of the audition. All auditioners need to attend this portion of the audition. Please come dressed in clothing you can move in (no jeans). All levels of dance will be considered. You will be taught various dance combinations throughout the evening and you will be asked to perform these combinations in a small group. Once you have completed the first portion of the dance audition, you either will be asked to stay for the advanced audition or you will be finished for the evening. If you are not asked to stay, please know that it does not mean you are not being considered for a role. Please do not purchase shoes for this audition.

Men: 7:00-7:45pm - one dance combination (jazz/character)
Ladies: 7:45-9:00pm - two dance combinations (jazz/character and tap)
Advanced (by invitation): 9:00-10:00pm

Callbacks will be on March 5th by invitation only.

Please come prepared! If you are not prepared you will not be considered.

Cast Breakdown:
(Please note: all ages are guidelines for the age of the character, not necessarily the age of the actor or actress)

Millie Dillmount (18 - 30) Mezzo soprano. Spunky, fun, funny, and energetic. Young woman coming into the big city and taking charge. The absolute lead of this production and must be a triple threat. I am absolutely seeking someone charismatic, with amazing vocal talent, excellent comic timing and acting skills, and the ability to dance her shoes off.

Jimmy Smith (21 - 35) Tenor. Millie’s love interest in the show and we need to believe she could fall for him. He’s charming, cocky, and a hit with the ladies. Need great comic timing, good dance and great acting skills, and a presence that can match Millie. He’s from a wealthy family, but has been sent out into the world with $25 by his stepmother, Muzzy, in hopes that he will stop chasing women and find true love.

Mrs. Meers (30-60) Alto. The villain of the show and runs the Hotel Priscilla. Spends nearly the entire show with a really bad what-she-thinks-is-Chinese accent, which she drops when around her henchmen. Great Cruella de Ville kind of character. Needs excellent comic timing with a great over-the-top presence. A really fun villain.

Muzzy van Hossmere (30-60) Mezzo soprano. A glamorous cabaret singer and gazillionaire widow. She is Jimmy and Dorothy’s stepmother, but we don’t discover this till late in the show. She’s larger than life and a fun role. Long as I’m here with You is one of my favorite songs in the show.

Miss Dorothy (20-30) Soprano. Female ingénue type who’s on her way down. More refined than Millie and comes from a rich family, but is pretending to be a poor and aspiring actress. She’s Jimmy’s sister and, along with Jimmy, has been sent out into the world by her stepmother, Muzzy, with $25 in an attempt to avoid fortune hunters and try to find true love on her own.

Trevor Grayden (25-55) Baritone. Millie’s initial love interest/investment. Business-like, handsome, and endearingly ignorant of Millie’s attempts to reel him in. The Speed Test is a great song.

Ching Ho & Bun Foo (20-40) Baritone. Brothers and immigrants from China working to bring their mother to the US. Ching Ho develops a crush on Miss Dorothy during the show. These characters speak and sing in Mandarin and Cantonese the entire show. The audience hears them and sees supertitles while they speak.

Miss Flannery (25-45) Mezzo. The Office Manager at Sincere Trust. Old fashioned and doesn’t like modern ways. Has a great little tap interlude during Forget about the Boy. Comedic timing and tap skills a must!

The Hotel Priscilla Girls (16 - 30)
Ethel Peas, Ruth, Gloria, Rita, Alice, Cora, Lucille (various vocal) Fellow boarders at the Hotel Priscilla. Several of these roles have lines and fun, comedic bits. Must be good dancers.

Kenneth (20-40) Muzzy's butler and member of ensemble. No specific vocal range required.

George Gershwin (25-35) The famous composer and a guest at Muzzy's party. Will also become part of the ensemble. No specific vocal range required.

Dorothy Parker (25-35) Famous American poet, critic, and satirist. Feared in the show for her caustic wit. Brief but funny scene with Millie.

The Letch (25-45) Male dancer in a speakeasy scene with wandering hands while dancing with Millie. Ensemble with no specific vocal range required

Mama (45-65) Ching Ho and Bung Foo's mother from China who is reunited with her boys at the very end of the show. Member of ensemble with no specific vocal range required.

Malthilde (no specific age) Muzzy's dresser and assistant in the dressing room at the Café Society. Member of ensemble with no specific vocal range required.

New Modern (18-30) Female. Arrives in New York at the end of the Finale, puts down her bags and strikes the same pose as Millie during opening number. Member of ensemble with no specific vocal range required.

