Skylight Music Theatre Sets 2015-16 Season: MY FAIR LADY, PIRATES OF PENZANCE & More

Skylight Music Theatre announces its productions for 2015-2016 season - a celebration of women. Through five incredible theatre productions Skylight will explore the strength, ingenuity, and resilience of women as they passionately fight both internal and external forces of human nature. Artistic Director, Viswa Subbaraman has selected five equally brilliant female directors. "I truly believe these women have unique insights into the stories our female characters have to tell," said Subbaraman.

The five main stage productions are as follows: Tosca directed by Jill Anna Ponasik (September 25 - October 11, 2015), My Fair Lady directed by Dorothy Danner (November 20 - December 27, 2015), Powder Her Face directed by Sandra Bernhard (January 29 - February 14, 2016), Crowns: The Gospel Musical directed by Sheri Williams Pannell (March 4-26, 2016),and Pirates of Penzance directed by Shawna Lucey (May 20 - June 12, 2016).

Skylight will partner with several local organizations that focus on women's issues during the 2015-2016 season. Subbaraman explained, "We perform theatre not just to entertain, but also to open our minds and move our souls. It is with these community partnerships we aim to play an integral role in the vibrant, exciting, and important community of Milwaukee."

TOSCA
September 25 - October 11, 2015 in the Cabot Theatre
Music by Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Luigi Illica
Stage Direction by Jill Anna Ponasik
Music Direction by Viswa Subbaraman

The white-hot drama of an explosive love triangle opens Skylight's new season. A fiery, tempestuous and deeply religious opera singer is trapped between her lover, an aristocratic painter, and the despicable, corrupt chief of police whose lust for her is impossible to ignore. One of opera's most lethal and bloody tales, Tosca will keep you at the edge of your seat as it races toward a dramatic finish.

MY FAIR LADY
November 20 - December 27, 2015 in the Cabot Theatre
Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Music by Frederick Loewe
Stage Direction by Dorothy Danner
Music Direction by William Henry Curry

Professor Henry Higgins loves language. Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle yearns to speak like a lady. Sparks fly when his curiosity and her determination launch a daring social experiment designed to turn a lower class ugly duckling into a high society swan - with unexpected results for both of them. Lerner and Loewe's beloved musical features such unforgettable numbers as I Could Have Danced All Night, The Rain in Spain, and Wouldn't it be Loverly? This charming musical is absolutely the perfect for the whole family!

POWDER HER FACE
January 29 - February 14, 2016 in the Cabot Theatre
Music by Thomas Adès
Libretto by Philip Hensher
Stage Direction by Sandra Bernhard
Music Direction by Viswa Subbaraman
Costumes by Cesar Galindo

Only a notorious seductress like the Duchess Margaret of Argyll could put an entire nation under her spell. Britain's upper crust was scandalized by her tabloid-perfect, can't-look-away divorce in 1963. As intimate details of her sexual proclivities and lurid tales of trysts with famous partners became public, she forever earned herself infamy as "The Dirty Duchess." Based on real-life exploits, this social satire has earned its own notoriety as a groundbreaking chamber opera.

CROWNS: THE GOSPEL MUSICAL
March 4 - 26, 2016 in the Cabot Theatre
Written by Regina Taylor
Adapted from The Book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry
Stage Direction by Sheri Williams Pannell
Music Direction by Darius Smith

Hats (aka Crowns) are everywhere, in exquisite variety. There is a hat for every occasion, from flirting to churchgoing, from baptisms to funerals. When Chicago-born Yolanda goes down South after the death of her brother, she finds strength in the tales of the wise women who surround her - and the powerful rituals connected to their dazzling hats. This jubilant musical fuses Gospel music and rich storytelling with abundant "hattitude" in this rousing coming-of-age tale.

PIRATES OF PENZANCE
May 20 - June 12, 2016 in the Cabot Theatre
Book and Lyrics by W.S. Gilbert
Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan
Stage Direction by Shawna Lucey
Music Direction by Robert Linder

At first glance, Pirates may seem out of place in a season celebrating women, but if you look closely you'll see that the women are pulling all the strings! Join our band of swashbuckling buccaneers, bumbling British Bobbies, frolicsome Victorian maidens, and the delightfully dotty "model of a modern Major General" for a rollicking romp over the rocky coast of Cornwall. No one performs Gilbert & Sullivan like Skylight Music Theatre!

All productions in Skylight's 2015-2016 season will be presented at the Broadway Theatre Center located at 158 N. Broadway (Milwaukee, WI) in the Historic Third Ward. Skylight season subscriptions, which range in price from $58 to $325, go on sale Monday, March 2, 2015. Subscriptions can be purchased by calling the Broadway Theatre Center Box office at (414) 291-7800, Monday through Saturday from noon to 6:00 pm. Subscriptions will also be available online at www.skylightmusictheatre.org. Single tickets will go on sale to the public on July 13, 2015.

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