Return Engagement of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST With Jade Jones & Evan Ruggiero Announced for Olney Theatre 2022-23 Season

Olney Theatre Center announced its 84th season today, unveiling plans for seven theatrical productions that will serve as the tentpoles for an increasingly diverse slate of cultural offerings. The announcement comes on the heels of the recent news of an $11 million grant from the State of Maryland for Olney's $32 million capital campaign to renovate and expand the art-making and community-gathering infrastructure on the 14-acre campus. The fall will feature Clare Barron's Dance Nation (Sept. 28 - Oct. 30, 2022) finally making its DMV premiere after a Covid-imposed delay. Likewise, Marcia Milgrom Dodge's acclaimed Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Nov. 9, 2022 - Jan. 1, 2023) will return with most of its original cast, including Jade Jones as Belle and Evan Ruggiero as the Beast, to extend a run that was foreshortened by Covid. That production had been gathering national and international attention at the time of its premature closing, with stories running in People Magazine, MSNBC, and others about the ground-breaking casting that allowed the message of the show to resonate more deeply and broadly.

The New Year will bring Cyndi Lauper's Tony Award-winning good time musical Kinky Boots (Feb. 10 - Mar. 19, 2023) directed by Jason King Jones, and a re-envisioned production of Kander and Ebb's The World Goes Round directed Kevin McAllister, and co-produced with Baltimore's Everyman Theatre and ArtsCentric. In the Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab, Jenna Place directs the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of Ali Viterbi's In Every Generation (Mar. 8 - April 9, 2023), the winner of the 2019 National Jewish Play Contest. Also in the Lab is the DMV premiere of Madhuri Shekar's family comedy A Nice Indian Boy (May 24 - Jun. 25, 2023) which puts a South Asian, LGBTQ spin on the "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" setup. The season climaxes with Fela! (Jul. 7 - Aug. 13, 2023) directed by Lili-Anne Brown in the Mainstage, which begins another 2-season agreement with Round House Theatre to co-produce works in each other's spaces. This will be the first professional production of the show about the Afrobeat superstar since the National tour a decade ago. Ink by James Graham (Labour of Love), the other half of the co-production, is slated to open in Round House Theatre's Bethesda space, directed by Olney's Artistic Director Jason Loewith, in the fall of 2023.

The four musicals and three plays form the heart of the Classic Membership season available for patrons to purchase now online or via the box office (301-924-3400). Prices range for new members from $120 - $320 depending on package selection. Olney recently announced an All-Access Membership which can be purchased 3-months at-a-time, and allows unlimited attendance at all Olney Theatre productions, presentations and events during the purchased period. All-Access Memberships covering performances in the months of July, August and September will go on sale in June, along with single tickets. The All-Access memberships include admission to Olney's other programs including the Olney Performance Series (jazz, cabaret, drag and theatre for young audiences), special presentations like the Applause Concert Series, and summer programs like Olney Outdoors, which are scheduled and announced closer to performance dates.

A new addition to this growing slate of add-on programs will be a special Holiday Revue that will run in December 2022 for three weeks in the 1938 Original Theatre. Created by Associate Artistic Director Christopher Youstra and Director of Curated Programs Kevin McAllister, the show will be an inter-cultural celebration of the many traditions observing holidays at that time of year. Performance dates and official titles will be announced soon.

Of course, the most beloved add-on to the Olney season is the annual return to the Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab of Paul Morella's solo performance of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. This will be the 13th edition of the holiday favorite, which has become a family tradition for many of our patrons who return Christmas after Christmas.

Other programs including National Players Tour 73 and special presentations will be announced in the coming weeks.

OLNEY THEATRE CENTER 2022-2023 SEASON AT-A-GLANCE:

PRODUCTIONS

Dance Nation

September 28 - October 30, 2022
Invited press: Sun., Oct. 2 at 1:45 pm
Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab
by Clare Barron
Directed by Jenna Place

Disney's

Beauty and the Beast

November 9, 2022 - January 1, 2023
Invited press: Sat., Nov. 12, 2022 at 8:00 pm

Mainstage

Music by Alan Menken

Lyrics by Howard Ashman & Tim Rice

Book by Linda Woolverton

Directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge

Choreography by Josh Walden

Music Direction by Walter "Bobby" McCoy

Kinky Boots

February 10, 2023 - March 19, 2023
Invited press: Thu., Feb. 16, 2023 at 8:00 pm

Mainstage

Music and Lyrics by Cyndi Lauper

Book by Harvey Fierstein

Based on the Miramax motion picture of the same name, written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth

Music Direction by Chris Youstra

Directed by Jason King Jones

In Every Generation

March 8, 2023 - April 9, 2023

Invited press: Sun., Mar. 12 at 1:45 pm

Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab

by Ali Viterbi

directed by Jenna Place

The World Goes 'Round

April 19, 2023 - May 21, 2023

Invited press: Sat. Apr. 22 at 8:00 pm

Mainstage

Music by John Kander

Lyrics by Fred Ebb

Conceived by Susan Stroman and David Thompson, Scott Ellis

Directed by Kevin McAllister

Music direction by Chris Youstra

A co-production of ArtsCentric, Everyman Theatre and Olney Theatre Center

A Nice Indian Boy

May 24, 2023 - June 25, 2023

Invited press: Sun., May 28, 2023 @ 1:45 pm

Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab

By Madhuri Shekar

Fela!

July 7, 2023 - August 13, 2023

Invited press: July 13, 2023 at 8:00 pm

Mainstage

Music and lyrics by Fela Kuti

Book by Bill T. Jones and Jim Lewis

(Additional music by Aaron Johnson and Jordan McLean)

Directed by Lili-Anne Brown

Co-produced with Round House Theatre

SPECIAL EVENTS

A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas

November 25, 2022 - January 1, 2023

Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab

by Charles Dickens

Adapted and Performed by Paul Morella

Holiday Revue Spectacular
December 14, 2022 - January 1, 2023

1938 Original Theatre

OLNEY PERFORMANCE SERIES

Presented work, including jazz, cabaret, spoken word, theatre for young audiences and drag, selected by Kevin McAllister, Director of Curated Programs, and announced later in the summer.