Talley's Folly Takes The Stage At St. Michael's Playhouse 6/30-7/11

The Pulitzer Prize-winning romantic comedy, TALLEY'S FOLLY, is on stage at the Saint Michael's Playhouse, Tuesday, June 30 through Saturday, July 11, directed by Broadway veteran, Kenneth Kimmins. Performances are Tuesday, June 30 through Saturday, July 4, at 8 p.m. each evening, and Saturday, July 4, and Saturday, July 11, at 2 p.m., in the McCarthy Arts Center on the campus of Saint Michael's College.

"This is a superbly romantic play-it is quite simply a valentine," Director Kenneth Kimmins said. "These two people, by themselves, sort through outside pressures and in 90 minutes all of that goes away-it's just wonderfully romantic."

A poignant valentine to improbable love, TALLEY'S FOLLY, performed by impeccable professionals with charm and inspiration, is a heart-warming love story. Set at the Talley family's boathouse on a moonlit 4th of July in 1944, Jewish accountant Matt Freidman takes his one chance to win Sally Talley's heart. What evolves has been deemed "one of the sweetest plays ever written."

Romance is created in TALLEY'S FOLLY by the two players:

John Patrick Hayden (Matt Friedman) appeared on Broadway as Tartuff with the Roundabout Theatre Company, Off-Broadway in Fly at Lincoln Center, and in The Fifth Column at the Mint Theatre. He has appeared in numerous regional Theater Productions, including the Saint Michael's Playhouse productions of Stones in his Pockets, Pirates of Penzance, the Neil Simon Trilogy and others.

Abby Lee (Sally Talley) was a smash hit in the Saint Michael's Playhouse's opening production of Dames at Sea. She appeared in Playhouse productions of Barnum, Into the Woods, Almost Maine, and Moonlight in Magnolias. Her NYC credits include Ma­ria in West Side Story at the Gerald Lynch Theatre, Fan in A Christmas Carol at The McCarter Theatre, and Monday Night's New Voices at The Duplex. She has numerous regional theater credits as well as movie credits, including Confessions of a Shopa­holic, Tryptich, 21 and Wakeup (starring Faye Dunaway).

2009 Editor's Choice by Yankee Magazine

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." The 2008 Playhouse season saw a 50 percent increase in attendance over the past five years, with over 15,000 audience members seeing a show.

Greater Burlington's professional Actors' Equity summer theater brings stellar talent from Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theaters nationwide, "right here in our own backyard!"

"Our company and crew of some 80 professional theater artists bring full-scale custom-produced shows, not one-night touring stops," said Chuck Tobin, Playhouse Producing Artistic Director. 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.

Rest of the season:

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 Loves 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 hilarity 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.

Tickets may be purchased on-line at www.saintmichaelsplayhouse.org (24 hours a day, 7 days a week), by phone (802) 654-2281, 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. Box office hours 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. Single tickets 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-show tickets are $9.

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 .

Photo caption: Abby Lee as Sally Talley and John Patrick Hayden as Matt Friedman

Photo credit: Buff Lindau