Jason Danieley-Directed THE FULL MONTY and More Announced for Skylight Music Theatre 2021- 2022 Season

Skylight Music Theatre has announced its 2021-2022 season, which marks the theatre's return to in-person performances after more than one year. It will be Skylight Music Theatre Artistic Director Michael Unger first official season since joining Skylight in 2019, due to cancelled shows during the pandemic.

"As we planned our new season, we thought about how much we need the arts to entertain and uplift us, and how much we have missed that," said Unger. "We were inspired by the quote on the beautiful, hand-painted ceiling of our home, the Cabot Theatre, which says, 'to help us forget some things, remember others, and to refresh the dry places in our spirit.' I think our new season, with stories that spread joy, fill the heart, and inspire the soul, will do just that."

The Cabot Theatre ceiling quote is paraphrased from World of Wonders by Robertson Davies, a Canadian author who wrote fondly about being an actor, playwright, and above all, an audience member.

Skylight's new season will welcome an array of guest artists as part of the creative teams. Jason Danieley, who was in the original cast of the Tony Award-nominated The Full Monty, will direct Skylight's production, opening September 24.

An original Broadway cast member of Once on this Island, Gerry McIntyre, will choreograph Little Shop of Horrors, opening November 19. Jill Anna Ponasik, longtime Skylight collaborator and producing artistic director of Milwaukee Opera Theatre, will direct Ernest Shackleton Loves Me, beginning January 14, 2022.

Broadway's Kenneth L. Roberson, who choreographed Broadway's Avenue Q and All Shook Up, will direct and choreograph Raisin, opening February 11, 2022.

Dennis DeYoung, lead singer and songwriter of the legendary rock group Styx, will be in residence at Skylight to work with the creative team on his epic musical, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, opening May 27, 2022. A featured performer in the role of Claude Frollo will be Robert Cuccioli, who received a Tony Award-nomination for his leading role in Jekyll & Hyde on Broadway.

Throughout its history, Skylight has featured exceptional Wisconsin-based talent on its stage. The previously announced Little Shop of Horrors, which had originally been scheduled to open November 2020, features a diverse cast led by David Flores as Mushnik, Ashley Oviedo as Audrey, and Kevin James Sievert as Seymour. More casting announcements will be made at a later date.

"Our long intermission is finally over," said Skylight Executive Director Jack R. Lemmon. "We know patrons are eager to return. We have heard from so many people letting us know how important Skylight is in their lives, and we can't wait to get back to producing and presenting exceptional entertainment. We are grateful to see lower infection rates and increased vaccinations, which allows us to open. We continue following guidelines to ensure that audiences, artists and staff experience live theatre as safely as possible."

The 2021-2022 season launches with smash Broadway hit The Full Monty from Sept. 24 - Oct. 17, 2021. This hilarious nine-time Tony Award-nominated musical will be produced at Skylight for the first time. An unlikely band of out-of-work men decide to turn their lives around by baring it all for the greater good. The irresistible humor and songs lead up to one of the most anticipated final moments in Broadway history.

"The Full Monty is as funny (and revealing) as it is touching," said Unger. "It centers on salt-of-the-earth characters on whom unemployment has forced desperate measures. It explores many kinds of love stories, but the heart of the show is the love between a father and a son - and the lengths one must go to learn what is most important in life."

Leading the production will be guest director Jason Danieley, who was in the original 2000 Broadway cast of The Full Monty in the role of Malcolm MacGregor. Danieley also starred in the 1997 original Candide on Broadway, as well as Broadway productions of Pretty Woman, Curtains, Chicago, The Visit, Next to Normal and more.

For the holiday season Skylight presents Little Shop of Horrors, running Nov. 19, 2021 - Jan. 2, 2022. With a tuneful score by creative geniuses Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, (Disney's The Little Mermaid, Aladdin), this musical has become a worldwide phenomenon, devouring the hearts of theatregoers for over 30 years. Featuring a disarmingly funny love story and the most famous man (and woman) -eating plant in musical history, Little Shop of Horrors offers hilarious entertainment for the whole family. The music blends pop, doo-wop, Broadway and Motown into heartfelt songs including "Suddenly Seymour" and "Somewhere that's Green."

Little Shop will offer special New Year's Eve and New Year's Day performances.

"Little Shop has been on our list to revive ever since it was a hit when Skylight presented it in 2003," said Unger, who directs the production. "We were getting close to opening this show last November, but had to delay. We are thrilled to entertain audiences this year with this tuneful, fun, and beloved musical."

