Stoneham Theatre Presents PERFECT HARMONY 9/9-10/3

Stoneham Theatre presents Perfect Harmony; conceived and directed by Andrew Grosso; written by Andrew Grosso and The Essentials. Performances run from September 9-October 3: Thurs. (7:30 pm), Fri. (8 pm), Sat. (4 pm & 8 pm), Sun. (2 pm). Tickets: $44-$48 regular admission; senior discounts apply; all student tickets $20. Student/senior discount matinees available. [Rated PG 13; special pay what you can performance on Thurs., September 9.] Stoneham Theatre, 395 Main Street, Stoneham. Wheelchair accessible. For advance tickets and information, visit or call the Box Office at 781-279-2200 (hours Tues.-Sat., 1-6pm) or log onto www.stonehamtheatre.org.

Perfect Harmony is a comedy about the greatest a cappella group in high school singing history, seventeen-time national champions, The Acafellas. It is also about their classmates and female counterpart, perennial runners up, The Ladies in Red. Perfect Harmony exposes the cut-throat competition of glee clubs and the even more cut-throat competition of high school. Through song and story, these students grapple with the weighty issues of truth, love, what constitutes appropriate choreography for the National Championships, and ultimately the true nature of harmony.

Continuing its trajectory as the little show that could, Perfect Harmony comes to Stoneham Theatre after having been workshopped at NYU's Tisch Graduate Acting Studio and then premiered to rave reviews at the 2006 New York International Fringe Festival, with an extended run as part of the 2006 Fringe Encore Series. In 2008, the show moved to NYC's Theatre Row, where it sold out its extended run. After its residency in Stoneham, Perfect Harmony will settle in for an open ended Off-Broadway engagement at 45 Bleecker starting October 9, 2010.

Andrew Grosso, who conceived of and is directing Stoneham Theatre's Perfect Harmony, is the Artistic Director of The Essentials (www.theessentials.org). The show was written by Grosso and developed in collaboration with the previous casts, many of whom created their characters, during a series of loose improvisational interview-based workshops. In 2005, the group, now called The Essentials, was given generous support from NYU Graduate Acting's Studio Tisch Program to finish developing the play. Several of the cast from the Theatre Row production will be involved in the show coming to Stoneham.

Grosso's directing credits include the previous productions of Perfect Harmony, as well as the New York premiere of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying (Chashama and Ohio Theater), Taming of the Shrew (Roundtable Ensemble), Wrong Way Up! with The Niagaras (Belt Theatre), Roberto Aguirre-Sacassa's The Ten Minute Play About Rosemary's Baby (Soho Rep), David Weiner's Purple Hearts (HB Playwrights), Mother (with Emmy Award winners Buck Henry and Holland Taylor (Wild Project)), and the 2001 Fringe Festival's Waiting for Godot (the last play performed at the original East River Amphitheater).

For the Stoneham Theatre production and then on to Off-Broadway, the following New York-based performers will be participating:
The Girls: Kelly McCreary (Broadway: Passing Strange), Kate Morgan Chadwick (National Tour: Grease with Taylor Hicks), Faryl Millet (Regional: Floyd & Clea Under the Western Sky, Video: Fountains of Wayne's Someone to Love with Demetri Martin), Dana Acheson (National Tour: Les Miserables, Off-Broadway: Perfect Harmony, The Shaggs, Dying City), Marie-France Arcilla (Off-Broadway: Shout!, Boston-area: Jesus Christ Superstar).
The Boys: Clayton Apgar (Broadway: Next Fall), David Barlow (performance artist with numerous credits stage and TV), Jarid Faubel (TV: Kings), Kobi Libii (improvisational artist with Off-Broadway and regional theater credits), and Robbie Collier Sublett (Regional: Amadeus, Off-Broadway: Song for New York, Gone Missing, You Better Sit Down (The Civilians)).
Additional Opening Acts (for Stoneham Theatre):
Boston-area a cappella groups will each sing a 20-minute opening act for one of the 20 Perfect Harmony performances.

The artistic team is rounded out by New York-based Alec Duffy (Perfect Harmony original music and arrangements, OBIE Award Winner: Three Pianos, Artistic Director of Hoi Polloi: Three Pianos, The Less We Talk, and The Top Ten People of the Millennium Sing Their Favorite Shubert Lieder), Nick Francone (set designer), Becky Lasky (costume designer), and Brian Jones (lighting designer).

The collaborating writers of The Essentials include: David Barlow (NY credits include Romola and Nijinski and Saved), Jeffrey Binder (Broadway: Mary Poppins, The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Lion King), Autumn Dornfeld (Off-Broadway in The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, on Broadway and national tour she portrayed Elaine in The Graduate), Santino Fontana (Broadway: Billy Elliot, A View from the Bridge, Sunday in the Park with George at Studio 54, and the recent revival of The Fantastiks), Scott Janes, Vayu O'Donnell, Maria Elena Ramirez (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at the Public and Living Out at Second Stage), Jeanine Serralles (Misanthrope at NYTW, three time Drama Desk Nominee), Marina Squerciati (Beauty of the Father and Stage Door at MTC), Margie Stokley (Little Suckers, Superpowers; playwright of Elephant), Noah Weisberg (formerly in South Pacific, Legally Blonde, The Awesome 80's Prom, and Two Gentlemen of Verona), and Blake Whyte.

Stoneham Theatre, a professionally producing regional theatre, is the only company founded within the past ten years ranked by the Boston Business Journal among the area's ten most popular performing arts organization. It is consistently praised by critics and audiences for its superior caliber of production, its connection to the communities it serves and its comfortable atmosphere. Weylin Symes, who is instrumental in bringing Perfect Harmony to this region, serves as the theatre's Producing Artistic Director. Visit www.stonehamtheatre.org

Coming up next in Stoneham Theatre's Season 11:
Turn of the Screw
October 21 - November 7, 2010
[a ghostly duet; written by Jeffrey Hatcher, based on the short story by Henry James; directed by Caitlin Lowans and featuring Molly Schreiber & Ryan Landry.]
Charmed by a handsome man of business, an eager governess is hired to care for his two orphaned wards. His only request: "Never trouble me. Never." As unexpected occurrences turn sinister and ghostly visions intrude, she vows to protect the children at all cost.

Stoneham Theatre is also home to the Atelier Gallery, a satellite gallery of the Griffin Museum of Photography, showcasing fine art photography. For more information on the exhibition schedule, log onto www.griffinmuseum.org/exhibitions_atelier.htm. The Atelier Gallery at Stoneham Theatre is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 1-6 p.m., and one hour before each theater performance. The gallery can be accessed through the theatre's lobby; free and open to all.

 

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