NATIONAL PASTIME, a musical by Tony Sportiello and Al Tapper, Austin Theatre Project at Center Stage, September 19 - October 6, 2013

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Austin Theatre Project, performing at Center Stage Texas, 2826 Real Street, south of Manor Rd. - CLICK FOR MAP]
 
presents

National Pastime

book by Tony Sportiello, music and lyrics by Al Tapper

directed by Barbara Schuler with music direction by David Blackburn

September 19 - October 6, 2013

Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m.

Center Stage Texas, 2826 Real Street, south of Manor Rd. - click for map 

NATIONAL PASTIME takes place in Baker City, Iowa in 1933. As the country is coming out of the Great Depression, about the only business in Baker City that seems to be holding on (barely) is the radio station WZBQ. The last time they had made any kind of profit was before the Depression... when the team was home to the minor league baseball team, the Baker City Cougars. In order to save the station, the owners decide to broadcast Cougar baseball again... only there's no team to broadcast!

What do you do when decide to broadcast baseball without a team? Broadcast fake games of course! Incredibly, the entire scheme works and the station is rolling in the profits once again. All is well until a reporter from Life Magazine arrives to do a story on the incredible Iowa baseball team.
 
NATIONAL PASTIME features some of the best and brightest talent Austin has to offer. In the role of Barry, the station owner is Jim Lindsay ("Baby," "Blood Brothers," "Singin' in the Rain"). Haley Smith ("Baby," "I Love You Because") plays Karen, the Chicago attorney who arrives in Baker City to sell the station, but ends up fully immersed in the zany plot. Cast in the roles of station employees are Brandon Myers ("Blood Brothers," "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"), Derek Smootz ("The Fantasticks", "Princess Ida"), Rachel Hoovler ("Avenue Q," "Rocky Horror Picture Show"), and Suzanne Orzech ("Baby," "Thoroughly Modern Millie"). In the roles of the bumbling mobster misfits are Erik Freisinger ("South Pacific", "A Few Good Men") and Matt Gauk ("Baby," "A Few Good Men"). Rounding out the exceptional cast is the jingle singing trio consisting of Kate Clark ("Princess Ida"), Wendy Jo Cox ("Baby", "South Pacific"), and Heather Anne Howes (making her Austin theatrical debut).
 
NATIONAL PASTIME features a book by Tony Sportiello and music & lyrics by Al Tapper. Back in March, Austin Theatre Project had a very special guest in the audience of the musical Edges. New York playwright Tony Sportiello had just spent the day with ATP founders Barbara Schuler and David Blackburn and was taking in the critically acclaimed show. As soon as the show finished, Sportiello pulled Schuler and Blackburn aside and raved about the talent on the stage and caliber of the production. He then offered ATP the first preview production of his musical NATIONAL PASTIME which is expected to open on Broadway in 2014.

The musical is being directed by Barbara Schuler with music direction by David Blackburn. Choreography is by Meg Steiner. The set is designed by David Blackburn with Sound and Lighting design by Joel Mercado-See and Dustin Downing. Technical director for the production is Jim Schuler.

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Video: Meet the Cast of 'The National Pastime,' Austin Theatre Project at Center Stage on Real, September 19 - October 6, 2013

 

National Pastime, a one-act play by Tony Sportiello, was first produced in 2010 at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and then reworked with music by Al Tapper. It played Off-Broadway in 2012 and is scheduled to open on Broadway. The AustinTheatre Project will stage it at Center Stage on Real Street, September 19 - October 6, 2013. 

 Here's a video introduction of the cast:

Upcoming: Holiday Dinner Theatre, Georgetown Palace, December 14 - 30

Holiday Magic in Manhattan

The first Palace benefit "Dinner Theater" to help grow our "Exceptional Needs" education program.

A wonderful dancing and singing extravaganza

directed and choreographed by "Broadway's Best" Danny Herman and Rocker Verastique with
Music direction by Lannes Hilbolt

Holiday Magic in Mahattan will be produced at 820 South Austin Ave, two doors down from the Palace Theatre!

Show Dates are December 14th - 16th, 20th - 23rd, and 26th - 30th.

