Seacoast Repertory Theatre Announces 2012 Season

The Seacoast Repertory Theatre today officially announced its 2012 season. After last year's breakthrough season with new works, regional and world premiers, and Broadway smash hits, this year the theatre is set to bring an even stronger season to the Seacoast. This year's 6 show Main Stage season is filled with farce, suspense, old time favorites with some of Broadway's best known musicals.

The season kicks off with Ain't Misbehavin' (March 23rd-April 15th) with Music by Thomas "Fats" Waller based on an idea by Murray Horowitz and Richard Maltby Jr. The outrageously prodigious comic and musical soul of 1930s Harlem lives on in this rollicking, swinging, finger-snapping revue that is still considered one of Broadway's best. The inimitable Thomas "Fats" Waller rose to international fame during the Golden Age of the Cotton Club, honky tonk dives along Lenox Avenue, rent parties, stride piano players and that jumpin' new beat, Swing. Although not quite a biography, Ain't Misbehavin' evokes the delightful humor and infectious energy of this American original as a versatile cast struts, strums and sings the songs he made famous in a career that ranged from uptown clubs to downtown Tin Pan Alley to Hollywood and concert stages in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

Next up is Alan Ayckbourn's hilarious British farce Things We Do For Love (May 4th-20th).This 1997 play by the much-loved British playwright is arguably his most shockingly and uproariously funny work: a cruel and hilarious masterpiece of tragic comedy and comic tragedy. It is about a woman who begins an affair with her best friend's fiancé, and in classic farce style, craziness ensues.

For the summer, the Rep is pulling out all the stops and bringing in voices of biblical proportions for the classic rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar (June 8th- July 8th) Lyrics by Tim Rice and Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It seems especially fitting that the first rock opera, created as a concept album at the end of the turbulent '60s, should have at its center a social and political rebel. Jesus' meteor-like rise in renown provides, as the title suggests, a parallel to contemporary celebrity worship. As his radical teachings are evermore embraced, Judas increasingly questions the enlightened motives of this new prophet, resulting in betrayal. Christ's final days are dramatized with emotional intensity, thought-provoking edge and explosive theatricality. Propelled by a stirring score, by turns driving and majestic, satirical and tender, the show illuminates the transcendent power of the human spirit with a passion that goes straight to the heart.

Keeping in British farce fashion the Rep will go all out with the Tony Award Winner for Best Musical 2005, Monty Pythons: SPAMALOT! (July 20th- August 26th) Book and Lyrics by Eric Idle. Music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle. Lovingly ripped off from the classic film comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Camelot, this show retells the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table-as only Monty Python can. With a bevy of show girls, cows, killer rabbits, and French people, what's not to love?.

Apropos of the Halloween season the heart pounding suspense play The Woman In Black (Oct. 5-Oct.28th) by Stephen Mallatrat is next up. Adapted from the book by Susan Hill, the framework of this spine-tingler is unusual: a lawyer hires an actor to help him to recount a story that has long troubled him concerning events that transpired when he attended the funeral of an elderly recluse. There he caught sight of the woman in black, the mere mention of whom terrifies the locals, for she is a specter who haunts the neighborhood where her illegitimate child was accidentally killed. Anyone who sees her dies! The lawyer has invited some friends to watch as he and the actor recreate the events of that dark and stormy night. A classic of the genre.

To get everyone in the holiday mood in typical Rep style, FOREVER PLAID: PLAID TIDINGS (Nov. 30th-Dec. 30th) will round out the year. Based on a book by Stuart Ross this is a brand-new show that offers the best of the Rep's hit show Forever Plaid tied-up in a nifty package with a big Christmas bow on top. Filled with Christmas standards that have all been "Plaid-erized," our boys are back to do their Christmas Special. Sprinkled among the Christmas offerings are audience favorites like their riotous three minute and eleven second version of "The Ed Sullivan Show" - this time featuring The Rockettes, the Chipmunks and The Vienna Boys Choir, and a Plaid Caribbean Christmas which puts the "Day-O" in Excelsis! This is one holiday treat that is truly "heaven-sent!"

The Seacoast Repertory Theatre (The Rep) -- the Seacoast's only professional, year-round live theater -- is dedicated to enlightening and entertaining the broadest possible audience through professional Main Stage productions and programs that expose all ages to the experience of live theatre.

The Rep's Main Stage season selections blend musical and drama, the familiar and the classic-to-be, the thought provoking and the just plain fun. In addition to its Main Stage productions, The Rep supports engagement at all age levels through hands-on programming and performances designed to entertain the very young.

The Rep is a vital and collaborative member of the local arts community and a strong supporter of the region's businesses that contribute to the arts through sponsorships, advertising and financial assistance.

http://www.seacoastrep.org/

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