Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg to Present THERE GOES THE BRIDE

Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg is proud to present the hit farce, There Goes the Bride, performed with special arrangement with Samuel French Plays, Ltd. All performances will be held at the Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg, 915 S. York Street, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055. Order your tickets at ltmonline.net or by calling the box office at 717-766-0535.

"There Goes the Bride" is set in London at the home of a bride on her wedding day, and takes place just about in real time. Judy Westerbly, the bride, and her mother, Ursula Westerby, are ready to go to the church, and the cars that will take them are waiting, but the father, Timothy Westerby, an advertising executive, is late getting home. And when he does get home, he is so preoccupied by a campaign idea that has just struck him - using 1920s flappers to advertise women's underwear - that he finds it hard to turn his mind to the wedding. The audience can easily understand how he has already managed to mess up many details of the wedding, like forgetting to reserve a hotel room for the groom's parents (they're coming from Australia) or order the flowers. Also delaying the action is the bride's grandfather, who is having trouble with a tight collar button, and the bride's grandmother, who is having trouble with a tight corset.

In the excitement, as people come and go, the father hits his head on a door and loses consciousness. When he comes to, he imagines that the flapper from his advertising campaign, Polly Perkins, is real. Of course the existence of a character that only he and the audience can see opens up all sorts of comic possibilities. Timothy and Polly also indulge in some 1920s dancing.

The bride keeps retreating to her room in tears, the car drivers keep asking when their passengers are going to appear, and even the minister calls from the church. The groom's father, just arrived from Australia, appears at the door in the second act, trying to figure out what's going on. His attempts to introduce some logic to the situation are, of course, thwarted by the frantic attempts of the bride's family to hide the fact that the groom is apparently marrying into a family with a madman at the helm. Since this is a farce, it of course has a happy ending, but just how it plays out will be kept secret here.

Bob Casey has directed this play and Melissa Everett is the Stage Manager. The London Daily Mirror describes the play as, "A fiendishly clever farce that gets madder and funnier as it goes along...Has pace, precision and wit." Evening performances (8:00 PM) include April 24, 25, and May 1, 2, 8, and 9; matinee performances (2:30 PM) are May 3 and 10. For ticket information or to make reservations, please call the box office at 717-766-0535 or visit the website at www.ltmonline.net. All seats are $15.00.

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