Tickets on Sale for Totem Pole Playhouse's Summer 2017 Season, Featuring DRIVING MISS DAISY and More

Totem Pole Playhouse, Pennsylvania's premiere summer theatre, located in Caledonia State Park between Gettysburg and Chambersburg, PA, has announced that season tickets are now on sale for the theatre's 67th summer season, sponsored by the Franklin County Visitors Bureau.

Opening the subscription season will be Driving Miss Daisy, a Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece delicately depicting racial tensions, the passage of time, and the experience of aging. Emmy Award-winning actress Michael Learned, from television's beloved "The Waltons," will star as elderly Jewish matron Daisy Werthan. Set in mid-century Atlanta, Driving Miss Daisy tells the story of Werthan and her chauffeur, Hoke Coleburn (played by Lance Nichols from HBO's "Treme"). At first, Daisy is none too happy about being forced to rely on a black man to get her from one place to the next. However, Hoke gradually wins her over, and during the 25-year span of the play, the two develop a deep-rooted affection. Michael Bloom, former Artistic Director of the Cleveland Play House, the nation's first regional theatre, and director of last season's Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, will direct the production. Sponsored by F&M Trust, Driving Miss Daisy runs from May 26th through June 11th.

Winner of five Tony Awards, including Best Book and Best Original Score, the new musical The Drowsy Chaperone will be the second show of Totem Pole Playhouse's 2017 season. The musical is a loving send-up of the Jazz Age musical featuring one show-stopping song and dance number after another. With the houselights down, a man in a chair appears on stage and puts on his favorite record: the cast recording of a fictitious 1928 musical. The recording comes to life and The Drowsy Chaperone begins as The Man in the chair looks on. Mix in two lovers on the eve of their wedding, a bumbling best man, a desperate theatre producer, a not-so-bright hostess, two gangsters posing as pastry chefs, and an intoxicated chaperone, and you have the ingredients for an evening of madcap delight. Long-time Totem Pole Musical Director Darren Server will appear on stage as The Man in the chair. Ryan Gibbs, who stage managed last season's musical comedy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, will direct this production, and Christine O'Grady, director and choreographer of last season's Forever Plaid, will provide choreography. Sponsored by Walker, Connor & Spang, LLC, and Richards Orthopaedic Center, the musical is on stage June 16 through July 2.

A celebration of the music of Irving Berlin, I Love a Piano will be the third show of Totem Pole's four-show season. The musical follows the journey of a piano as it moves in and out of American lives from the turn of the century to the present. Along the way, the story comes to vibrant life with over sixty of Irving Berlin's most beloved songs, including classics such as "Blue Skies," "There's No Business Like Show Business," "Puttin' on The Ritz," "Cheek to Cheek," "Always," "How Deep is the Ocean," "Anything You Can Do," "God Bless America," and of course, "I Love a Piano." Alternately heartbreaking and hilarious, rousing and reflective, I Love a Piano is a fitting tribute to the man Jerome Kern famously said had "no place in American music - he is American music." The musical is on stage July 2 through July 23.

Rounding out the four-show season, Totem Pole welcomes the new smash-hit musical Million Dollar Quartet to the stage. Inspired by the famed recording session that brought together Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley for the first and only time, the musical is set on December 4, 1956. In what was one of the greatest jam sessions ever, Million Dollar Quartet brings that December night to life with an irresistible tale of broken promises, secrets, betrayal, and celebrations that is both poignant and funny. Relive the era with an incredible score of rock'n'roll, gospel, R&B and country hits, performed live onstage. Showcased hit songs will include "Blue uede Shoes," "Fever," "Walk the Line," "Sixteen Tons," "Who Do You Love?" "Great Balls of Fire," "Folsom Prison Blues," "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On," "Hound Dog," and more. This unforgettable show, sponsored by Edward Jones and Paul D. Orange Family Medicine, will be on stage July 28-August 20.

Subscription prices for all four shows are $133 for junior subscriptions, ages 5 to 15, and $171 for adult subscriptions. In addition, a FLEX subscription plan will be offered at the same prices whereby subscribers have the flexibility to choose the performance they wish to attend rather than be locked into a set date for each production.

Those interested in subscribing to the season may do so either on line through Totem Pole's website at www.totempoleplayhouse.org or by calling The Playhouse's box office Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at (717) 352-2164. Tickets for single shows will be on sale starting February 7, 2017.