The artists of New Line Theatre, "The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre," are very proud to announce the opening of the company's Twentieth Anniversary Season of provocative, adult, alternative musical theatre, with the hilarious Sexual Revolution jazz musical, I LOVE MY WIFE, running Sept. 30-October 23, 2010, at the Washington University South Campus Theatre (formerly CBC High School), 6501 Clayton Road, just east of Big Bend.
I LOVE MY WIFE is an intimate, little four-character concept musical, a naughty, wacky comedy about 1970s-era sex, love, romance, and wife-swapping, all set to a cool jazz score with songs like "Married Couple Seeks Married Couple," "Sexually Free," "By Threes," and the unashamedly romantic "I Love My Wife." It's a snapshot of two couples in 1977, toward the end of the Sexual Revolution, but it's also a character study of our country and our ongoing love-hate relationship with all things carnal. Hair announced the Sexual Revolution in full swing, and The Rocky Horror Show exposed its warts (no pun intended), but I Love My Wife shows us how it ended, not with a bang but with a whimper. The show explores the confusion of the Eisenhower generation -- too old to be hippies and too young to be old fogies -- as these would-be swingers sincerely attempt to try on the counterculture lifestyle, eventually leading all four into the same bed.
I Love My Wife boasts a great jazz score by
Cy Coleman (Sweet Charity, City of Angels, Barnum, The
Will Rogers Follies, The Life), and a smart, sly book and lyrics by
Michael Stewart (Hello, Dolly, Barnum, Mack and Mabel), officially based on the French play Viens Chez-moi, J'Habite Chez une Copine (Come to My Place, I Live with My Girlfriend) by Luis Regio and Didier Kaminka, but the show really takes more (uncredited) inspiration from the iconic 1969 film Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice. For more info about the show, visit http://www.newlinetheatre.com/wifepage.html
The cast of New Line Theatre's production of I Love My Wife includes
Sarah Armstrong (Monica),
Emily Berry (Cleo),
Todd Schaefer (Alvin),
Jeffrey M. Wright (Wally),
Zachary Allen Farmer (Harvey), Troy Turnipseed (Quentin), and Joel Hackbarth (Stanley). The show is directed by
Scott Miller and Alison Helmer, with costumes by Thom Crain, scenic design by
Todd Schaefer, and lighting by
Kenneth Zinkl.
This production is part of the American Arts Experience festival, running October 1-17. More info about the festival is available at http://www.americanartsstl.org
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 was created back in 1991 at the vanguard of a new wave of nonprofit musical theatre just starting to take hold across the country.
Miranda Lundskaer-Nielsen writes in her book Directors and the New Musical Drama, "After the pioneering efforts of theatre such as
The Public Theater and
Playwrights Horizons in New York, the idea of the serious nonprofit musical spread to theatres across America during the 1990s. While these shows met with varying levels of economic and critical success, the very existence of this alternative home for the art form began to redefine the musical, offering an alternative to both the traditional Broadway musical and the new West End shows. As the economics of the commercial theatre became increasingly forbidding, the nonprofit theatre became vital incubators for musical drama and nurtured a new generation of musical theatre writers."
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 58 musicals and 5 concerts of theatre songs since 1991. New Line Theatre was recently given its own entry in the latest edition of the prestigious 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
I Love My Wife runs Sept. 30-Oct. 23, 2010, 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. Sept. 30 is a preview. Tickets are on sale now through Metrotix.com and all Metrotix outlets, including the Fox Theatre Box Office, the Edison Theatre at Washington University, and select Schnucks stores, or by calling 314-534-1111. I Love My Wife 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
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.
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.
For other information, visit New Line Theatre's full-service website at www.newlinetheatre.com. All programs are subject to change.
Photo credit: Jill Ritter Lindberg.
Jeffrey M. Wright, Sarah Armstrong, Emily Berry and Todd Schaefer
Jeffrey M. Wright, Sarah Armstrong, Emily Berry and Todd Schaefer
Jeffrey M. Wright, Sarah Armstrong, Emily Berry and Todd Schaefer
