TheatreWorks New Milford e-Newsletter / Off-Broadway Theatre Right In Your Backyard
Volume 08 / Issue 18 Click Here to view this email as a web page September 10, 2008

TheatreWorks New Milford Opens Stephen
Sondheim’s Tony Award-Winning Musical
A Little Night Music

On September 26, TheatreWorks will open its production of the breathtakingly beautiful A Little Night Music, with Music and Lyrics by Broadway icon Stephen Sondheim and Book by Hugh Wheeler. The show opens at 8 p.m. and runs for five weeks. Purchase your tickets today!

A Little Night Music deals with the universal subject of love in all its wondrous, humorous, and ironic forms. The play is set in turn-of-the-century Sweden and surrounds several couples in love and in lust with each other. The truth of their liaisons comes to a head when the lovers are ensconced together for a weekend at a country estate. Here, beneath the mysterious summer night, the characters’ passions and desires reach a heartfelt climax. Sondheim’s magnificent score features his most popular song, “Send in the Clowns.”

“A Little Night Music is sophisticated, charming, and very comedic,” said director Bradford Blake of New Milford. “Although it’s set in turn-of-the-century Sweden, Sondheim explores some very modern themes: sex, the free expression of desire, self-awareness, chastity, and fidelity. With the music written entirely in 3/4 ‘Waltz time,’ it’s classic and contemporary as well as heartbreaking and humorous.”

“I can’t remember the last time we assembled such a large cast that has gone above and beyond the demands of the story and the score,” said Richard Pettibone, President of TheatreWorks New Milford. “This is, arguably, Sondheim’s most complex and challenging musical. It’s an operetta in many ways and requires angelic voices, adroit performances, gorgeous period sets and costumes…and it appears that we have it. Audiences should be thrilled with this lush, moving, and finely-polished production.”

A Little Night Music’s cast features: Ron Dukenski (Goshen); Jane Farnol (Kent); Bruce Tredwell (Brewster, NY); Priscilla Squiers (Danbury); Brendan Padgett (New York City); Jen Morrison (Sandy Hook); Greg McMahan (Woodbridge); Jessica Smith (New Fairfield); Mark Feltch and Joel Romanelli (both Newtown); and Bill Hicks, Susan Pettibone, Catherine McCollian, Becca Myhill, Jackie Decho-Holm, and Jody Bayer (all New Milford). Musical direction is by Charles Smith of Danbury.

The production crew includes Marie Gelston, producer; Richard Pettibone and Scott Wyshysnki, set design and lighting design; Lesley Neilson-Bowman, costume design; and Stacy-Lee Erickson and Jessica Stewart, stage management.

Inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 film, Smiles Of A Summer Night, A Little Night Music, debuted on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre on February 25, 1973 and went on to win Tony’s Triple Crown for Best Score, Best Book, and Best Musical. The New York Times called the show “Heady, civilized, sophisticated, and enchanting,” while Time Magazine lauded the production as “A jeweled music box of a show; lovely to look at, delightful to listen to.”

On Thursday, September 25, senior citizens are invited to a free dress rehearsal at 8:00 p.m. Thursday, October 2, at 8:00 p.m. is TheatreWorks’ Pay-What-You-Want night. At this performance, you name the price for your ticket.

Reservations can be made at www.theatreworks.us or by calling the box office at (860) 350-6863.

Current Production
September 26, 27, October 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25
Friday & Saturday 8:00 PM
Sunday 2:00 PM
TheatreWorks, 5 Brookside Ave.
(Next to CVS - Rt. 202)
$26.00 - Reserved Seating

Fall After-School Program for Kids and Teens Starts September 27 — Sign-Up Now!

TheatreWorks is now accepting applications from young thespians for the TheatreWorks Kids After School Players production of Oliver! for fall 2008. You can sign up your child online by simply clicking here.

This theatrical workshop is offered to budding young performers between the ages of 7 and 17 and runs for ten weeks. The schedule includes one 90-minute skills class once-a-week after school (Mondays or Tuesdays from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.) as well as three-hour rehearsals on Saturdays (9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.) PLEASE NOTE: The final weekday schedule will be determined by class size.

The program concludes on a high note in December when the After-School Performers will present their production of Oliver! — the musical adaptation of Dickens’ classic novel. In the tale, the orphaned Oliver escapes to London from a dreary workhouse and is taken in by a gang of young pickpockets who work for master thief Fagin while learning their trade. When Oliver is falsely accused of stealing from the gang by the fearsome Bill Sikes, Oliver begins to realize that he has more friends than he had thought.

TheatreWorks Kids After-School is under the direction of children’s theater instructor, Beth Bonnabeau-Harding. Ms. Bonnabeau-Harding is best known for her work in regional children’s theatre and as the instructor for the highly acclaimed TheatreWorks Kids Programs since 2006.

Class size is limited and scheduled on a first-come, first serve basis. The program ends on a high note when the performers hold four performances for the public on Saturday, December 6, at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., and Sunday, December 7, at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Enrollment is $360 per child. Siblings will be admitted at $299 per child.

Plus, there’s a special for TheatreWorks Kids alumni: students who have been through TheatreWorks Kids Programs, in 2007 and 2008 only, can gain admittance for just $330 ($299 for siblings).

For more information, and to register online, please visit www.theatreworks.us or call Ms. Bonnabeau-Harding at 860-488-8073.