Good Theater Closes 10th Anniversary Season With LITTLE ME, 3/8-4/1

Little Me, the musical comedy by Neil Simon (book), Cy Coleman (music), and Carolyn Leigh (lyrics) will be presented by Good Theater March 7 – April 1 at the St. Lawrence Arts Center. Little Me is directed by Brian P. Allen with musical direction by Victoria Stubbs, leading the three-piece band, and choreography by Tyler Sperry.

Performances for Little Me are as follows: Wednesdays 7:00 ($20), Thursdays 7:00 ($20), Fridays 7:30 ($25), Saturday 7:30 ($30), Sundays 2:00 ($30) with a special added matinee on Saturday March 24, 3:00 ($25). Call 885-5883 for reservations and information. www.goodtheater.com.

Little Me stars Stephen Underwood who plays seven men in the life of one woman. This show was originally written as vehicle for Sid Caesar. Most recently Martin Short played the roles on Broadway in a 1998-1999 revival.

Underwood is joined by Kelly Caufield-Lawson as Younger Belle and Lynne McGhee as Older Belle. Also in the cast of 13 are: Glenn Anderson, Todd Daley, Marie Dittmer, Betsy Melarkey Dunphy, Meredith Lamothe, Jen Means, Erik Moody, John U. Robinson, Andrew Sawyer, and Tyler Sperry. Set design is by Janet Montgomery and Stephen Underwood, costume design is by Justin Cote who also serves as the Production Stage Manager, Iain Odlin designs the lights and Craig Robinson is the assistant technical director and the company photographer.

In Little Me, Belle is relating her story to PatRick Dennis. As Belle recalls her quest for wealth, culture and social position, her house staff helps her enact the story of her life. From her very humble beginnings in Drifters Row through her travels on the S.S. Gigantic to her turn as a "star" in Hollywood, Belle's journey is a hilarious story of rags to riches.

In keeping with the original concept of Little Me, to have one actor play all seven men in Belle's life, director Allen has taken the concept one step further by having all of the actors in the show play multiple characters. "Originally, Little Me was performed on Broadway with a cast of 36 actors! I have shrunk the show to fit the St. Lawrence stage and turned it into a more intimate show with all of the actors taking on many roles."

Allen first employed this concept ten years ago in Good Theater's opening season. Over the years many patrons have admitted that Little Me was their all-time favorite show at Good Theater. "I decided it would be a great tribute to our 10th anniversary to go back to the beginning and give Little Me a whole new production. We've learned a lot in ten years and this seemed like a great way to round out a decade of performing in Portland," said Allen

Little Me opened on Broadway November 17, 1962 and played for 257 performances. It was nominated for 10 Tony Awards including Best Musical. It won for Bob Fosse's choreography. The show has been revived twice on Broadway. Once in 1982 where it was nominated for three Tony Awards and again in 1999 when it received four Tony Award nominations winning for Martin Short as Best Actor in a Musical.

Little Me rounds out the 10th anniversary season at Good Theater that also included Bad Dates, Ancestral Voices, August Osage County, and Next Fall. For the company's 2012-2013 season, Allen has chosen The Grand Manner by A.R. Gurney, Striking 12, a new holiday musical making its Maine premiere, Death by Design by Rob Urbinati in an East Coast premiere, prior to an NYC production, and the world premiere of Underwaterguy written and performance by Stephen Underwood. In addition, the company will bring back Ancestral Voices by A.R. Gurney for additional performances throughout the season.

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