'42nd Street,' 'Sylvia' kick off Manatee Players' 2016-17 season
Manatee Players have announced their 2016-17 season, and it includes a few surprises.
Among them: a world premiere, a non-musical in Stone Hall, and even a quick moment of male nudity.
All that is mixed in with a lot of classic musicals ("My Fair Lady," "Beauty and the Beast") and some sure-fire crowd-pleasers ("Sylvia," "It's a Wonderful Life").
In Stone Hall, the Broadway season gets underway in August with "42nd Street," the 1980 stage musical based on the 1933 film. It continues with "My Fair Lady," "Peter and the Starcatcher," "Beauty and the Beast," "Little Shop of Horrors," "Honeymoon in Vegas," "Boynton Beach Club" and "The Full Monty."
"Boynton Beach Club" is a world premiere. It's a musical version of the 2005 Susan Seidelman movie about love and romance among residents of an Florida "active adult" community.
The subject matter should appeal to a lot of people in this area, said Manatee Players producing artistic director Rick Kerby, and the show will provide opportunities for older actors in the Players family.
"It's a tough process to be the first one," he said. "But it's kind of exciting to be on the front line."
The non-musical -- the
first one Manatee Players has ever produced in Stone Hall -- is "Peter and the Starcatcher."
"It's billed as a musical, but it's really closer to a play," Kerby said. "The music is really incidental."
Kerby said he would like to stage plays occasionally in Stone Hall. They will offer more variety to the company's audiences, and more opportunities for area actors. Manatee Players hasn't produced a mainstage play in years, he said, and "Starcatcher" is a good small step toward introducing occasional straight plays into the Stone Hall season.
He was enthralled by the show when he first saw it, and he said and has been working hard to be one of the first theaters in the country to stage the show after its Tony-winning Broadway run.
"I saw it on Broadway several years ago and I fell in love with the show," he said. "We're very lucky that we're going to be one of the first ones to do it." "Peter and the Starcatcher" is a re-telling of the Peter Pan story. It comes from a novel co-written by Dave Barry, and it was adapted for the stage by Rick Elice of "Jersey Boys" fame. "Honeymoon in Vegas" is another show that few regional or community theaters have done.
It had a short Broadway run last year, starring Tony Danza. It received outstanding reviews from New York critics but never found an audience.
"The Full Monty," like "Honeymoon in Vegas," is based on a non-musical movie. The musical moves the action from England to Buffalo, but retains the story of a group of working-class men who form a Chippendales-style troupe.
There's a very brief moment of nudity at the end. Kerby said, but lighting effects will disguise it to keep the show PG-rated.
In the Bradenton Kiwanis Theater, the "Action Through Acting" program continues, with Manatee Players partnering with a different local nonprofit for each play, and the plays tying in to the nonprofit's goal.
The partner organizations haven't been announced yet, but the shows are "Sylvia," "Children of a Lesser God," "It's a Wonderful Life," "Wit," "13" and "Assassins."
"Sylvia" is A.R. Gurney's hilarious comedy about a man's relationship with his new dog, who interferes with his relationship with his wife. "Wit" is a Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a cancer patient in the last hours of her life. "13" is a musical about teenagers, with music by Jason Robert Brown, who also composed "Honeymoon in Vegas."
Perhaps the best-known show on the Bradenton Kiwanis schedule is "Assassins," Stephen Sondheim's musical that brings together about a dozen presidential murderers and would-be murderers, from John Wilkes Booth to John Hinckley and Squeaky Fromme.
"We love Sondheim here," Kerby said. "And I think we do it well."
Season tickets for both new and renewing subscribers go on sale Wednesday. Single tickets will be available beginnng June 1. You can get tickets and more information by calling 941-748-5875 or going to manateeperformingartscenter.com. Here's the entire season schedule:
Stone Hall
"42nd Street," Aug. 11-28
"My Fair Lady," Sept. 22-Oct. 9 "Peter and the Starcatcher," Oct. 27-Nov. 13
"Beauty and the Beast," Dec. 1-18
"Little Shop of Horrors," Jan. 5-22
"Honeymoon in Vegas," Feb. 9-26, 2017
"Boynton Beach Club," March 16-April 2, 2107
"The Full Monty," April 20-May 7, 2017
Bradenton Kiwanis Theater
"Sylvia," Sept. 15-Oct. 2
"Children of a Lesser God," Oct. 20-Nov. 6
"It's a Wonderful Life," Dec. 1-18 "Wit," Jan. 12-29
"13 The Musical," Feb. 23-March 12, 2017
"Assassins," April 6-23. 2017
Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.
This story was originally published February 13, 2016 at 11:58 PM with the headline "'42nd Street,' 'Sylvia' kick off Manatee Players' 2016-17 season."