Gerry McIntyre will choreograph Little Shop of Horrors. He choreographed Berkshire Theatre Group's acclaimed production of Godspell last summer, the first musical to be produced in the U.S. since the pandemic shut down theater. An original Broadway cast member of Once on this Island in 1990, McIntyre has appeared on Broadway in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Uptown...It's Hot!, and Anything Goes, among others.

Skylight presents the regional premiere of the 2017 off-Broadway hit Ernest Shackleton Loves Me from Jan. 14-30, 2022. This wildly inventive musical crisscrosses continents and time in an improbable and enchanting love story. With astounding ingenuity, modern music, and images of Shackleton's actual journey on the doomed ship "The Endurance," Ernest Shackleton Loves Me is a romantic ride linking a struggling modern-day, single-mom composer/musician, and the early 1900's, intrepid, banjo-playing, Antarctic explorer, Ernest Shackleton. Written by Joe DiPietro (author of I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change and Memphis), Brendan Milburn and Val Vigoda.

Jill Anna Ponasik, producing artistic director of Milwaukee Opera Theatre will direct. Ponasik has a long history at Skylight, including directing acclaimed productions of Carmina Burana, Oklahoma!, Ruddigore, The Tales of Hoffmann and Tosca.

"This exhilarating musical explores the unexpected similarities and sacrifices made by artists and explorers in a refreshing tale that is as much suspenseful, historical travelogue, as fantastical love story," said Unger.

From Feb. 11 - 27, 2022, Skylight will present the Tony Award-winning Raisin, marking a Skylight premiere. With a terrific Grammy-winning score that combines jazz, gospel and 70's pop, this powerful, uplifting musical adaptation is based on the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. Set in Chicago in 1951, Raisin follows the struggles of the first African American family to buy a house in the all-white neighborhood of Clybourne Park. Ambition nearly rips the family apart as Raisin travels from jubilation to heartbreak to ultimate triumph, as they reach for a piece of the American Dream.

Raisin will be directed and choreographed by Kenneth Roberson, who choreographed Avenue Q (2003) and All Shook Up (2005) on Broadway and performed in the Broadway productions Black and Blue and Oh, Kay!

"I saw the original Broadway production of Raisin when I was a teenager. It instantly became one of my favorite shows," said Unger. "It has been on my list since I first interviewed for this job at Skylight two years ago. World events have made this title more important than ever. As an organization, Skylight is focusing on systemic racism and injustice and finding opportunities to address racial equity and inclusion. Raisin, being presented during Black History Month, will be a convergence of many positive forces."

The 2021-2022 season closes with an epic musical to be directed by Unger. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, based on the novel by Victor Hugo, features book and original score composed by Dennis DeYoung, lead singer and songwriter of the legendary rock group Styx.

DeYoung is from the Chicago area, as is Unger. The two met 26 years ago, and Unger recalls going to DeYoung's home studio several times to hear the entire score of The Hunchback of Notre Dame sung by his childhood rock hero. "I have been chasing after this show for decades," said Unger. "Dennis is a magnificent melody maker (think "Babe," "Lady," "Grand Illusion," "Come Sail Away," and so many more) - and his version of this classic novel is wonderfully faithful to Hugo's original. It's a phenomenal combination. This was on the schedule to be produced in 2020-2021 for my first season. I am thrilled that this show, which brings together one of my favorite novels, one of my favorite rock idols, and lots of local Milwaukee talent will finally be on the Cabot Theatre stage for what will be my inaugural Skylight season."

DeYoung said, "Over the years I have been fortunate enough to have some success in writing songs but the ones I have written for this show I love as much or more than any I've ever done. Years ago, Michael and I met outside Steppenwolf Theatre and became fast friends. He has always been a fan of my version of the Hunchback and he vowed that, should he ever be the artistic director of a theater, we would do the show. Skylight - that's you."

That pledge comes to fruition May 20 - June 12, 2022, with the Wisconsin premiere of a newly revised version of DeYoung's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. A 2008 production won the Jeff Award for Best Midsize Musical when it was presented at Chicago's Bailiwick Theatre.

Skylight's production features Broadway star Robert Cuccioli in the role of Claude Frollo, the archdeacon who takes in the hunchback after he is left on the steps of Notre Dame as an infant. Cuccioli received a Tony Award nomination for his leading role in Broadway's Jekyll & Hyde. The actor playing the title role of Quasimodo will be announced at Skylight's virtual season launch event.

To celebrate the new season, Skylight will have a virtual season announcement featuring highlights of all the shows, special surprise guests, plus a live Q&A with Artistic Director Michael Unger on Wednesday, June 9 at 7 p.m. The event is free, but registration is required at www.skylightmusictheatre.org/RSVP.

Skylight is Milwaukee's professional music theatre company, located at 158 N. Broadway in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward.