BEACHES Among Five World Premieres in Signature's 2013-14 Season; Plus GYPSY, MISS SAIGON and More!
By: BWW News Desk Mar. 04, 2013
Signature Theatre has just announced its 2013-14 season, which will include three world premiere musicals, one world-premiere play, a developmental run of a world-premiere musical, and revivals of Miss Saigon, Gypsy and The Threepenny Opera. Signature's Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer will be directing all four of the new musicals, as well as Miss Saigon.
Miss Saigon will open the season, running August 15-October 6. The first of the world premieres will be Crossing by Conner and Grace Barnes (creators of Nevermore). The show will run October 29-November 24, followed by Beaches (February 18-March 30, 2014), with music by David Austin, lyrics by Iris Rainer Dart and libretto by Dart and Thom Thomas. The last world premiere will be Dixon's Cloak and Dagger, running June 12-July 6, 2014.
Spin, with music and lyrics by Neil Bartram and book by Brian Hill, will be Signature's first "Siglab" series selection. The season's world-premiere play is Pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill by Paul Downs Colaizzo. Colaizzo's Really Really played Signature last season and can currently be seen off-Broadway. 'Pride in the Falls' will run at Signature October 15-December 8, 2013.
Philip Ridley's Tender Napalm will make its regional premiere under the direction of associate artistic director Matthew Gardiner, March 4-April 27, 2014. Gardiner will also direct The Threepenny Opera, April 22-June 1, 2014.
Gypsy, which will play December 17-January 26, 2014, will feature Sherri L. Edelen and Mitchell Hebert, under the direction of Joe Calarco (Shakespeare's R&J). BroadwayWorld will bring you more casting news for this ambitious season as soon as it's announced!
Signature Theatre's 2013-14 SEASON:
Miss Saigon
August 15, 2013 - September 22, 2013
Music by Claude-Michel Schonberg
Lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr. and Alain Boublil
Adapted from the original French lyrics by Alain Boublil
Additional Materials by Richard Maltby Jr.
Orchestrations by William D. Brohn
Originally produced on stage by Cameron Mackintosh
Directed by Eric Schaeffer
Vietnamese Kim and American G.I. Chris fall in love during the tumultuous fall of Saigon. Three years after their dramatic separation, newly-married Chris discovers Kim survived the war. The star-crossed lovers attempt to reunite in a race across Bangkok in this tragic romance about the shattering devastation of war and the ultimate sacrifice.
Signature brings the electrifying score to life with a 15-piece orchestra and 18-actor company in this new environmental production, performing hit songs including "The Heat is On in Saigon," "I Still Believe," "Why, God, Why?" and "The American Dream."
Pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill
October 15, 2013 - December 8, 2013
By Paul Downs Colaizzo
The World Premiere
After the resounding success of 2012's Really Really, Signature presents the newest work from Paul Downs Colaizzo.
The Falls of Autrey Mill is the most desired zipcode in town. From the outside, the flawless neighborhood glitters with elegant roman column porches and exquisitely manicured red lawns. However, demons lurk behind the designer window treatments when one seemingly-perfect family disintegrates from the inside out. In this vicious and gripping play, Colaizzo rips the façade off of America's privileged suburbia with his trademark brutal honesty.
Crossing
October 29, 2013 - November 24, 2013
Book by Grace Barnes
Music & Lyrics by Matt Conner
Directed by Eric Schaeffer
The World Premiere
From the writers of Nevermore comes a poignant original musical.
Crossing explores the interwoven stories of eight people from different decades of the past century who come together at a train station. Some are waiting for the train, others are waiting for visitors, a few are just...waiting. All of them are searching - for hopes and dreams, for new beginnings, for answers. As their stories are brought to musical life in the train station, the characters discover that, while every life is different, the journey is always the same. With music ranging from gospel to pop to rock, Crossing unites the musical eras through the souls who lived them.
Gypsy
December 17, 2013 - January 19, 2014
Book by Arthur Laurents
Music by Jule Styne
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Suggested by memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee
Original production by David Merrick & Leland Hayward
Entire production originally directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins
Directed by Joe Calarco
Set during the 1920s fading vaudeville circuit, Gypsy portrays the rise of famed burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee. Mamma Rose, the archetypal stage mother, steamrolls everyone in her way to propel her daughters into child stars. When the younger, more talented, daughter defects, Rose sinks all her hopes (and claws) into the elder. Bold, brassy, yet remarkably charming, Mamma Rose puts today's Dance Moms to shame.
With a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Signature's "signature," Stephen Sondheim, Gypsy features the beloved songs "Everything's Coming Up Roses," "Together (Wherever We Go)," "Small World," "Some People," "Let Me Entertain You" and "Rose's Turn."
Beaches
February 18, 2014 - March 23, 2014
Book by Iris Rainer Dart & Thom Thomas
Lyrics by Iris Rainer Dart
Music by David Austin
Based on the novel Beaches by Iris Rainer Dart
Directed by Eric Schaeffer
World Premiere Musical
Tender Napalm
March 18, 2014 - May 11, 2014
A new play by Philip Ridley
Directed by Matthew Gardiner
The Washington, DC Premiere
Tender Napalm makes its Washington debut in a transfixing, intimate and savage exploration of love in the face of heartbreak.
A pair of young lovers creates a fantastical, often violent, world through an interweaving dialogue of increasing perplexity. At the heart of their fantasies lies an unimaginable tragedy that both bonds and breaks the two. Fused with raw energy, the couple blurs the distinction of truth and illusion in this battle-of-the-sexes wild ride.
Ultimately beautiful and richly moving, Tender Napalm is a complex and layered romance for the modern era.
Tender Napalm contains graphic language. For mature audiences only.
The Threepenny Opera
April 22, 2014 - June 1, 2014
Book & Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht
Music by Kurt Weill
English translation of dialog by Robert David MacDonald
English translation of lyrics by Jeremy Sams
Directed by Matthew Gardiner
Mack the Knife is back in town! The MAX Theatre transforms into London's gritty underworld in this 1928 parody of A Beggar's Opera. The haves clash with the have-nots while MacHeath, the ultimate sneering antihero, perches in the middle of the storm. A brilliant masterpiece of epic theater, Brecht's sharp critique of Capitalism originated the popular songs "The Ballad of Mack the Knife," "Soloman Song" and "Pirate Jenny."
With its haunting jazz score, acid harmonies and biting lyrics, The Threepenny Opera influenced Cabaret and Urinetown. Now, Signature revives the juicily audacious musical that started it all.
Cloak & Dagger
June 12, 2014 - July 6, 2014
Book, Music & Lyrics by Ed Dixon
Directed by Eric Schaeffer
A World Premiere Musical Comedy
From Helen Hayes Award Winner Ed Dixon (Signature's Sunset Boulevard) comes a delightfully screwball musical comedy send-up of the 1950s film noir.
Third-rate detective Nick Cutter is down on his luck when a beautiful blonde bombshell tosses a very intriguing case (and herself) into his lap. For the next 90 minutes, Nick races through every New York neighborhood in this zany, mile-a-minute whodunit. With four actors playing nearly 20 roles, Cloak and Dagger uproariously spoofs erstwhile mysteries with lightning speed and rapier wit.
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