Bristol Riverside Theatre Opens Season With 'Spitfire Grill'

Bristol Riverside Theatre will open its 2008-2009 season with the Philadelphia area premiere of The Spitfire Grill by James Valcq (music and book) and Fred Alley (lyrics). BRT Artistic Director Keith Baker directs this quintessentially American musical, with musical staging by Greg Daniels, and music direction by Mark Yurkanin.  The show begins previews September 23, opens September 25, and closes October 12, 2008. Tickets are $34 – $42 and are available at www.brtstage.org or by calling the Box Office at (215) 785-0100.

The Spitfire Grill tells the journey of Percy, a young vagabond who decides to start a new life in the rural Wisconsin town of Gilead, a place she has seen only in a picture she carries. There she finds a home and acceptance with Hannah, long time owner and operator of the lonely and broKen Down restaurant of the quiet town, the Spitfire Grill.  As Percy works her own world into balance, she is joyously revived by the quiet town, which in turn is revived as well.

With a rousing American folk and bluegrass score and a poignant portrayal of small town existence, The Spitfire Grill warms the heart of any wanderer and all those who yearn for and cherish home.  The New Yorker called the play “touching and memorable,” and The New York Times described it as “a complete work of theatrical resourcefulness.  It is penetrated by honesty and it glows.”

“The Spitfire Grill has an uplifting and inspiring quality to it,” says Baker.  “Spitfire offers a very inviting welcome to our season that will later in the year take audiences in new directions with a brand new treatment of Twelfth Night, a regional premiere play and a beautiful but lesser known musical, A Man of No Importance.  Spitfire has all the elements I look for; evocative and memorable music and a completely compelling story that is both funny, touching and yet very dramatic.  It offers a piece of American realism with characters that we can all easily relate to and ultimately is a story of redemption and second chances.”

BRT’s cast stars Erin Mosher as Percy Talbott.  Mosher was most recently seen this summer at BRT in Come Rain or Come Shine and Broadway Baby, both part of the theatre’s popular Summer Musicales series. The cast also features Jason Dula as Sheriff Joe Sutter, Diane J. Findlay – who also appeared in BRT’s I Married Wyatt Earp – as Hannah Ferguson, Kristin Maloney as Shelby Thorpe, Robert Smythe – former Artistic Director of Mum Puppettheatre – as The Visitor, Jo Twiss – a Barrymore Award-winning actor who has appeared in numerous BRT productions – as Effy Krayneck, and Paul Woodson as Caleb Thorpe.

The design team includes lighting designer Scott Pinkney who recently designed lighting for Dear World and I Do I Do at BRT among several other productions, set designer Mims Mattair who previously designed BRT’s Woman in Black, and costume designer Linda Bee Stockton who most recently designed Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge at BRT.

With a book and music by James Valcq and lyrics by Fred Alley, The Spitfire Grill debuted at George St. Playhouse, and after a New York workshop, it opened the season at Playwrights Horizons.  The musical is based on the 1996 movie of the same name by Lee David Zlotoff.

Valcq and Alley had been friends since high school music camp in 1980, but it wasn’t until 1994 that they collaborated on The Passage for Alley’s American Folklore Theatre in Wisconsin. New York-based Valcq was seeking a follow-up project for the pair after his Zombies from The Beyond closed Off-Broadway in 1995. Their goal was to create a piece of populist theatre with elements of myth and folktale. Upon seeing the film The Spitfire Grill, they had found their vehicle.

SUBSCRIPTIONS & TICKETS
Bristol Riverside Theatre is located at 120 Radcliffe Street in Bristol, PA.  2008-2009 Season subscriptions and individual tickets are available by calling the BRT Box Office at (215) 785-0100 or online at www.BRTstage.org.  Subscriptions range from $99 - $125 for adults and $50 for students.

About Bristol Riverside Theatre
Since 1986, BRT has brought consistently acclaimed professional theatre to Bucks County and maintained a long-term commitment to finding and developing new plays. The theatre is the recipient of over 50 Barrymore Award nominations for Excellence in Theatre, given annually by the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. In addition to its mainstage productions, the theatre serves as a cultural hub for the community, with such programs as children's theatre, community concerts and exhibitions of local visual arts.  Currently under the direction of Artistic Director Keith Baker and Founding Producing Director Susan D. Atkinson, BRT enters its 22nd season