International City Theatre Presents LOVING REPEATING, 1/21-2/13

International City Theatre kicks off its 2011 "Season of Romantic Adventures" with the West Coast premiere of a musical abouT Loving life, loving thinking, loving making art, and loving love. Loving Repeating: A Musical of Gertrude Stein, adapted from Stein's writings by Tony Award winners Stephen Flaherty and Frank Galati, explores the writer's capricious love affair with language, self expression, and her lifelong companion, Alice B. Toklas. caryn desai [sic] directs and Darryl Archibald is musical director. The limited, four-week engagement runs January 21-Februay 13, with low-priced previews on January 18, 19 and 20.

Stephen Flaherty's distinctive score breaks new ground in musical theater, illuminating Gertrude Stein's world and bringing fresh perspective to her poetic texts. The music evokes diverse spirits of eras past, including Victorian parlor tunes, vaudevillian songs, and even opera, paying homage to Stein's deep love of the way American language perpetually changes to reflect the voices of the people. It's a perplexing, exhilarating, hilarious, and emotionally giddy musical that is as unique as Stein herself. In his author's note, Frank Galati writes thaT Loving Repeating "explores the tender links between the artistic projects of a poetic genius and the loving relationship at the center of her life."

The musical follows Stein from her student days in the late 19th century to the height of her artistic era in Paris as one of the "lost generation," a term she coined referring to those who came of age between the two world wars. She and her celebrated circle of artists, writers, and thinkers, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, T.S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, and her beloved "wife" Alice B. Toklas, changed the way contemporary artists see the world and express themselves.

"This is not your ordinary, linear story," confirms desai. "It's all poetry, words and music. Stein was so fortunate that Alice did everything for her and allowed her to just create, think and write. Her influence on so many well-known artists was profound."

First workshopped at Northwestern University in 2003, Loving Repeating went on to win the 2006 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work (Musical), for the world premiere production at Chicago's MCA Theater, a coproduction with About Face Theatre.

The choreographer for Loving Repeating is Heather Castillo; set design is by Kurt Boetcher; lighting design is by Donna Ruzika; costume design is by Kim DeShazo; sound design is by Joseph "Sloe" Slawinski; hair and wigs are by Anthony Gagliardi; props are by Patty and Gordon Briles; casting is by Michael Donovan Casting; and the stage manager is Pat Loeb.

International City Theatre is Long Beach's Resident Professional Theater at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center and the recipient of the Margaret Harford Award from the Los Angeles Drama Critics' Circle for "Sustained Excellence in Theater." In keeping with ICT's mission to present affordable, quality professional theater that is entertaining, intellectually stimulating and emotionally satisfying, ICT's 2011 "Season of Romantic Adventures" will feature a mix of two musicals: Loving Repeating by Stephen Flaherty and Frank Galati and The Robber Bridegroom by Alfred Uhry and Robert Waldman; and three character-driven comedies: Southern Comforts by Kathleen Clark; The Old Settler by Henry Redwood;  and Private Lives by Noël Coward.

Loving Repeating will run Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays @ 8 pm and Sundays @ 2 pm, January 21 through February 13. Tickets are $37 on Thursdays, and $44 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, except opening night which is $55 and includes a reception with the actors following the performance. Preview performances take place on Tuesday, January 18; Wednesday, January 19; and Thursday, January 20 at 8 pm. Preview tickets are $29.

International City Theatre is located in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center at 300 E. Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach. For reservations and information, call the ICT Box Office at (562) 436-4610 or go to www.InternationalCityTheatre.org.