Cabrillo Music Theatre is thrilled to present the Off-Broadway and Los Angeles smash-hit musical, THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES. THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES opens on Friday, February 4, and plays until Sunday, February 13, at the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.
THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES, a cotton-candy, non-stop musical blast from the past, features your favorite songs from the fifties and sixties! THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES takes you to the 1958 Springfield High School prom where we meet the Wonderettes - Betty Jean,
Cindy Lou, Missy and Suzy, four girls with hopes and dreams as big as their crinoline skirts and voices!
As we learn about their lives and loves, we are treated to the girls performing such classic 50's and 60's songs as "Lollipop," "Dream Lover," "Stupid Cupid," "Lipstick on Your Collar," "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me," "It's My Party," "It's In His Kiss (The Shoop Shoop Song)" and so many more! You've never had this much fun at a prom and you will never forget THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES - a must-take musical trip down memory lane!
Says Cabrillo's President and Chief Executive Officer, Carole W. Nussbaum, "With all the fun Cabrillo audiences had last year with
Roger Bean's THE ANDREWS BROTHERS, bringing THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES, another hilarious Bean creation, was an easy decision." Continues Nussbaum, "With this quartet of multi-talented gals on stage, THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES will be a total blast from the past for the whole family!"
Cabrillo Music Theatre's production will star
Bets Malone and
Beth Malone who created the roles of "Suzy" and "Betty Jean" in the Los Angeles and Off-Broadway productions respectively, as well as Los Angeles theatre and Cabrillo veterans
Misty Cotton (
Happy Days: A NEW MUSICAL) and
Darcie Roberts (THE ANDREWS BROTHERS).
THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES performs February 4th through the 13th and will be directed by creator
Roger Bean.
Janet Miller will choreograph, while
Michael Borth musical directs and leads the Cabrillo Music Theatre Orchestra. The production will be overseen by Cabrillo's Artistic Director
Lewis Wilkenfeld. THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES is perfect entertainment for the entire family, and is recommended for all ages.
ABOUT THE STAFF
Roger Bean (Writer, Director) created and directed the original Los Angeles and off-Broadway productions of The Marvelous Wonderettes. M
R. Bean received two Los Angeles Ovation Award nominations for Best Director of a Musical for both The Marvelous Wonderettes and Winter Wonderettes, and The Marvelous Wonderettes received the 2007 Los Angeles Ovation Award for Best Musical. In New York City The Marvelous Wonderettes received a 2009 Drama League Award nomination for Distinguished Production of a Musical, as well as a Broadway.com Audience Award nomination for Favorite New off-Broadway Musical. M
R. Bean will also direct the national tour of The Marvelous Wonderettes for the upcoming 2010-11 season.
Original cast albums for both Wonderettes shows are now available from PS Classics and LML Music. Other musicals and revues created by M
R. Bean include The Andrews Brothers (seen at Cabrillo last season); Route 66; Why Do Fools Fall In Love?; and the holiday sequel to this show: Winter Wonderettes. M
R. Bean also created the recent long-running Los Angeles hit Life Could Be A Dream, which received the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Production, the LA Weekly Theatre Award for Musical of the Year, and the 2010 Backstage Garland Award for Outstanding Production of the Year. M
R. Bean has had the pleasure of writing and directing for the Milwaukee Repertory Theater,
Laguna Playhouse, Musical
Theatre West, San Jose Rep, Sacramento Music Circus, Oregon Cabaret Theatre, Delaware Theatre Company, and numerous stages in-between. M
R. Bean is currently creating a new musical about the late ‘60s Haight-Ashbury experience entitled Summer of Love, which premieres in April at Musical
Theatre West in Long Beach.
