Cumberland County Playhouse and its producing partner The SCOPES FESTIVAL, in Dayton, TN, have added three more performances of FRONT PAGE NEWS, the newly adapted, historically accurate play with music, opening Friday July 18 in the historic "monkey trial" courtroom in Dayton's Rhea County Courthouse. Additional shows of the new work are on Saturday, July 26 at 2:30 and 7:30pm, and the final show on Sunday, July 27 at 2:30 pm (All times are EDT). "Tickets for opening weekend are going fast, with a few good seats still open, especially on Saturday night at 7:30" says MainStreet Dayton director Anna Tromanhouser of the Festival Committee. "But call now!"
FRONT PAGE NEWS is sponsored by the City of Dayton and Rhea County, with support from the Tennessee Arts Commission, and additional funding from First Bank and Life Care Center of Rhea County. With such support and strong ticket sales, plus a new and growing audience, the Playhouse/Festival collaboration is expected to continue in future years.
The show has been adapted and directed for 2014 by the Playhouse's
Jim Crabtree, with new music and lyrics by Grammy-nominated songwriter
Bobby Taylor of Crossville and Nashville, from the original 2013 script by Elizabethton playwright Deborah DeGeorge Harbin. It is a flagship event of the 2014 Scopes Festival on the Courthouse Square in Dayton, July 18-20, which features outdoor music, crafts, vendors, authors of trial history, and more. The show itself will now play an additional weekend.
"We're excited by the great response to our partnership with Cumberland County Playhouse," said Festival Chairman Tom Davis. "With nearly 80% of all tickets sold in advance for opening weekend, we're pleased to offer three more show on July26-27. But call now!"
For tickets for FRONT PAGE NEWS, and for other shows at Cumberland County Playhouse in Crossville, call the CCP box office (931-484-5000) or online at
www.ccplayhouse.com All seats are reserved, at $24, $18 and $12, with discounts for groups, seniors, kids and students. Currently running in CCP's two Crossville theaters are SHREK THE MUSICAL (sponsored by Comfort Suites, Holiday Inn Express, Hampton Inn & Gernt/Grange Insurance), SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN in its 21st CCP season (sponsored by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store). ALSO OPENING July 18th the classic Broadway musical GYPSY (sponsored by Dirk C. Davidson, M.D./Tennessee Plateau Oncology and Fairfield Glade Resort), starring Playhouse headliner
Weslie Webster as Rose, with
Jason Ross as long-suffering suitor Herbie. DeAnna Etchison, of Maryville and Cookeville, debuts in a major role as daughter Louise, who becomes showbiz icon (TV, movies, theater, and burlesque)
Gypsy Rose Lee. The story, based on Louise's Bestselling 1950'S autobiography, takes place as "Gypsy" and sister June (Havoc) grow up on 1920s-'30's era's dying vaudeville circuits, and then (by accident) in burlesque, where Gypsy became a star, then a movie and theater star, by "promising the audience a lot, and giving them very little" -- a style of ladylike, nice-girl burlesque she originated (with much more tease than strip) turned into star turns on Broadway and at the 1939 New York World's Fair--- and which means the Playhouse production is rated PG!
Discounts are available for purchases of more than one production at a time---including CCP's upcoming October-November production of the Broadway and Hollywood fictionalization of the Scopes Trial, INHERIT THE WIND (co-sponsored by Dr. Stanley Bise, M.D. and Dr. Anthony Wilson), which Crabtree also directs, for the fourth time in Crossville and Nashville since 1976. The INHERIT production design is by former Tennessean and current Hollywood TV Art Director Leonard Harman (Leverage, Angel and other shows). For tickets and details please call 931 484 5000 or visit www.ccplayhouse.com.
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