The Palace introduces a brand new, exciting event for the holidays! Our very first dinner theater production, with three choices of dinner provided by the wonderful Wildfire Restaurant and an evening of singing and dancing and holiday magic.

There are two types of seating:
"Full Dinner" will include a 3 course dinner with a beverage for $45
"Dessert Seating" (only 16 seats available per performance) will include the show and dessert at intermission for $30

"Full Dinner" seating:

(all dinners are served with a house salad and dessert!)

• Three choices of dinner: New York Strip, Chicken Breast with Mascarpone and Spinach Cream Sauce, and Portabella Mushroom and Penne (Vegetarian) .
• The doors will open at 6:30pm with dinner service starting at 6:45pm and the show starting at 7:40.
• The dessert is served at intermission, with two choices of dessert: Lemon cake with whipped vanilla icing and Chocolate cake with whipped chocolate icing.

"Dessert" seating:

• Four rows of four seats without a table (Dessert seating is not available to the full dinner tables.)
• Seating will begin at 7:25pm with the show starting at 7:40.
• The dessert portion of the of the evening is served at intermission, with two choices: Lemon cake with whipped vanilla icing and Chocolate cake with whipped chocolate icing

For all questions please e-mail the Palace Production Office at gpalaceproductions@gmail.com, or to make reservations over the phone please call the production office at (512) 591-7825.

For more detailed information or to purchase tickets online, please visit our website at www.georgetownpalace.org.

The Georgetown Palace Theatre | 810 South Austin Avenue | Georgetown | TX | 78626

Video for Upcoming: Baby, the musical, Austin Theatre Project at Dougherty Arts Center, October 12 - 28

Baby, the musical

October 12 through 28, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m.

Dougherty Arts Center, 1110 Barton Springs Rd (click for map)

Tickets $15 to $25, group tickets $10, plus service fees at Brown Paper Tickets

Click for tickets via www.AustinTheatreProject.com

Is there anything more exciting, frightening and utterly transformational than impending parenthood? BABY is a wonderful and touching musical from the team of Maltby and Shire and tells the story of three couples on a university campus as they deal with the painful, rewarding and agonizingly funny consequences of this universal experience. There are the college students, barely at the beginning of their adult lives; the thirty-somethings, having trouble conceiving but determined to try; and the middle aged parents, looking forward to seeing their last child graduate from college when a night of unexpected passion lands them back where they started.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Georgetown Palace, April 1 - May 1

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is set in a mythic French Riviera, a delirious paradise that seems to be populated only by rich Americans, a couple of rival American con artists, and one charmingly corrupt French police chief. It's a concept that would make the French laugh out loud. Not that they don't have their own share of nutty cinematic visions, including le vieux Far West, but because this is Cannes as the returned GIs imagined it. Or Monte Carlo as described by Ian Fleming.

This story started out as the 1964 film Bedtime Story with David Niven as Lawrence, the urbane seducer who fooled American heiresses with his false identity as a displaced royal from eastern Europe, and with Marlon Brando as a younger hustler. Brando was willing to take Niven's tutelage, then competed with him in a bet to seduce a vulnerable looking sweet thing. The 1988 remake by Frank Oz Dirty Rotten Scoundrels featured Michael Caine and Steve Martin and followed the same lines. In 2005 Lane and Yazbek turned it into a musical with John Lithgow as the more sophisticated seducer. Oh, and that's not all -- back in 2008, Hollywood actor-writer-director Steve Pink announced that he was developing a treatment with MGM for a new version. That one may come out in 2012. The scoundrels will presumably be using i-Phones, tweeting and all that.

Why keep running this tale again and again?

Because it's an American male fantasy, for one thing -- living without a care, adored for one's sophistication, looks and title, enjoying wine, women and song, the decadent best of exotic Old Europe. Plus the fact that we enjoy seeing lightweight cons succeed, thanks to their wits, and we like it even more when the pair of rascals duel with one anonther.

The publicity and the poster label Dirty Rotten Scoundrels as being "for MATURE audiences," but those are code words for the fact that there will be some sexual innuendos and bathroom jokes that will make you giggle. The music keeps it lively and there's a movie-style twist and comeuppance at the end.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .