New Line Theatre Opens TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 3/3
By: Chris Gibson Mar. 04, 2011
New Line Theatre, "The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre," continues its Twentieth Anniversary Season of provocative, adult, alternative musical theatre with the rock and roll, Shakespearean sex comedy TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, running March 3-26, 2011, at the Washington University South Campus Theatre (formerly CBC High School), 6501 Clayton Road, just east of Big Bend.
With a Latin pop-rock score from the composer of Hair, lyrics by the author of Six Degrees of Separation, and a book (more or less) by the guy who brought us Hamlet, here comes the wacky, rowdy, thoroughly carnal TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. Set in Renaissance Verona and Milan -- or maybe it's New York in 1971 -- composer Galt MacDermot, playwright John Guare, and writer-director Mel Shapiro have taken one of Shakespeare's least produced plays and breathed outrageous, new, cross-dressing life into it. TWO GENTS is a romantic comedy that explores issues of race, gender roles, the politics of war, and the sad reality that most men are pigs. The story tells of lifelong friends Proteus and Valentine who leave their rural hometown of Verona to experience life in the big city of Milan. But the course of true love - or is it just lust? - never did run smooth...
For more info about the show, visit http://www.newlinetheatre.com/twogentspage.html
The New Line cast includes Zachary Allen Farmer (as Proteus), Eeyan Richardson (Valentine), Jeanitta Perkins (Julia), Taylor Pietz (Sylvia), Joel Hackbarth (Launce), Mike Dowdy (Speed), Terrie Carolan (Lucetta), Tom Conway (The Duke), Aaron Allen (Thurio/Antonio), Michael Jones (Eglamour), Kimi Short (Milkmaid), Mara Bollini, Rahamses Galvan, Emily Ivy, and Michelle Sauer. The show is directed by Scott Miller, with choreography by Robin Michelle Berger, scenic design by Todd Schaefer, costume design by Thom Crain, lighting design by Christopher Waller, and a 7-piece rock band led by music director Justin Smolik.
Several members of the company are keeping online blogs chronicling the process of putting this show together, and you can access those blogs at http://www.newlinetheatre.com/blogs.html
Rolling Stone said the score sounds like "walking down the street in El Barrio with all the windows open and a different radio blaring out of each one." Clive Barnes wrote of the original Broadway production in The New York Times, "It has a surge of youth to it, at times an almost carnal intimation of sexuality, and a boisterous sense of love. It is precisely this that the new musical catches and makes its own. The musical also has a strange New York feel to it -- in the music, a mixture of rock, lyricism and Caribbean patter, in Mr. Guare's spare, at times even abrasive lyrics, in the story itself of small-town kids and big-town love. It also has a very New York sense of irreverence. It is a graffito written across a classic play, but the graffito has an insolent sense of style, and the classic play can still be clearly glimpsed underneath." Jack Kroll wrote about the show in Newsweek, "Two Gentlemen of Verona is a rousing delight, a rare example of how to manhandle Shakespeare for his own and the public's good." Brendan Gill wrote in The New Yorker, "At the end of the opening night performance of Two Gentlemen of Verona it seemed likely that nobody would ever consent to leave the theatre -- neither the merry band of marvelous young people onstage nor the audience that stood applauding."
ABOUT NEW LINE THEATRE
New Line Theatre is a professional company dedicated to involving the people of the St. Louis region in the exploration and creation of daring, provocative, socially and politically relevant works of musical theatre. New Line Theatre was created in 1991 at the vanguard of a new wave of nonprofit musical theatre just starting to take hold across the country. New Line has given birth to several world premiere musicals over the years and has brought back to life many shows that did not do well in their original New York productions. Altogether, New Line has produced 59 musicals and 5 concerts of theatre songs since 1991. New Line Theatre was recently given its own entry in the latest edition of the Cambridge Guide to American Theatre. New Line receives funding from the Regional Arts Commission, the Fox Performing Arts Charitable Foundation, and the Missouri Arts Council. For more about New Line, go to www.newlinetheatre.com/contact.html
TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA runs March 3-26, 2011, on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, at 8:00 p.m., at the Washington University South Campus Theatre (formerly CBC High School), 6501 Clayton Road, just east of Big Bend. March 3 is a preview. Tickets are on sale now through all Metrotix outlets, including Macy's stores, the Fox Theatre, the Edison Theatre at Washington University, and select Schnucks stores, or by calling 314-534-1111. This show contains adult content.
HIGH SCHOOL DISCOUNT: New Line has created a new ticket discount for high school students. Any student with a valid school ID can get a $10 ticket at any performance, with the code word for that show, which will be posted on New Line's Facebook page, at http://www.facebook.com/NewLineTheatre
New Line also continues to offer the COLLEGE FREE SEATS, ten seats put aside for every performance, free to anyone with a valid college student ID, one ticket per ID. The Free Seats will be available at the theatre box office, from 7:00 p.m. to 7:55 p.m. on performance nights only.
EDUCATORS DISCOUNT: New Line now offers all currently employed educators half price tickets on any Thursday night, with work ID or other proof of employment. Not valid in connection with other discounts or offers, available only at the door, and subject to availability.
MILITARY DISCOUNT: New Line now offers all active duty military personnel half price tickets on any Thursday night, with ID or other proof of active duty status. Not valid in connection with other discounts or offers, available only at the door, and subject to availability.
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