Janet Miller (Choreographer) is a director, choreographer and educator. Her choreography was seen Off-Broadway at
The Westside Theatre in The Marvelous Wonderettes. She received a 2009
Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Choreographer for this production. In 2010, Janet was thrilled to stage her original choreography at Musical
Theatre West/Norris Theatre, (receiving a LA
Stage Alliance 2009/2010 Ovation nomination) Capital Rep in Albany NY, San Jose Rep, Theatre Aspen, and Sacramento Music Circus. Ms. Miller is currently the Resident Director for Phantom Projects Theatre Group housed at the La Mirada Theatre. Janet is the recipient of the 2003 Excellence in Art Award for Drama from the city of Torrance, where she was the Artistic Director/Resident Director for the Torrance Theatre Company for seven years, directing sixteen shows during her tenure. Ms. Miller received a 2003 Choreography Garland, in addition to the 2006 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Choreography for The Marvelous Wonderettes. In 2008, she received a Garland and a LADCC award for choreography for Winter Wonderettes. JM holds a B.A. in musical theatre from CSUN, and an M.A. in theatre from CSULA. She is adjunct faculty at Cerritos College and CSULA. Ms. Miller is a proud member of SDC.
Michael Borth (Musical Director) is excited to be making his debut at Cabrillo Music Theatre, and is happy to be making his fourth trip into the world of the Wonderettes! Michael orchestrated and conducted the Off-Broadway run of the Marvelous Wonderettes, and last year he conducted productions at Sacramento Music Circus and Musical
Theatre West, where he was nominated for an Ovation Award for Musical Direction. Michael has served as conductor for National Tours of Man of La Mancha, The King and I, and The
Will Rogers Follies (starring
Larry Gatlin), and has supervised National Tours of Gypsy and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Favorite projects include Mame (with
Carol Lawrence and
Sally Struthers), All Shook Up (Ovation nomination for musical direction) at Musical
Theatre West, Aida at Music Theatre of Wichita (with
Montego Glover), a workshop of the musical Gidget, written by
Francis Ford Coppola, and a benefit presentation of Follies at the Irvine Barclay Theatre featuring
John Raitt,
Julie Wilson,
Betty Garrett, and members of the original cast
Harvey Evans and
Kurt Peterson. Michael's next project is orchestrating and arranging
Roger Bean's new show, Summer of Love, which will debut at Musical
Theatre West this April.
ABOUT THE CAST
Misty Cotton (Missy) is thrilled to be back on the Cabrillo stage after having been seen in their production of
Happy Days as "Pinky Tuscadero." She's been seen in numerous productions of The Marvelous Wonderettes including Off-Broadway as well as at the Sacramento Music Circus and
Laguna Playhouse productions. She most recently was seen as "Ginger" in 1940's Radio Hour in Redondo Beach at CLOSB. Broadway/National Tours: "Ellen" Miss Saigon, "Eponine" Les Misérables and "Narrator" in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, opposite
Donny Osmond. Some favorites are: "Violet" Side Show (
Colony Theatre-Ovation, Garland and Robby Awards), "Petra" Little Night Music (SCR- LADCC Award, Best Featured Actress), "Cathy" Last Five Years (
Pasadena Playhouse), "Annie" Annie Get Your Gun (CLOSBC), Miss Saigon (Theatre Under The Stars-Houston & CLOSBC), "Percy" Spitfire Grill (
Laguna Playhouse & Utah Shakespearean Festival), "Leonide" Triumph Of Love (ICT & Performance Riverside), "Fay" Anyone Can Whistle, "Nancy" Oliver, "Marta" Company, "Soubrette" Sophisticated Ladies, Macbeth, Johnny Guitar, "Eve/Mama Noah" Children Of Eden, "Lucy" Jekyll And Hyde, "Kate" in
Andrew Lippa's Wild Party (MTG). She has originated roles in two other
Roger Bean productions: "Katy Lane" Honky Tonk Laundry and "Missy" Winter Wonderettes. She can also be heard, along with some of the other gals onstage, on the newly released cast recording of Winter Wonderettes. Misty is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and member of the LA based Musical
Theatre Guild (MTG) and a proud member of Actors Equity.