Pearl Lady (20-35) Female dancer in speakeasy scene. Turns out to be Jimmy’s sexy date at the speakeasy. Ensemble with no specific vocal range required.

Policeman (30-55) Male. Shows up at the end of The Nutty Cracker Suite to raid the speakeasy. Also part of ensemble. No specific vocal range required.

Dance Ensemble (16-45) We’ll need dancers for various numbers as stenographers, dishwashers, Muzzy’s boys, and so forth. There’ll be lots of fun dance.


To audition, please send an email to:
auditions@thegeorgetownpalace.org

(include your name, phone number, and which day you'd prefer to audition.)

I Hate Hamlet by Paul Rudnick, Georgetown Palace Theatre, January 13 - February 5

by Michael Meigs

You don't have to hate Shakespeare's Hamlet in order to enjoy this lighthearted romp, but it does help to have an appreciation for ghosts. We're not talking about the grim visaged former king of Shakespeare's imagined Denmark, but about the much friendlier shade of the great tragedian John Barrymore. Once he appears after the obligatory set-up scenes of the television actor and his girlfriend moving into an ancient and remarkable old apartment in New York City, Kyle Evans gives us a Barrymore as agreeable as Caspar the Friendly Ghost and a good deal more willing to provide thespian advice while swigging directly from a bottle of champagne.

Playwright Rudnick is quoted in the program relating that he once answered an classified ad in the New York Times real estate section advertising a "medieval duplex," quarters that turned out to have been renovated and inhabited by John Barrymore in 1917. Wikipedia asserts perhaps erroneously that the playwright was living there when he wrote this piece in 1991. As usual, the designers and builders at the Palace do a fine job of creating the setting, a towering set drab and draped in sheets for the first act, revealed after the intermission to have been artfully recreated as Barrymore's "Alchemist's Corner."

Ismael Soto III plays Andrew Rally, a newly unemployed celebrity television actor who has returned from Hollywood to New York in search of serious work. The folks down at Shakespeare in the Park were delighted to offer him the role of the melancholy Dane, but Andrew doesn't rally to the idea. There's too much on his mind just now. For the past five months he has been steadily dating this adamantly chaste girlfriend, Deirdre; his agent the ageing Teutonic former artiste has gotten him nothing but this gig in Central Park, where they approved the assignment without even paying attention to his audition piece; his bouncing buddy the Hollywood writer-promoter is shopping around a ridiculous new concept for a television series that promises big bucks; and then there's this medieval duplex he accepted, sight unseen, from the cheerfully garrulous woman real estate agent.

Life is a bit too much for Andrew. And then add to that this alarmingly healthy dead guy who insists that he can't get out of the apartment until Andrew establishes himself as the inheritor of the Hamlet tradition.

Click to read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: I Hate Hamlet by Paul Rudnick, Georgetown Palace Theatre, January 13 - February 5

Found on-line:

I Hate Hamlet

by Paul Rudnick

directed by David Sray

Jan. 13 - Feb. 5 - Fri. & Sat. at 7:30 p.m. and Sun. at 2:00 p.m.

Georgetown Palace Theatre, 810 S. Austin Street, Georgetown (click for map)

Prices: General: $24; Senior(55+): $22; Student(13-22)/Active Duty Military (with ID): $14; Children(12 or younger): $10
Click to choose seats and purchase tickets on-line

This hilarious romp takes us into the life of hot, young TV star Andrew Rally who has been asked to play Hamlet in Central Park. But Andrew has two problems: he hates Hamlet, and he’s being haunted by the drunken ghost of actor John Barrymore who used to live in his apartment.

Auditions for I Hate Hamlet, Georgetown Palace Theatre, October 15

Found at AustinActors.net:

I Hate Hamlet auditions

The Georgetown Palace Theater announces auditions for I Hate Hamlet, directed by David Sray, Saturday, Oct 15th from 1-4pm.

I Hate Hamlet, by Paul Rudnick is about a young and successful television actor who relocates to New York, where he rents a marvelous, gothic apartment. With his television career in limbo, the actor is offered the opportunity to play Hamlet onstage, but there's one problem - He hates Hamlet. His dilemma deepens with the entrance of John Barrymore's ghost, who arrives intoxicated and in full costume to the apartment that once was his. The contrast between the two actors, the towering, dissipated Barrymore whose Hamlet was the greatest of his time, and Andrew Rally, hot young television star, leads to a wildly funny duel over women, art, success, duty, television, and yes, the apartment.

