TheatreZone to Present I LOVE MY WIFE in April

TheatreZone, a Naples-based professional Equity theatre celebrating its 15th season of Broadway musicals, will present I Love My Wife, April 16-26, 2020. Performances are scheduled for 7:30p.m. on April 16-19 and 23-26; 2:00 p.m. matinee performances will be presented on April 19-20 and 25-26.

"We are happy to bring this production back due to its previous success," said Mark Danni, TheatreZone's Founding Artistic Director. "Furthermore, we encourage potential audience members to purchase tickets sooner rather than later if you're interested in reserving the best seats. Fan favorites such as this will sell out fast, so it's important not to wait."

Well received when TheatreZone staged the production in its fifth season, I Love My Wife is a hilarious 1970's look at relationships and sexuality. A satire of the sexual revolution, this musical takes place on Christmas Eve in suburban Trenton, New Jersey, where two married couples who have been close friends since high school find themselves contemplating a ménage-à-quatre.

"The topic sounds racy, but the show is not," said Danni. "It's more about the comedy and how the couples get to bed than what happens when they get there. I also love that the band are characters in the show and have nine costume changes!"

What is truly innovative about the show is that the musicians are on the stage and melded into the play, where they sing, dress up in fancy clothes and comment on the action, all as kind of a Greek chorus.

The show has wonderful music written by the legendary Tony Award-winning composer Cy Coleman (Sweet Charity, City of Angels). The professional cast includes Billy Sharpe as Alvin, Laura Needle as Cleo, Steven Geyer as Wally, and Carolina Ordonez as Monica

On Thursday, April 22, TheatreZone's Broadway & Happy Hour cabaret-style event will be held from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. The April cabaret will include the following members of I Love My Wife: Billy Sharpe, Laura Needle, Steven Geyer, and Carolina Ordonez. Guests will enjoy wine, prosecco, beer and hors d'oeuvres at a pre-concert reception. Emcee'd by Founding Artistic Director Mark Danni, Broadway & Happy Hour events feature TheatreZone's personable professional actors "out of character" and performing their favorite show tunes while sharing stories about the history of the music and their personal connections to the songs. Broadway & Happy Hour events are open to the public and held "outside the Zone" at the Moorings Park auditorium, 120 Moorings Park Drive. Tickets are $35 each.

In June, TheatreZone will present the world premieres of two new musical productions: Present Perfect: A New Land, A New Song (June 11-14, 2020), and The Feud - Sinatra & Roselli: 2 Guys From Hoboken, The Story & The Music (June 19-21, 2020).

"These two productions are the perfect way to highlight TheatreZone's 15th season of live professional theatre," said Danni.

Present Perfect tells the story of a young Hasidic woman who steps outside the confines of her Brooklyn community and finds herself as much an immigrant in a new land as the recently arrived students she teaches in her New York adult English class. Lives intertwine as each, in their own way, struggles to belong, find love, and succeed in a new country. Present Perfect is a uniquely American story told with a contemporary twist, infectious vitality, and a Latin beat. This project is sponsored in part by the Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council of Arts and Culture and the State of Florida" (Section 286.25, Florida Statutes). Present Perfect will be presented on June 11, 12 and 13 at 7:30, and June 14 at 2:00p.m.

"Nancy Cheser (Present Perfect) and I met 12 years ago through a mutual friend," said Danni. "Her story is loosely autobiographical and very interesting as it actually tells several different immigration stories among the production's various characters."

The Feud is a play based on the 40 plus-year professional and personal relationship between Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Roselli, both great singers who lived on the same block in Hoboken, N.J. Once Sinatra was hired by Harry James, his career skyrocketed, and he became a legend in motion pictures as well as music. Roselli, on the other hand, was a true saloon singer, working in every small nightclub and beer hall for years until he started to achieve success in his early thirties.

"The Feud is a fascinating story with a unique premise, and it features songs everyone will know and enjoy," said Danni. "It's a memory play by Dennis DelleFave, the former road manager for Jimmy Roselli, and it illustrates so many of the different stories and events that he lived through."

The Feud has it all: the great Sinatra songbook, Italian songs which Roselli made famous, and Mob stories about the great nightclubs of the 40's through the 70's. It's the "Raging Bull" of the world of stage. The Feud will be presented on June 19 and 20 at 7:30, and June 20 and 21 at 2:00p.m.

Tickets for each event are available at http://www.theatre.zone or by calling the box office, 888-966-3352 x1.

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