Nassau County's Only Professional Theater Sets Their First Season

Plaza Theatrical's new professional Broadway Division, Plaza AEA Productions, Ltd, the only Long Island theatre dedicated exclusively to the preservation and development of musical theatre and operating under a contract with the actor's equity association will open their new venue located in the 392 seat state-of-the art Elmont Memorial Library Theatre on October 2!

As the curtain rises on Nassau County's only professional theater, audience members will be welcomed with two classic Broadway musicals and two Long Island professional premieres accompanied by full orchestra. "We are excited to welcome a new community of Long Island musical theatre enthusiasts," said Kevin F. Harrington, the executive producer of The Plaza Organization.

The inaugural season will open with the award-winning Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic, South Pacific (October 2-24, 2021), based on James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific. Set during World War II, the plot centers on a young American nurse stationed on a South Pacific island who falls in love with a middle-aged expatriate French plantation owner but struggles to accept his mixed-race children. The issue of racial prejudice is explored throughout the musical's main and secondary plots and is highlighted in the song, "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught".

One of the world's most popular musicals, Man of La Mancha, the "Impossible Dream" musical, based on Cervantes' masterpiece Don Quixote and written by Dale Wasserman with Music by Mitch Leigh and Lyrics by Joe Darion, takes the stage from November 20 to December 12, 2021. The original 1965 production won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Producer Kevin Harrington shared, "This musical holds a special place in my heart. In fact, I have a copy of Picasso's Don Quixote / Sancho painting hanging in my theatre office and when I was in high school, my senior quote was from Cervantes' novel, 'Only he who attempts the absurd is capable of achieving the impossible'. Perhaps those words are fitting with our new venture."

Next, Plaza will be presenting the Long Island premiere of the The Color Purple (March 12-April 3, 2022) based on the novel written by Alice Walker and the Warner Brothers/Amblin Entertainment Motion Picture with a book by Marsha Norman and Music and Lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Brey. "I was surprised to learn that The Color Purple has never had a professional production on Long Island. I was fortune to see both the original production and the 2015 revival which won the Tony for Best Musical Revival". The show, which celebrates the human spirit, is an inspiring family saga that tells the unforgettable story of a woman who, through love, finds the strength to triumph over adversity and discover her unique voice in the world.

The season rounds out with the hilarious 2015 Tony Award nominated musical making its professional theatre debut on Long Island, Something Rotten (May 21-June 12, 2022). Created by Grammy Award-winning songwriter Wayne Kirkpatrick, and successful screenwriters Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell, was hailed by Time Out New York as "the funniest musical comedy in at least 400 years". The plot follows two brothers as they set out to write the world's first musical in this hilarious mash-up of sixteenth-century Shakespeare and twenty-first-century Broadway.

Casting for all productions will be announced at a later date.

Long Island's Original Musical Theatre Festival, to support emerging writers and composers, will run the last week of August 2022.

Season subscription tickets go on sale Tuesday, July 13 while individual and group sale tickets, starting at $49.00, go on sale Monday, July 19 at 10:00 AM. To purchase, call (516) 599-6870 or visit Plaza's new website, which will launch on Tuesday, July 13, www.broadwaylongisland.com!

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