The new season of Broadway Across America Seattle brings another year of incredible entertainment to The Paramount Theatre in Seattle. The 2006-2007 season will feature seven shows, all of which played on Broadway during the past year, including:
* “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” Aug. 4-12
Based on the popular 1988 film of the same name, “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” centers on two con men living on the French Riviera – the suave and sophisticated Lawrence Jameson, who makes his lavish living by talking rich ladies out of their money; and a small-time crook named Freddy Benson, who swindles women by waking their compassion with fabricated stories about his grandmother’s failing health.
The musical gained 11 Tony Award nominations, including best musical.
* “Sweet Charity” starring Molly Ringwald, Oct. 24-29
“Sweet Charity’s” tuneful score (by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields) features such hits as “Hey, Big Spender,” “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This” and “If My Friends Could See Me Now.” USA Today hailed this new production as “exhilarating” and “a real kick.”
* “All Shook Up” Dec. 12-17
Romance. Rebellion. And rock ‘n’ roll! Combining Elvis Presley songs with a surefire rock ‘n’ roll story, “All Shook Up” tells the romantic tale of how a young girl’s dream comes true when a guitar-playin’ roustabout rides into a square state and turns the town upside down with his hip-swivelin’, lip-curlin’ and sexy song singin’.
* “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” Jan. 9-14, 2007
The first national tour of the Tony Award-winning musical comedy opens in Baltimore in September. In the play, six young people in the throes of puberty, overseen by grown-ups who barely managed to escape childhood themselves, learn that winning isn’t everything and that losing doesn’t necessarily make you a loser. This tuneful, offbeat and at times heartwarming show offers audience members the opportunity (strictly voluntary) to become part of the action as on-stage spellers.
* “Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life” Feb. 27-March 4
Two-time Tony Award winner Chita Rivera is coming to Seattle in a dazzling musical that celebrates her astonishing career, from the years she spent working with such greats as Bernstein, Fosse and Sondheim. And she performs knockout numbers from some of her biggest hits, including “West Side Story,” “Chicago,” “Bye Bye Birdie” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”
* “12 Angry Men” starring Richard Thomas and George Wendt, March 20-25
Twelve jurors. Twelve walks of life. And only two ways to rule: guilty or not guilty. What seems like an open-and-shut murder case becomes a twisted puzzle of prejudice and intrigue. Twelve jurors in a murder trial are corralled in a room for the duration of their deliberation. As prejudices are tested and evidence weighed, the entire jury is forced to look past the show of the courtroom to unearth the shocking truth. Faced with playing the hangmen, these dozen men must first face themselves.
The national tour stars Richard Thomas (an Emmy winner for “The Waltons”) as Juror No. 8.
* “The Light in the Piazza” April 17-29
“The Light in the Piazza” returns to Seattle for a special homecoming engagement. The national tour of the Broadway musical, which was launched in 2003 at the Intiman Theatre, will be directed by the theatre’s artistic director Bartlett Sher. The Broadway production, under the direction of Sher, won six Tony Awards in 2005.
The musical, based on the novella by Elizabeth Spencer, is set in the summer of 1953 and tells the story of a mother and daughter traveling through Italy, the daughter’s romance with a handsome, high-spirited Florentine, and the mother’s determined efforts to keep the two apart.
The Seattle engagement will be co-presented by Broadway Across America Seattle, the Intiman Theatre and the Seattle Theatre Group. This three-organization partnership marks the first time that these local groups have joined forces to bring a Broadway musical to Seattle. The musical will be presented at The Paramount, and will be included on both the 2006-2007 subscription series of Broadway Across America Seattle, and the 2007 season of Intiman Theatre.
* An “encore engagement extra” that can be added to the seven-show base package is “Movin’ Out,” Feb. 13-18.
Time magazine says the show is “so exhilarating and soul-stirring, it practically bursts out of the theatre!” “Movin’ Out” brings 24 Billy Joel classics to electrifying new life as it tells the story of five life-long friends over two turbulent decades. It returns to The Paramount after a sold-out engagement in June 2004.
Season tickets for the seven-show series are $118-$513, on sale now at 888-451-4042 or online at www.broadwayacrossamerica.com.
Tickets to individual productions will go on sale to the general public at a later date.
Joan Marcus photo
Kelli O’Hara and Matthew Morrison in “The Light in the Piazza” on Broadway. The play returns to Seattle next season.
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