The roles available in this show are:

Andrew Rally: 20 - 30yrs old
John Barrymore: 40 and up
Deidre McDavey: 20-30 yrs old
Lillian Troy: 50 and up
Gary Peter Lefkowitz: 30yrs and up
Felicia Dantine: 30yrs and up

Auditioners are asked to email their name and telephone number to: auditions@thegeorgetownpalace.org to sign up for the auditions on Saturday, Oct 15th at 1pm. Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script.

Auditions will at Georgetown Palace Theater at 810 S. Austin Ave in Georgetown. (click for map)

CALL-BACKS are by invitation only and will be held on Sunday, Oct 16th, from 6:30-9pm.

The production runs Jan 13-Feb 5, 2012. Performances will be at the Georgetown Palace Theater Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30pm, and Sundays at 2pm. All rehearsals and performances will be held at the Palace Theater.

Click for additional information . . . .

A Little Night Music, Georgetown Palace Theatre, February 19 - March 14

A Little Night Music at the Georgetown Palace theatre is a giddy delight. Stephen Sondheim’s elegant fable has the magic of a midsummer night in far northern Sweden. The sun never fully disappears, time is in suspension and the world hums with yearning and expectation.

In this gentle world of lovers and fools the story is attractively simple . Sondheim’s music and lyrics lift in subtle fashion the sentimental dilemmas of the cast of vivid, idle upper class characters, transmuting a Feydeau-style farce into something far more touching and poignant.

On opening night Palace Artistic Director Mary Ellen Butler reminded us that for this 1973 piece Sondheim and librettist Hugh Wheeler had been inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 film Smiles of A Summer Night. Bergman attended and appreciated the musical but commented simply, “These are not my characters.”

Perhaps that’s just as well, for there's little of Bergman's darkness about this glittering tale. These elegant people are all fools for love, each in his or her fashion. Central to the story are a married pair: Frederik Egerman, a gentleman of middle age and considerable gravitas, and his blonde 18-year-old Anne, a breathless young thing who might more properly be his ward than his wife. Alas for Frederik, his young bride is skittish of the pleasures of the flesh. In their 18 months of marriage she has never admitted him to her bed.

Ah, the flesh, its delights and temptations, and the keen edge of time! Love in a summer night “smiles three times,” we hear from the elderly grande dame Mme Armfeldt. A Little Night Music accordingly gives us the innocent intensity of ardent youth, the knowledgeable longing of middle age and the wry wisdom of age.

Read more and view images at AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .

Upcoming: Big River by Roger Miller, Georgetown Palace, Georgetown, July 16 -

UPDATE: Lisa Scheps interviews director David Sray for "Off Stage and On the Air," KOOP-FM, August 9

UPDATE: Jean Claire van Ryzin's interview of Palace Artistic Director Mary Ellen Butler, published at Austin Statesman's "Seeing Things" blog, July 24

Found on-line:

The Georgetown Palace Theater
presents

Big River, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Directed by David Sray
July 17 through August 16, 2009

Twain's timeless classic sweeps us down the mighty Mississippi as the irrepressible Huck Finn helps his friend Jim, a slave, escape to freedom at the mouth of the Ohio River. Their adventures along the way are funny, suspenseful and heartwarming, bringing to life favorite characters from the novel, such as the Widow Douglas and her stern sister, Miss Watson; the uproarious King and Duke, who may or may not be as harmless as they seem; Huck's partner in crime, Tom Sawyer, and their rowdy gang of pals; Huck's drunken father, the sinister Pap Finn; and the lovely Mary Jane Wilkes and her trusting family. Propelled by an award winning score from Roger Miller, the 'King of Country Music,' this jaunty journey provides a theatrical celebration of pure Americana.

Tickets available now, on-line

I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, NxNW at the Hideout Theatre, September 19 - October 12

This cheery cabaret production is a strawberry parfait, a delicious concocoction highly appealing to the eye with lots of sugar and self-confident sophistication. The North by Northwest Theatre Company has enlisted four attractive and highly talented actor/singers to create in Austin the first presentation of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, a piece that played for 12 years off Broadway. Its 5000+ performances put the run of this simple musical second only to the Fantastiks.

ILYYPNC is playing for only four weekends here in Austin, Friday through Saturday through October 12 at the Hideout Theatre at 617 South Congress.

