Steve Martin's METEOR SHOWER, SMART PEOPLE & More Set for Long Wharf Theatre's 2016-17 Season
By: Tyler Peterson Apr. 18, 2016
Long Wharf Theatre announces its 52nd season: a mix of new plays, a world premiere musical, a contemporary comedy, and a classic.
Iconic writer and comedian Steve Martin has become a true friend to Long Wharf Theatre. His plays Picasso at the Lapin Agile and The Underpants were met by rave reviews, and his talk with writer Adam Gopnik was a real treat. Long Wharf Theatre will start its season with Martin's newest play, an absurdist comedy titled Meteor Shower, running from September 28-October 23, 2016. "Meteor Shower is in the tradition of Steve Martin's other work - super smart, super silly. It's about how we work out the issues in our marriages," Edelstein said.
The 1980s comedy Other People's Money, set in the era just before corporate malfeasance became the norm, will take place on the Mainstage November 23- December 18, 2016. "It's an entertainment about an attempt to purchase a company by a greedy Wall Street businessman. He uses the wiliest of techniques to acquire a wire and cable company in Rhode Island. It's a prescient piece of theatre, anticipating the corporate takeovers of the 2000s," Edelstein said.
Samuel Beckett's masterpiece Endgame, a theatrical event in its own right, gains further prominence with master actors Brian Dennehy and John Douglas Thompson as the leads. The show will take place January 4-February 5, 2017 on Stage II. "Samuel Beckett is arguably the most influential playwright of the 20th century. Endgame is what famed critic Harold Bloom calls the greatest play of the 20th century. Two men, locked in an existential power struggle, are stuck in a room until the end of time. Brian Dennehy, one of America's great living stage actors, and John Douglas Thompson, another of the nation's finest actors, will battle it out on the Long Wharf stage," Edelstein said.
The theatre will produce, in conjunction with Roundabout Theater Company, the world premiere of Meghan Kennedy's Napoli, Brooklyn in March. Poetic and powerful, the play tells the story of three sisters trying to determine their own places in the world. "Napoli, Brooklyn is about an Italian immigrant family struggling to survive, dealing with the social and cultural pressures. They are learning how to love each other and take care of each other. It's a really truthful look at three daughters as they try to figure out how to live a happy life," Edelstein said.
Lydia Diamond's recent New York hit Smart People will play on Stage II in April. Continuing Long Wharf Theatre's long tradition of engaging with the great questions of our day, Smart People presents four intellectuals navigating the complicated waters of race and gender identity in contemporary America. "Writing with wit, verve, a shrewd eye for portraiture and an equally shrewd ear for the tells and giveaways of invidious racial assumptions, Diamond has created a quartet of complex, flawed, intriguing, and, yes, smart people who register as much more than delivery systems for polemical freight," according to the Boston Globe. "Smart People is an incisive comedy about racial stereotypes and university politics," Edelstein said.
New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik and Academy Award winning composer David Shire unite for the world premiere of Table, a charming new musical about food and family, concluding the 2016-17 season. Featuring an array of lively characters, and a beautiful score, this production marks the culmination of five years' work to bring this delicious new musical to the stage. "Table is a joyful musical about a family trying to survive the restaurant business in contemporary New York City," Edelstein said.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit longwharf.org or call 203-787-4282.
