Pat Sajak, Barrett Foa and More Set for Connecticut Repertory Theatre's Summer Season

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) will present three great musicals in its 2013 Nutmeg Summer Series, June 6 - July 21 in the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre, Storrs. For tickets and information, call 860-486-2113 or visit www.crt.uconn.edu. All performances will be in the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre, Storrs.

The 2013 Nutmeg Summer Series will kick off with Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak, returning from his performance last summer as Felix Ungar in The Odd Couple, to play The Man in the Chair in the hit Broadway musical, The Drowsy Chaperone. He will be joined by Broadway star and popular CRT performer Liz Larsen, who will play The Drowsy Chaperone. Ms. Larsen played one of the Pigeon Sisters in last summer's popular production of The Odd Couple.

The second show of the season will be Stephen Sondheim's irreverent and musically brilliant A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, starring another CRT favorite, Steve Hayes as the wily slave Pseudolus. Steve Hays played the Modern Major General in last summer Pirates of Penzance, and Horton in CRT's 2011 summer production of Seussical the Musical.

The final show of summer will be MerEdith Wilson legendary musical, The Music Man, starring Barrett Foa, who plays Eric Beale in the hit TV series, NCIS: Los Angeles as band uniform salesman and drafty con artist Harold Hill. Barrett Foa will join the townspeople of River City, Iowa in one of America's greatest, most beloved musicals.

The Drowsy Chaperone

June 6 - June 15, 2013

Music and Lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison

Book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar

If you've ever sat in a dark theatre and thought, "Dear Lord in Heaven, please let it be good," then The Drowsy Chaperone is for you! Pat Sajak, host of TV's Wheel of Fortune,returns to Connecticut Repertory Theatre as the fervent musical theatre fan who plays his favorite cast album from the roaring twenties on his record player, which causes the frothy jazz age musical to burst to life around him in his living room. It tells the charming, bubbly, and slightly wacky tale of a brazen Broadway starlet trying to find, and keep, her true love. This five-time Tony Award-winning musical will also star, as "The Drowsy Chaperone," Tony Award nominee Liz Larsen, who CRT audiences loved last year as a Pigeon sister inThe Odd Couple. With one show stopping song and dazzling dance after another, it is no wonder New York Magazine called The Drowsy Chaperone "The Perfect Broadway Musical."

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

June 20 - June 30, 2013

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart

Something familiar, something peculiar, something for everyone: a comedy tonight! is the promise of Broadway's most loved musical farce. Steve Hayes, last season's hilarious Modern Major General in The Pirates of Penzance, will lead the company as the Roman slave who attempts to win his freedom by helping his master woo the pretty girl next door. But the road to romance is never smooth, as our crafty hero dodges a riotous succession of stunning surprises, mistaken identities, wild chases, bawdy humor, and zany characters-all in the pursuit of love and freedom! This fast-paced, witty and irreverent romp features infectious tunes and laugh out loud lyrics by musical theatre legend Stephen Sondheim. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum may be a 50 year-old musical based on 2000 year-old plays, but it remains a breath of fresh comic air, perfect for a summer evening!

The Music Man

July 11 - July 21, 2013

Book, Music and Lyrics by Meredith Willson Story by Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey

We end our summer season with Meredith Willson's timeless Broadway musical classic The Music Man. Starring Barrett Foa, who stars as Eric Beale in the hit TV series NCIS: Los Angeles, as Harold Hill. Full of heart, wit, and oceans of beautiful music, the story opens on the 4th of July, 1912, in River City, Iowa. Oh, there is trouble my friends, right here in River City, and Professor Harold Hill has the antidote-an all-boys marching band. But Marian the Librarian sees through his schemes, at least until she falls in love with the irrepressible con artist and he becomes the one thing he fears the most: a respectable citizen! Overflowing with a parade of tunes including "Goodnight, My Someone," "Gary, Indiana," "Till There Was You" and, of course, "Seventy-Six Trombones," The Music Man is thrillingly and tunefully nostalgic.