For non-initiates such as us, from the street the Hideout looks like an ordinary coffee shop & bar, conveniently located for a subsequent crawl of the bars and pubs along 6th street. But they deal in entertainment as well as coffee, beer, wine and snacks. On Saturday ILYYPNC was playing in the downstairs 100-seat “black box” while upstairs at the same time, the announcement read, “a crew of Austin's finest improvisers take the stage in full Federation uniform and, based on audience suggestions, create a wholly original ‘episode’ set in the Star Trek Universe.”

The ladies in the ticket office took one look at us and commented, “Nah – they’re not here for the Trekkies.”

We hated being so obvious, but then, we had in fact made an on-line reservation for ILYYPNC.

Our four actor/singers are accompanied by a keyboardist and violinist for a zippy evening of black-out sketches and songs, themed loosely on the lines of courtship, marriage, parenting and the pleasant puzzles of romance at middle age and later. Onstage for almost two hours with a 15-minute break halfway, Michelle Cheney, Joe Penrod, David Sray and Wendy Zavaleta deliver along with their rapid fire of very funny skits not fewer than 21 musical numbers, ranging from solos to a finale (“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change”) that starts with an a capello worthy of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross.

The show has the bright, derisive flash of New York – it is fun poked by sophisticate singles and the New York artist community at the dilemmas of the love life of bourgeois middle America. Most of the skits are silly, mugging cartoon send-ups of all too familiar life dilemmas, and the audience responds with hilarity at the send-ups.

In the first half the show has a merry time making fun of the insecurities of dating, sexual posturing, the lack of eligible beddable bachelors, guy behavior as opposed to girl behavior, well-intended parental interventions in romance, and the panic of proposals and weddings. The downtown audience howled and sometimes shouted out recognition and encouragement – most of those attending were of college age or in late 20s and early 30s, and they were clearly getting happy shocks of recognition.

So imagine this scene: superb actors, clowning and singing their hearts out with midtown Manhattan sophistication, and a youngish audience that was drinking beer as if it were going out of style. Again and again, spectators descended the center stairs and crossed in front of half the stage on their way out and back to the bar and the bathroom. Early on, they usually waited for the blackouts, but as the evening wore on and the alcohol level rose, occasionally someone would cross in front of an actor/singer hard at work.

Too bad there wasn’t a rear stair for those folks. Or a trap door.

But with everyone so well launched, the second half was equally successful.

Leaving aside that growsing, what talented and attractive actors these are!

Chameleons all, they appeared in constantly changing relationships to one another.


Above, David plays the oblivious self-centered engineer blathering on as Wendy wonders whether all available single men are all such losers. Below left, Joe delivers a quiet, wondering paean to the wonder of staying in love with the same woman for more than thirty years. Below right, Michelle is captivated by a “chic flic” (while the guy at her side struggles unsuccessfully to remain manfully indifferent).

The music is mostly up tempo, the lyrics witty and the melodies engaging but ultimately forgettable. The magic is in the actors themselves. For example they take four swivel chairs and turn them into a family car, complete with obnoxious kids in the back seat:



That one is an anthem marking the lasting love affair between Joe, father of the family -- and his vehicle.

Examples of other transformations, quickly:

Michelle, singing of the miseries of serving always as a bridesmaid, never as a bride – and assembling a collection of never-reusable bridesmaid’s outfits.










David on the superhero fantasies of geeks and nerds.







The whole company, when Michelle and Joe as the parents learn at Thanksgiving that after two years of living together son David and fiancée Wendy have decided to break up:


After trouncing Joe yet again on a fourth date, Wendy maneuvers him out of his gentlemanly distance and persuades him to come over for lasagna (“and you’ll bring the wine and the condoms, right?”) She closes that scene with an inspired little jump of glee.

And my personal favorite is a solo turn by Wendy, with not a note of music. She plays a woman recently divorced, still hurt and angry, who is reluctantly recording a video for a dating service -- and impulsively lays it all out, not giving a damn about masquerading as younger, more accessible or invulnerable.

So open your browser or pick up your telephone, and make your reservations now. If we are lucky, North by Northwest might get this show extended or repeated. But for now, you have your choice of only three remaining weekends, Friday to Sunday, to schedule this delightful dessert.


Producer's comments on opening night, including a reviewer in the front row (not me!)

Lambert, Hendricks and Ross doing "Swingin' the Blues"