2016-17 Season
Meteor Shower
By Steve Martin
A World Premiere co-production with The Old Globe
Directed by Gordon Edelstein
The Claire Tow Stage in the C. Newton Schenck III Theatre
September 28-October 23, 2016
Corky and Norm are excited to host Gerald and Laura at their home in the valley outside Los Angeles to watch a once-in-a-lifetime meteor shower. But as the stars come out and the conversation gets rolling, it becomes clear that Gerald and Laura might not be all that they appear to be. Over the course of a crazy, starlit dinner party, the wildly unexpected occurs. The couples begin to flirt and insanity reigns. Martin, using his trademark absurdist humor, bends the fluid nature of time and reality to create a surprising and unforgettably funny new play. "(Steve Martin) is 'the most versatile human being there is on our planet as far as show business and making people laugh.'" - comedy legend Carl Reiner
Other People's Money
The Claire Tow Stage in the C. Newton Schenck III Theatre
November 23- December 18, 2016
Larry 'The Liquidator' Garfinkle is a donut-chomping, fast-talking Wall Street takeover artist, and if you are running a business, he's the last person you want to darken your door. When he goes crazy over New England Wire and Cable's undervalued stock, it's up to Kate, a brilliant young lawyer, to stop him from gutting the company. Can she save her hometown's venerable factory from a gleeful corporate shark? Or should she? "Funny, serious, suspenseful, involving, disturbing, and, above all, expertly crafted.... [with] both epic grandeur and intimate titillation." - N.Y. Magazine
Endgame
Directed by Gordon Edelstein
Stage II
January 4-February 5, 2017
Brian Dennehy (Love Letters, Krapp's Last Tape, and Hughie) and John Douglas Thompson (Satchmo at the Waldorf), two of the greatest stage actors of this generation, star in a once in a lifetime theatrical event, performing one of the most influential plays of the 20th century. Endgame, Samuel Beckett's uncompromising masterpiece, explores the biggest question we all face - can love, family, or belief truly give meaning to our lives? Beckett's rich use of language, mordant sense of humor, and courageous worldview combine to weave a spell both humorous and chilling. "That such a dark and unsparing play can leave its audiences so richly rewarded is one of the great mysteries of art." - The Telegraph
Napoli Brooklyn
A World Premiere co-production with The Roundabout Theatre Company
Directed by Gordon Edelstein
The Claire Tow Stage in the C. Newton Schenck III Theatre
February 15-March 12, 2017
1960, Brooklyn. The women of the Muscolino family are desperate to find a life beyond their four walls, hiding dreams, loves, and longings. Francesca, the youngest, yearns for her true love; Jean, confidence and friendship, and Nina, the chance to live the kind of life she pleases. Their mother Anna nurses her own quiet pains. Yet, in the quest for happiness, each of these women fights to find their voices. They struggle to hold on to them, and to each other. Napoli, Brooklyn is a poetic and beautiful play about sisterhood, freedom, and forgiveness.
Smart People
Stage II
March 15-April 9. 2017
Brilliant, hilarious, and incisive, Lydia R. Diamond (adaptor of The Bluest Eye and author of Broadway's Stick Fly) explores the deep questions of race and identity in this controversial and fiercely funny play. On the eve of Obama's first election, four intellectuals - a doctor, an actress, a psychologist, and a neurobiologist studying the human brain's response to racial differences - find themselves entangled in a complex web of social and sexual politics. Everyone wants to be successful, to find love, and to feel as if they've made a positive impact on the world. But what influence does race have on that quest? In the great tradition of Clybourne Park and Disgraced, Smart People asks the questions that don't always get asked in public. "A challenge to complacency ... Smart People (is) a splendid new play about race." - The Boston Globe
Table
Book and Lyrics by Adam Gopnik
Music by David Shire
Directed by Gordon Edelstein
World Premiere
The Claire Tow Stage in the C. Newton Schenck III Theatre
May 3-May 28, 2017
From the brilliant minds of New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik and award-winning composer David Shire (Academy Award winner and multiple Tony and Emmy nominations) comes a joyful new musical about a tiny family restaurant. David Kaplan is a chef's chef, making beautiful, simple food of uncompromising quality in his lovely Union Square restaurant. But in the crowded, cutthroat and expensive Manhattan food scene, is that enough to survive and compete with the next big thing? Enter Sergio, an old friend, rival, and possible savior. This hotshot celebrity chef has offered David the opportunity to makeover his restaurant. Will David sacrifice his pride to save his beloved little restaurant?
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