Temple Theaters to Host Staged Readings of LUCKY GUY, 1/22-24

Temple Theaters, with support from the George and Joy Abbott Center for Musical Theater, presents Lucky Guy: A Staged Reading, January 22-24 in the Randall Theater. Written by Willard Beckham, Lucky Guy is the tale of a singing cowboy who has the chance to become a star. The reading, starring Patrick Bishop and Rebecca Joy, is directed by Maggie Anderson and Dann Dunn, with musical direction by Gina Giachero.

Billy Ray Jackson (Patrick Bishop), a young musician from Oklahoma, heads to Nashville to record his award-winning song and soon encounters Jeannie Jeannine (Rebecca Joy), the Queen of Country Music, who schemes to steal his song in order to revitalize her fading career. Full of a lovable cast of characters, this colorful retro fantasy world features a quartet of buckaroos, a choir of heavenly angels and wigs that magically sing. With an array of musical styles, from country and Broadway to vaudeville and bluegrass, Lucky Guy weaves a tale of down-home dreamers and low-down schemers all willing to do whatever it takes.

Lucky Guy made its New York debut at the Little Shubert Theatre, under the direction of author Willard Beckham. Lucky Guy was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off Broadway Musical and received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Costume Design for William Ivey Long.

Willard Beckham is a native of Hominy, Oklahoma and received a special commendation for the inaugural production of Lucky Guy from his home state. A graduate of The Cleveland Institute of Music, Beckham made his professional operatic debut in The Marriage of Figaro with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Levine. He has appeared in Broadway's Lorelei, Something's Afoot (Geoffrey) and The Utter Glory of Morrisey Hall (Richard Tidewell).

Temple Theaters season continues this spring with William Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona, directed by James J. Christy, running February 3 - 14, 2016 in the Tomlinson Theater; The Odyssey adapted by Mary Zimmerman, March 16 - 26, 2016 and Godspell, April 13 - 24, 2016. Located on the northern edge of the Avenue of the Arts, Temple Theaters, the production program of the Department of Theater, has established itself as one of the finest nationally-ranked theater training programs in the nation.

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