Short North Stage Announces 2014-15 Season - SUNSET BOULEVARD, FUGITIVE SONGS and More

Short North Stage will present its 2014-15 season starting on October 2 with Sunset Boulevard, the musical version of Billy Wilder's Academy Award-winning 1950 movie of the same name. The score by Andrew Lloyd Webber, is considered by many to be one of his finest. The book and lyrics are by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. Sunset Boulevard is a Hollywood legend about a faded 1920s silent-screen star, Norma Desmond, who lives in a decaying mansion on the fabled Los Angeles street. A chance meeting with a down-and-out screenwriter, Joe Gillis, feeds into her dream of writing a film that will be her comeback to the silver screen. Winning Tony Awards on Broadway for Best Musical, Best Book and Score and Best Actress in 1995, Sunset Boulevard opened originally in London starring Patti LuPone and later productions featured such stars as Betty Buckley, Glenn Close, Diahann Caroll and Petula Clark. Actor Hugh Jackman made his first stage splash as Joe Gillis in the Australian production. Performances run from Oct 2-19 on the Garden Theater Main Stage.

Other shows in the season include: Fugitive Songs, a 19-song journey across America is an intimate look at a variety of young men and women who are fleeing some aspect of their lives: a disgruntled Subway sandwich employee, a jilted ex-cheerleader, a pair of Patty Hearst fanatics, a stoner forced to rob a convenience store against his will, and many others. Blending traditional folk music with contemporary pop and gospel, Fugitive Songs offers a new sound for a restless America. Written by Nathan Tysen, who won this year's prestigious Kleban Prize for the most promising musical theater lyricist, and composer Chris Miller, Fugitive Songs will resonate with anyone who's ever been on the run. Performances on the Main Stage at the Garden Theater run from November 13-30..

Short North Stage once again will celebrate the holidays with Songs of the Season, its annual revue featuring Columbus's top musical and dance talent for two acts of seasonal fun and good cheer in The Green Room. Performances will run weekends from December 11-21.

In February the company will open I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers, a hilarious one-woman comedy focused on a private conversation with the late celebrated Hollywood agent Sue Mengers, whose clients for decades were the biggest names in show business: Barbra Streisand, Faye Dunaway, Burt Reynolds, Ali McGraw, Gene Hackman, Cher, Candice Bergen, Ryan O'Neal, Nick Nolte, Mike Nichols, Gore Vidal, Bob Fosse. Starring Bette Midler on Broadway last season, I'll Eat You Last is a delectably schmoozy evening in Menger's glamorous home. With a script by John Logan that the New York Times called "a delectable soufflé," the comedy features Mengers at her best: dropping names, shooting wise-cracks like lethal barbs and offering profanity-laced advice about how to succeed in show business. Performances begin in the Green Room on February 12 and continue through February 22.

The season will close with a 40th Anniversary production of the ground-breaking musical A Chorus Line. Telling the stories of 17 dancers who are auditioning for eight jobs in the chorus of a new musical, A Chorus Line provides a glimpse into the personalities of the performers and the choreographer as they describe their journeys in the theater. Playing more than 6,000 performances, this Pulitzer-Prize-winning musical was Broadway's longest-running show until 1997. Conceived by director-choreographer Michael Bennett, A Chorus Line features a score by Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban and a book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante. It swept the Tony Awards in 1976. Performances begin on April 9 and continue through April 26 on the Main Stage at the Garden Theater.

Ticket prices at the Garden Theater, 1187 N High Street, will vary with the production and stage, but range from $25-$40 for Main Stage productions to $25-30 for The Green Room shows, and $12 for Songs of the Season. Season tickets are available for $89-$149. All tickets are available at www.shortnorthstage.org. For more information call 614-725-4042.