The 5th Avenue Musical Theatre Company's high-profile 2006-2007 season will include several touring shows, some classic musicals and one world premiere, Broadway-bound musical--Cry-Baby.
Cry-Baby joins a rapidly growing list of musicals--including
Hairspray, The Wedding Singer and
Princesses--that the 5th Avenue Theatre has helped develop for a Broadway run.
The season will kick off on September 12, 2006 with the national tour of
Bombay Dreams, "a dazzling stage spectacle set amid India's bustling Bollywood film industry," according to press notes. The show, which was originally produced by
Andrew Lloyd Webber and features a score by Bollywood giant
A.R. Rahman (
The Lord of the Rings: The Musical), enjoyed a successful run in London before opening on Broadway in April of 2004. The lavish show "tells the story of a handsome young actor who dreams of fame and romance."
The theatre will next present
Company. "This hilarious and affecting portrayal of five married couples as seen through the eyes of perpetual bachelor Robert explores the joys and pitfalls of love, commitment and relationships...winner of six 1971 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, this landmark show considered by many to have inaugurated the modern era of musical theater." The show will run from October 17th through November 5th.
White Christmas will arrive in time for the holidays, playing from November 28th through December 17th. "The 5th Avenue is one of four theaters in America to produce this classic Christmas movie musical that has never before been adapted for the stage." The show was previously seen in productions in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston. Punctuated by classic Irving Berlin songs, "the fun begins after WWII when two of the hottest song-and-dance men in showbiz team up with a sister act to save their former general's country inn."
The Broadway-bound
Cry-Baby will be seen from February 13th through March 4th, 2007; the show is based upon the Universal Pictures film written and directed by John Waters, who will also participate in the creative process of the musical. Much of the
Hairspray producing team will return, joined by Imagine Entertainment Chairman Brian Grazer. The Tony Award-winning creative team will include the
Hairspray book writers
Mark O'Donnell and
Thomas Meehan as well as Adam Schlesinger (bassist/songwriter for Fountains of Wayne) and David Javerbaum (Emmy Award-winning writer for "The Daily Show"); the latter two will pen the score.
The show is "set in the hysterical high-throttle world of 1954. Eisenhower is President, Rock 'n' Roll is king, and Wade 'Cry-Baby' Walker is the baddest boy in town. His ability to shed one single tear drives all the girls wild especially Allison Vernon-Williams. A rich, beautiful 'square,' Allison finds herself irresistibly drawn to the dreamy juvenile delinquent and his forbidden world of rockabilly music, fast cars and faster women. Will Allison become a high school hellcat to win her man?"
British stage and film legend,
Michael York (
The Three Musketeers, Cabaret, Austin Powers, Logan's Run) will star as King Arthur in a new touring production of Lerner and Loewe's
Camelot. The show "is set in King Arthur's enchanted kingdom Camelot, a place where honor and chivalry reign. When Queen Guenevere falls in love with Sir Lancelot, this idyllic land is placed in jeopardy." The show will run from March 20th through April 8th.
Edward Scissorhands will play Seattle from April 25th through May 13th as part of a limited tour that includes Los Angeles and New York. The new dance musical without words, based on the Tim Burton film, is devised, directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne (
Swan Lake) and New Adventures. It includes music composed, arranged and adapted by Terry Davies based on the original motion picture score by Danny Elfman. "
Edward Scissorhands is a touching and witty gothic fairytale that tells the story of a boy created by an eccentric inventor. With only scissors for hands, Edward must find his place in a strange new suburban world where the well-meaning community struggles to see past his appearance to the innocence and gentleness within."
A new production of
West Side Story, running from May 29th through June 17th, will celebrate the groundbreaking musical's 50th anniversary. A co-production with Spectrum Dance Theatre, the show, with a score by Leonard Bernstein and
Stephen Sondheim and a book by Arthur Laurents, will include a full orchestra and a large cast of nearly 40 actors, singers and dancers. "Two feuding street gangs the Jets and the Sharks are on a collision course in the gritty slums of New York City" as Maria and Tony cross boundaries to fall in love.
For season ticket information, call 206-625-1900, stop by The 5th Avenue Theatre box office at 1308 5th Avenue in downtown Seattle, or visit
www.5thavenue.org.
