JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT Set To Open Totem Pole Playhouse's 68th Season

Totem Pole Playhouse, America's beloved summer theatre, located in Caledonia State Park between Gettysburg and Chambersburg, PA, will open its 68th summer season with the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat starring Broadway veteran, Matt Rosell from Les Miserables, as 'Joseph' and Marie Eife as the 'Narrator.'

Twenty local children, students from the Cumberland Valley School of Music, will be prominently featured as the on-stage Children's Choir throughout the production. The production will mark the Playhouse's new program of offering one family-friendly, large-scale Broadway musical for the entire family each season. Totem Pole is offering a special Family 4-Pack of tickets for just $125 that can be purchased by calling the box office directly; there will be no on-line sales for this special promotion. Additional adult tickets may be purchased at $35 for adults and $25 for children (under 15). Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is based on the story of the "coat of many colors" from the Bible's Book of Genesis. It was the first Webber and Rice musical to be performed and its family-friendly story, familiar themes and catchy songs have resulted in over 20,000 productions including a popular video release starring Donny Osmond.

The second production of the season will bring the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Ain't Misbehavin' to the Totem Pole stage for the first time. The musical is a tribute to the black musicians of the 1920s and 1930s who were part of the Harlem Renaissance and takes its title from the 1929 Fats Waller song, "Ain't Misbehavin'." It was a time when Manhattan nightclubs like the Cotton Club and the Savoy Ballroom were the playgrounds of high society with the new beat known as swing. Five performers present an evening of rowdy, raunchy, and humorous songs that encapsulate the various moods of the era and reflect Waller's view of life as a journey meant for pleasure and play.

Actor/musician Jason Cohen, 'Jerry Lee Lewis' in last season's box office smash Million Dollar Quartet, returns in the third offering of the season, Murder for Two. The two-person musical comedy murder mystery co-stars Gavin Rohrer who has also played Jerry Lee in MDQ at the Paramount Theatre in Chicago, the Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, and the ZACH Theatre in Austin, Texas. Murder for Two features both multi-talented actor/musicians together on the Totem Pole stage with Rohrer playing the detective, Cohen playing all of the suspects and both actors playing a "killer" piano. In this hilarious 90-minute show, 2 performers play 13 roles - not to mention the piano - in a witty and winking homage to old-fashioned murder mysteries. Murder for Two is described as the perfect blend of music, mayhem and murder!

The final production in the Playhouse's regular four-show subscription season will be the international smash hit musical Mamma Mia! Over 60 million people have seen the show, which has grossed $2 billion worldwide since its 1999 debut. A film adaptation starring Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan was released in July 2008 with a prequel to that film, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, opening in theaters a week before Totem Pole's stage production. The musical includes such hits as "Super Trouper", "Lay All Your Love on Me", "Dancing Queen", "Knowing Me, Knowing You", "Take a Chance on Me", "Money, Money, Money", "The Winner Takes It All", "SOS" and the title track. The Playhouse's website already lists some performances as sold out, and as with all Totem Pole productions, there is a special discount rate for groups of 10 or more.

Closing out the summer season for one week only will be a "special return engagement" of the stage comedy The Queen of Bingo which first played Totem Pole in 2009 and marked the introduction of Rowan Joseph as an actor to Totem Pole audiences. Joseph became only the fifth Artistic Director in Totem Pole Playhouse's 68-year history, a role he assumed in 2013. The Queen of Bingo explores the perils of Bingo, family bonds, winning, losing, and sibling rivalry. Joseph will once again portray 'Babe', a 52-year old, larger than life, sugar-crazed, bingo fanatic who is joined by her older, svelte, senior citizen sister, 'Sis', played once more by Shane Partlow. Joseph and Partlow are also business partners who competed as a team on the 23rd edition of the CBS television series The Amazing Race. Playing the dual roles of the 'Caller" and 'Father Mac' will be Totem Pole favorite, Paris Peet, who will lead the audiences at every performance in a live bingo game with the winner taking home a 10-pound frozen turkey!

Subscription prices for all four shows range from $133 for junior subscriptions, ages 5 to 15, and $171 for adult subscriptions. Single ticket reserved seat prices for the season are $50.00 for all seats. Totem Pole also offers three low-cost preview performances with all seats half-price, $25.00, with general admission seating. In addition, a 4-play and 3-play FLEX subscription plan will once again be offered at the same prices where subscribers have the flexibility to choose the performance they wish to attend (subject to availability) rather than be locked into a set date for each production.

Tickets for groups of 10 or more are on sale now by calling the Totem Pole Playhouse Box Office Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at (717) 352-2164.

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