TheatreZone Opens 9th Season with Webber's WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND, 1/6-16

Naples Equity theatre group TheatreZone opens its ninth season "Year of the Composers" performing Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock musical Whistle Down the Wind with lyrics by Jim Steinman, book by Patricia Knop, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gayle Edwards, directed by Mark Danni, music direction by Charles Fornara and choreography by Karen Molnar. Whistle Down the Wind plays January 6-16, 2014 at the G&L Theatre, 13275 Livingston Road in Naples.

Based on the novel by Mary Hayley Bell, wife of the famous actor Sir John Mills, and mother of actors Hayley and Juliet Mills, and the subsequent Richard Attenborough-produced film, Whistle Down the Wind follows the fortunes of a fugitive caught between the prejudice of adults and the innocence of the young.

The setting has switched from Lancashire to Louisiana in 1959, where the values of church Minister (Stephen Ray), Preacher (Billy Sharpe), authority Sheriff (Michael Freshko) and widowed Father Boone (Jason Law) are faced by the new America of Elvis Presley and James Dean combined with the teenage desire for freedom from the rebellious Candy (the return of American Idol singer and Community School of Naples alumna Paige Miles) and black leather jacket wearing, motorbike-riding boyfriend Amos (Alxander Jon).

Actor Gerritt VanderMeer, who wowed audiences in the dual roles of Dr. Fine/Dr. Madden in last season's Next to Normal, has been cast as The Man. While Swallow and the town's other children vow to protect the stranger from the world that waits outside - the townspeople who are determined to catch a fugitive hiding in their midst. As fantasy and reality collide, Swallow is torn between the two and begins to discover who she is and where she's going. Webber's emotive score combines hauntingly beautiful love songs and explosive rock music.

Equity actress Brigid Kegel has been cast as Swallow, the 17 year-old-girl growing up in America's Deep South, who discovers a mysterious man hiding out in a barn. She is the eldest of three children - Brat (Jessica Daniels) and Poor Baby (Elliot Needle) are the other two - left in the sole care of Boone after their mother died all too young. Swallow is at an impressionable, vulnerable age, missing her mother terribly too, so when she discovers a wounded man in the family farm barn, asks him who he is, and his response - uttered in cursing pain - is "Jesus Christ," maybe she has found the savior to reunite her with her mother.

Additional cast members are LederIan Townsend as Edward; Greg Jensen as Earl plus Dawn Lebrecht, Sharon True, Laura Needle, and Juliet Jewett in the Ensemble.

The production team for Whistle Down the Wind includes Kathleen Kolacz (costume design), Anne Carncross (lighting design), Tim Frank (multimedia/sound design), and Danielle Ranno (stage manager).

Whistle Down The Wind was first conceived as a book of the same title written by Mary Hayley Bell. With a unique and anti-traditionalist slant on childhood, it was both original and risky for its time.

About TheatreZone

Operating under the guidelines of the Actors' Equity Association and small professional theatres contracts, TheatreZone is in residence and performs in the intimate 250-seat G&L Theatre housed on the magnificent campus of The Community School of Naples, one block north of Pine Ridge Road at 13275 Livingston Road.

Season 9 subscriber series (four shows) are available at $182; a semi-season series (3 shows) costs $144 while individual seats costs $43 - $48 plus a $2 per ticket fee. Group rates (more than 10) are available.

To purchase tickets, call TheatreZone at 1-888-ZONE-FLA, 1-888-966-3352; to review seating chart and purchase tickets online , visit www.theatrezone-florida.com.

Pictured: Brigid Kegel