Saint Michael's Playhouse Announces Summer 2009 Season, 2 Musicals & 2 Comedies

Now in its 62nd year, Saint Michael's Playhouse launches its summer 2009 season with two musicals and two comedies, directed, performed and designed by stellar talent from Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theaters nationwide, "right here in our own backyard!" The professional Actors' Equity theater company runs June 16 to August 8, presenting Dames at Sea, Talley's Folly, How the Other Half Loves and Breaking Up Is Hard To Do. Performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. each evening and 2 p.m. on Saturdays on the stage of the McCarthy Arts Center on the campus of Saint Michael's College.

2009 Playhouse Company members have Broadway credits, that include Mamma Mia!, The Music Man, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Company, Hizzoner!, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Tartuffe, Les Miserable, Cats, and Peter Pan.

The Saint Michael's Playhouse was selected as a 2009 Editors' Choice by Yankee Magazine Travel Guide making it "one of the top must-see attractions in New England," and it is coming off a highly successful 2008 season that saw a 50 percent increase in attendance over the past five years, with over 16,000 audience members seeing a show in the 2008 season, according to Chuck Tobin, Playhouse Producing Artistic Director.

In recent years critics have praised Playhouse producations: "A powerful production of a complex musical!" -North Country Public Radio; "A most entertaining evening at the theater!" -Times Argus; "Just plain terrific" -North Country Public Radio; "Vibrant and nearly explosive!" -Burlington Free Press; "Outstanding ... the audience roared!" -Times Argus; "Splendid ensemble!" -Shelburne News.

"Our company and crew of some 80 professional theater artists bring full-scale custom-produced shows, not one-night touring stops," said Producer Chuck Tobin. This past theater season the Saint Michael's Playhouse was named ‘one of the best regional theater companies in America' by the New York City Drama League, and is now a member of the distinguished Theater Excellence in America Program.

"Our excellent creative team has catapulted us into the national spotlight, with our New York-quality productions right here in Vermont," Tobin said, in announcing the four shows of the 2009 summer season:

June 17 - 27, DAMES AT SEA, the smash hit Off-Broadway musical; book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller; music by Jim Wise, directed and choreographed by New York Director Keith Andrews. "Music! Lights! Curtain! Enter Ruby, a small-town girl from Utah, fresh off the bus in New York City with only a pair of tap shoes in her suitcase. Ruby falls in love, saves a Broadway show, and catapults to stardom in just 24 hours. A high energy family-friendly musical send-up of 1930s Hollywood musicals.

June 30 - July 11, TALLEY'S FOLLY, Pulitzer Prize-winning romantic comedy by Lanford Wilson, directed by Kenneth Kimmins, famed Broadway and TV actor. A charming romantic comedy set on July 4th, 1944, when Jewish accountant Matt Freidman takes his one chance to win Sally Talley's heart. The couple tip-toes towards love, first confronting her family's bigotry in a play considered by many to be one of the sweetest ever written.

July 14 - 25, HOW THE OTHER HALF LOVES, "Brilliantly crafted and ingeniously funny," written by Alan Ayckbourn, directed by John Going, highly acclaimed Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theater director. A four time Helen Hayes nominee, Mr. Going won the Outstanding Director award for The Miser at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C. He is an officer on the Board of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. How the Other Half is set in Beatles-era London of 1969, where three mild-mannered couples face domestic chaos as only a British farce can produce. Complications and hilarty ensue during dinner parties shown at once in separate houses. A hilarious look at the swingin' 60s.

July 28 - August 8, BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO, "a joyous dollop of 60s nostalgia," book by Erik Jackson and Ben H. Winters, music by Neil Sedaka; lyrics by Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield and Cody Philip; directed and choreographed by Keith Andrews. A block-buster musical full of Neil Sedaka's best songs in a light-hearted tale of mistaken identity, friendship and love. A retro feel-good musical set in a more innocent time at a Catskills resort in 1959.

Season Subscriptions go on sale May 1, and may be purchased on-line at www.saintmichaelsplayhouse.org (24 hours a day, 7 days a week), by phone (802) 654-2617, or in person at the walk-up window at the Playhouse Box Office in the McCarthy Arts Center on the campus of Saint Michael's College. The box office hours, starting May 1, are Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Call (802) 654-2281 to request a Playhouse brochure. Subscribers save 20% off the regular ticket price. Evening series, 4 ticket subscription $108; matinee series, 4 ticket subscription $88. (A subscription to all four shows costs less than one single ticket to a Broadway show in New York.) Single tickets available June 1, evenings $34 per ticket; matinees $28 per ticket.

PLAYHOUSE JUNIOR: Cinderella, directed by New York actor, director, and theater educator Marc Tumminelli, will be staged Saturday, June 20 at 10 a.m.; Sunday, June 21, at 10 a.m. and 12 noon., and Saturday, June 27, at 10 a.m. Playhouse Junior presents a brand new telling of the timeless fairy tale. A Year with Frog and Toad, also directed by Marc Tumminelli, will be staged Friday, July 3 at 11 a.m.; Sunday, July 5, at 10 a.m. and at 12 noon. Two great friends, the cheerful and popular Frog and the grumpy Toad, wake from hibernation in the spring, plant gardens, swim, rake leaves and go sledding, learning wonderful lessons along the way. All children's show tickets are $9. A Broadway Workshop, with theater professional Playhouse stars, for youngsters ages 9 to 14 will be held Monday, July 6, to Friday, July 10, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. Cost $250. For more information about the Broadway Workshop go to www.thebroadwayworkshop.com.

Saint Michael's Playhouse is Greater Burlington's professional summer theater, celebrating live theater, nationally renowned Equity actors, and a Professional Theater Internship Program for college students in the heart of Northern Vermont's liveliest community. From its humble beginnings in 1947, Saint Michael's Playhouse has blossomed into an eight-week theater season housed in one of Vermont's finest theater venues, Saint Michael's McCarthy Arts Center. As the area's only professional summer theater, Saint Michael's Playhouse features stellar talent from Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theaters nationwide, hiring actors and stage managers who are members of Actor's Equity Association - the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. Each season approximately 15,000 theatergoers experience the unparalleled opportunity to see live, professional New York-caliber theater, produced and presented right here in Vermont. More information is available at www.saintmichaelsplayhouse.org .