Bets Malone (Suzy) originated the role of Suzy in not only the first workshop of The Marvelous Wonderettes but was a part of the critically acclaimed Los Angeles production and then traveled with it to the successful New York production and finally recorded the original cast album. All too familiar with the amazing world of
Roger Bean, she has been seen in four of his original musicals and choreographed his Route 66 last season at the
Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. Regionally: "Hodel" Fiddler on the Roof, "Martha" 1776, "Natalie" All Shook Up, "Adelaide" Guys and Dolls, "Annie" Annie Get Your Gun, "Eva" Evita, "Fred" Once Upon a Mattress, "Polly" Crazy for You, "Sally" Me and My Girl, "Hildy" On The Town, and "Eve" Children of Eden - to name a few. She can be seen on the DVD "The Ten Commandments: the Musical" starring
Val Kilmer, and her vocal talents can be heard as Talulah the monkey in "Barbie as the Island Princess," also on DVD.
Beth Malone (Betty Jean) is so excited to work with Cabrillo! She originated the role of "Betty Jean" in the Off-Broadway production of The Marvelous Wonderettes. In New York, Beth was also in the original cast of Bingo! Off-Broadway and played "
June Carter Cash" in Ring of Fire, the Broadway show based on the music of
Johnny Cash. Regionally, Beth played "Helen Hill" in The Breakup Notebook, "Sister Mary Robert" in Sister Act-The Musical and many, many others. Television credits include "Judging Amy", "Reno 911!", TV GUIDE's "What's On", "Wanda Does It", and a couple of flopped pilots. Currently, Beth is working on her solo show,
Beth Malone: So Far.
Darcie Roberts (
Cindy Lou) is happy to return to Cabrillo Music Theatre where she was last seen as "Peggy" in The Andrews Brothers. This marks Darcie's fourth appearance as a "Wonderette" and she loves being back at the prom! Darcie most recently appeared as "Rita" in the new musical Leap of Faith at the
Ahmanson Theatre for
Center Theatre Group. Broadway: "Roberta" Curtains, "Amneris" (stand-by) Aida, Dream, "Polly", "Irene", "Tess" (stand-by) Crazy For You. National Tours: "Millie" Thoroughly Modern Millie, "Lola" Copacabana, Aspects of Love, "Peggy" international tour of 42nd Street. Other L.A.: "Roberta" Curtains (CTG), "Cindy Lou" The Marvelous Wonderettes (Musical
Theatre West; Norris Theatre;
Laguna Playhouse), "Babe" The Pajama Game
(MTW), "Janice" Silk Stockings (MTW), "Peggy" The Andrews Brothers (Ovation Award, MTW). Other New York: On A Clear Day... (
City Center Encores), "Scarlett" The Bubbly Black Girl... (
Playwrights Horizons). Regional: "Eva" Evita, "Fanny" Funny Girl, "Sally" Cabaret, "Cassie" A Chorus Line, "Mother" Ragtime, "Eliza" My Fair Lady, "Lola" Damn Yankees, Smokey Joe's Café, among others. Film: "Every Little Step." Television: "All My Children."
ABOUT THE PRICING AND SCHEDULE
THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES will open on Friday, February 4th, 2011 and run through Sunday, February 13th. Performances are Thursdays at 7:30PM (note this new time), Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm, and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00pm. A post-show discussion with cast, staff and audience will follow the Saturday, February 5th, 2:00pm performance.
Tickets are on sale now and may be purchased at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza Box Office located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks or through any Ticketmaster location or by phone (800) 745-3000. For groups of 10 or more, please call Group Sales, Cabrillo Music Theatre at (805) 497-8613. Ticket prices range from $30-$76. For ticket and theatre information, call (805) 449-ARTS (2787).
CABRILLO MUSIC THEATRE's 2010-2011 season continues with THE PRODUCERS (April 8-17, 2011) and THE SOUND OF MUSIC (July 22-31, 2011).
CABRILLO MUSIC THEATRE performs at the Kavli Theatre, Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, Bank of America Performing Arts Center, at 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.
