VA's Signature to 'Visit' The Happy Time & 'Spider Woman'

Fans of Kander and Ebb musicals will want to travel to Arlington, VA next season.  The Helen Hayes Award-winning Signature Theatre will present three musicals by the legendary songwriting team during 2007-2008 as part of a Kander and Ebb festival.

As previously announced, The Visit will play its D.C.-area premiere from September 4th through October 14th.  The production will be directed by Frank Galati and will star Chita Rivera (the two previously collaborated on the show during The Visit's world premiere at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago).  Tony Award-winner Ann Reinking will choreograph The Visit, which is based on the psychological drama by Friedrich Durenmatt.  The show will play the MAX at Signature's new two-theatre complex.

In addition to The Visit, Kiss of the Spider Woman and The Happy Time will be presented.  The former musical, based on the novel by Manuel Puig, features music by Kander, lyrics by Ebb and a book by Terrence McNally.  The 1993 show, which concerns the relationship between two prison inmates during a repressive period in Argentina's history, will be performed at the MAX.  The 1968 musical The Happy Time features a score by Kander and Ebb and a book by N. Richard Nash (based on the play by Samuel Taylor and the book by Robert Fontaine).  The musical - a nostalgic tale set in French Canada- follows the coming of age of a teenage boy, who idolizes his photographer uncle.  The Happy Time will run at the smaller ARK.

No dates or casting have been announced for productions of Kiss of the Spider Woman and The Happy Time.  There will also be cabaret performances during the festival (more information will be announced).

The songwriting partnership of John Kander and Fred Ebb (who died on September 11th, 2004) marked one of the most successful and enduring collaborations in Broadway history. Together, they penned Flora, the Red Menace, Cabaret (their first major hit), The Happy Time, Zorba, 70, Girls, 70, Chicago, The Act, Woman of the Year, The Rink, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and Steel Pier, as well as The Visit (which was presented at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago but has yet to see Broadway). They also wrote the scores for films and TV specials such as New York, New York, Funny Lady and "Liza with a Z."

Curtains, with a score by Kander and Ebb and a book by Rupert Holmes, is a musical comedy murder mystery currently in previews on Broadway.  All About Us, based on Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth, will receive a starry production at Westport Country Playhouse this April.

Visit www.signature-theatre.org for more information.

Photo of Chita Rivera by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.