Great Expectations at Mill Mountain Theatre Begins Performances February 22

Mill Mountain Theatre is pleased to welcome to the stage a musical version of a Dickens' classic. Edwin Wilson (book and lyrics) and Doug Katsaros (music) have adapted GREAT EXPECTATIONS to create a new musical which will premiere on Mill Mountain Theatre's Trinkle Main Stage on February 22 and continue until March 12, 2006.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS was written at the height of Charles Dickens' power and popularity as a novelist. The Wilson-Katsaros version, which includes 18 musical numbers, features an original approach to the novel not found in previous adaptations. After a series of successful readings in New York and a four-day workshop, the musical was brought to Jere Hodgin, Mill Mountain Theatre's outgoing Producing Artistic Director, who was enthusiastic about having it premiere at MMT and agreed to serve as director.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS is the coming of age story of the orphan Pip who falls in love with the unreachable Estella. In order to win her, he desires to raise himself from a blacksmith's apprentice to a gentleman. When the means to do so miraculously appear, he travels to London with expectations to become a gentleman. In spite of his newfound wealth and position, Estella, ward of the wealthy, eccentric Miss Havisham, remains unreachable. When Pip learns that his mysterious benefactor is none other than a common criminal, whom he aided when he was a child, he realizes that he can no longer accept his support. This signals the end of his financial expectations and a final realization that Estella may forever remain unreachable. Years later, Pip and Estella meet once again; softened by years of hard experience, they both come to realize the deep feelings they have for one another.

Jere Hodgin, who will direct GREAT EXPECTATIONS at Mill Mountain Theatre, has over 30 years experience in professional and academic theatre. He spent the last 19 years as the Producing Artistic Director of Mill Mountain Theatre where he has produced 100+ shows and directed over 40. While in Roanoke, Mr. Hodgin was Roanoke's 1999 Citizen of the Year. Before coming to Mill Mountain Theatre, he was the Artistic Director and Co-Producer at North Carolina's Highland Playhouse. This year, Mr. Hodgin becomes the new Artistic Director for Idaho Repertory Theatre and joins the theatre faculty at the University of Idaho.

The role of Estella will be played by Katie Tomlinson. Ms. Tomlinson has appeared on many New York stages, including the New York Theatre Festival and the New York State Theatre. Some of her favorite roles are Mabel in Pirates of Penzance, and Rosemary in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. She has a Bachelor of Music from New England Conservatory of Music. Jason W. Shuffler, who will portray Pip, spent the past three years touring with Grease and Smokey Joe's Café. Doubling in the roles of Arthur Magwitch and lawyer Jaggers is Ed Sala, who returns to MMT, where he first appeared in Carousel over thirty years ago and most recently appeared in Elvis People and A Wonderful Life. He has since appeared on an off Broadway and at Carnegie Hall, where he performed in All I really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Sala has also appeared on network television including three episodes of "Matlock." Larry French, playing the roles of Wopsle and Trabb, has appeared in many shows in Mill Mountain Theatre, and on Broadway in The Sound of Music, Brigadoon, Pirates of Penzance, and Evita.

Composer, Doug Katsaros, was the orchestrator for The Rocky Horror Show, which recently played on Broadway. He also conducted and arranged Broadway's Footloose for the entire two year run, both in New York and at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. He also starred as Berger in Broadway's revival of Hair and worked as Gower Champion's dance arranger for Rockabye Hamlet. He wrote the Emmy nominated score for the animated hit, "The Tick," soon to be a live action series. He was Elayne Boosler's Musical Director for her SHOWTIME special, and conducted Great Performances on PBS with Peter, Paul & Mary. He was the on-camera Musical Director for VH1's "Stand Up Spotlight," and was the feature of a documentary on TV Nation, as he wrote a "3 note jingle" for comedian Steven Wright. He wrote the network themes for NBC, CBS and TNT. He was also Barry Manilow's big band pianist on the "Larry King Show."

Playwright, Edwin Wilson, was the theatre critic of The Wall Street Journal for twenty-two years. He is the author of the most widely used college theater textbook in the U.S., The Theater Experience, now in its 10th edition, and co-author of two other theater texts, all published by McGraw-Hill. He also edited the volume Shaw on Shakespeare. He has served as president of the New York Drama Critics Circle and several times was on the Tony Nominating Committee and the Pulitzer Prize Drama Jury. Wilson, who has credits as a director and producer as well as a playwright and critic, attended the Yale Drama School where he received the first Doctor of Fine Arts Degree awarded be Yale. He has taught at Yale, Vanderbilt, Hunter College, and the CUNY Graduate Center..

Tickets to GREAT EXPECTATIONS range from $21-$30. Please call the box office for specific times at (540) 342-5740 or check out the website www.millmountain.org.

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