Bergen County Players Announce 2012-2013 Season

Long considered one of America's premier community theater groups, Bergen County Players (BCP) is proud to announce for 2012-13 another ambitious, passionate and playful year of audience-pleasing musicals and innovative plays for its 80th consecutive season. From toe-tapping musicals to hilarious comedies to intense dramas, BCP has garnered a reputation for outstanding quality productions at affordable prices. The new season kicks off with one of the most beloved musicals of all time, The Music Man. Winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, BCP's 80th season opener will feature a live orchestra and a cast of over 30.

Tickets for The Music Man and the rest of the 2012-13 season are available online at www.bcplayers.org. Phone messages left at 201-261-4200 will be returned on a regular basis until the box office, located at the Little Firehouse Theatre, 298 Kinderkamack Road in Oradell, NJ, opens on Thursday, August 16th for walk up sales. Discounts are available for groups and students throughout the season, with a special Group Sales Hotline at 201-262-0515 monitored on a continual basis.

With something for everyone, BCP is bringing the best of Broadway to their neighborhood by offering the works of critically acclaimed playwrights such as Neil Simon and Arthur Miller. With a ticket price that's about the same as for a movie, popcorn, and a soda, BCP continues to be committed to the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to experience the artistry and excitement of live theater.

 

ON THE MAINSTAGE
THE MUSIC MAN
Book, Music & Lyrics by Meredith Willson
September 8th – October 6th, 2012
Kicking off our celebratory 80th season is the BCP stage debut of one of the most beloved musicals of all time, described by the NY Times as "American as apple pie and a Fourth of July oration ... a marvelous show, rooted in wholesome and comic tradition." The Music Man revolves around Harold Hill, a traveling salesman and con man who stops in River City, Iowa and convinces the town that forming a boys' brass band will solve all of their problems. Winner of six Tony Awards, this family favorite's amazing score is worth the price of admission alone, including classics such as "76 Trombones", "Trouble", "Gary, Indiana", "The Wells Fargo Wagon" and the romantic standard hit "Till There Was You".

FOOLS
By Neil Simon
October 20th – November 10th, 2012
BCP has presented many of the shows in the Neil Simon catalogue, but Fools is one of the most laugh-out-loud funniest that has never been seen to date. Set in Kulyenchikov, a mythical Ukrainian village of long ago whose residents all live under an evil 200-year-old curse of stupidity, this fairy tale for adults features vintage Simon schtick drawn upon his brilliant use of vaudeville, slapstick, puns and wordplay. "Profoundly funny, entertaining and well off the beaten path!" (Herald-Tribune).

RAPUNZEL
Book by David Crane and Marta Kauffman
Music by Michael Skloff, Lyrics by David Crane and Marta Kauffman
November 24th – December 16th, 2012
While this famous lady with the long tresses has appeared briefly in other BCP family shows, this is her first time as the title character. This witty, tongue-in-cheek retelling of a long-time favorite story gives us a possessive mother who happens to be a witch, a tentative young man who happens to be a prince and a strong-willed but naïve young girl with the longest hair you're ever likely to come across – not to mention a contemporary moral about parent-child relationships which will have young audiences rejoicing. Featuring delightful music, singing and dancing, with book and lyrics by the co-creators of the hit television show Friends, this show will have something for everybody in the family!

THE PRICE
By Arthur Miller
January 12th – February 2nd, 2013
Arthur Miller was one of the premier dramatic playwrights of the 20th century, as proven by this character-driven drama about two estranged brothers who, in the course of selling their deceased father's belongings, find that the price they paid to maintain their illusions about their lives has been more than they are willing to pay. Making its initial appearance on the BCP stage during this landmark 80th season and nominated for a Tony for Best Play of 1968, this classic play of confrontation has been called "scintillating, powerful and moving" by the Telegraph of London.

BEEHIVE, the 60'S MUSICAL
Created by Larry Gallagher
February 16th – March 9th, 2013
A musical about the home for honey-making insects? Hardly! This Off-Broadway hit finds its way to the BCP stage for the first time showcasing its nearly 40 songs that made the 1960s THE decade for female vocalists, ranging from Leslie Gore to Carole King to Tina Turner to The Supremes. This incredibly fun revue is all about the songs, the women singers and how deeply they were influenced by their social and political times. So if your musical tastes run from "My Boyfriend's Back" to "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" to "Proud Mary" and "Respect", don't miss what is sure to be "…a rollicking good time…you'll be singing along in no time!" (St. Louis Magazine).

BETTER LATE
By Larry Gelbart
March 23rd – April 20th, 2013 (no shows on March 29th or March 31st)
The last play by the magnificently clever Larry Gelbart (A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Sly Fox, City of Angels, the movie "Tootsie", TV's "M*A*S*H"), this production is not only new to BCP but to the entire state of New Jersey! Called a "bitingly funny December-December-December romance" (Playbill.com), the play features first husband Julian, who is forced to move in with his ex-wife Nora and her second husband Lee in order to recuperate from a sudden illness. This "breezy entertainment with serious themes explores love, divorce, aging and death with a mature sensibility and a decidedly mainstream comedic tone" (Variety). Mature language.

BOEING, BOEING
By Marc Camoletti
May 4th – June 2nd, 2013 (no shows Memorial Day Weekend, May 24-26)
BCP is known for mounting great comedies, and the first appearance of this hilarious French farce about an American businessman living in Paris who juggles three different "air hostesses" promises to shine on the Little Firehouse stage. Nominated for six Tony Awards in 2008 and winner of Best Revival of a Play, this sex comedy "…is not smutty at all. It's deliciously, deliriously innocent. A masterpiece that levitates low burlesque into high comedy!" (Ben Brantley, NY Times). The final mainstage production of our milestone 80th season makes no promises…except that you'll leave the theater in hysterics!

 

ON THE Second Stage
THE AUTOGRAPH HOUND
By James Prideaux
Saturday, January 26th, 2013 at 2pm
Sunday, January 27th, 2013 at 7pm
A sharply humorous and inventive play which takes a revealing look at a wife who is an obsessive celebrity-chaser, a resentful husband who takes serious action against her compulsion and their young adult daughter who is caught in-between them. "… a frequently funny, if slanderous analysis of the types who haunt stage doors, hotel entrances and Sardi's doorway in search of celebrities' signatures" (Variety).

SING-A-LONG SOUND OF MUSIC
Concept by Steve Bell
Friday, June 21st, 2013 at 8pm
Saturday, June 22nd, 2013 at 8pm
Sunday, June 23rd, 2013 at 2pm
Yes, BCP has previously presented a fully-mounted production of this famous Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, but you've never seen anything like this special version! A compressed one-hour adaptation featuring YOU, the members of the audience, singing the parts of the children while sitting in your seats (or perhaps even up on stage) with the music and lyrics in hand! So be sure to rehearse your "Do-Re-Mi" and bring all the generations of your family to "follow the bouncing ball" for this amazingly fun 80th Season-ending event!

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