Uptown Players Announces 2018-2019 Season Lineup - SPRING AWAKENING, ANGELS IN AMERICA, and More
By: Stephi Wild Jul. 09, 2018
Uptown Players, a professional theater group located in the Uptown area of Dallas, has announced its 2018-2019 season at the Kalita Humphreys Theater and Moody Performance Hall. The season will feature the regional premieres of the 2017 Drama Desk nominated musical, The View Upstairs, a new comedy from the writer of NBC's Emmy-nominated hit "This is Us", The Cake, plus the world premiere of a special holiday tribute, A Very Judy Christmas. Also in the season lineup are the hilarious 2016 Broadway musical, Disaster!, and the Tony Award-winning Musical Spring Awakening, which will be presented at Moody Performance Hall. Rounding out its 2018-2019 season is its annual fundraising production, Broadway Our Way, also at Moody Performance Hall and the previously announced production of Angels In America Part Two: Perestroika.
2018-2019 SEASON OVERVIEW
Angels in America Part Two: Perestroika: September 28 - October 7, 2019
As one of the great plays of the 20th century, Angels in America, Perestroika picks up right where Millenium Approaches leaves off, with the epic conclusion of the fate of two couples in which one partner has abandoned the other and God has abandoned Heaven. This award-winning play, by Tony Kushner, explores gay culture, race, political injustice, inequality, and the future of America through the lens of the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. Americans - in the face of crumbling structures and systems are still wrestling with how best to navigate the complexities of hope. This Gay Fantasia on National Themes raises the stakes with characters confronting the real, the ethereal, and themselves, with the conclusion taking place five years after our introduction to these memorable characters. Angels in America Part Two: Perestroika is presented as a special event during Gay History Month and is not available as part of a 2018-2019 season subscription.
A Very Judy Christmas: December 1 - 16, 2018
In this world premiere which pays tribute to the 1960's TV specials, Judy Garland invites us into her home for her Christmas Holiday special. Share the holiday with Judy and some celebrity friends, including Ethel Merman and Liza Minnelli. The show features some of Garland's signature songs, along with many holiday classics as well as several surprise special guests. A Judy Garland Christmas is written and directed by B.J. Cleveland.
Spring Awakening; January 31-February 3, 2019
The winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Spring Awakening is based on the play by Frank Wedekind, and features a book and lyrics by Steven Sater and music by Duncan Sheik. With an electrifying score that swings from folk to rock, Spring Awakening follows the unforgettable journey of a group of students in late 19th century Germany as they move from adolescence into adulthood. Facing both the devastation and the wonder of sexuality and self-discovery, the characters navigate through their coming-of-age despite parents and authority figures who are intent on withholding information and suppressing thought and expression. This landmark musical is an electrifying fusion of morality, sexuality and rock and roll. This limited engagement will run for four performances only at Moody Performance Hall in the Arts District.
Disaster!: March 22 - April 7, 2019
Uptown Players continues its 2018-2019 season with the hilarious 2016 Broadway hit, Disaster!, a musical comedy created by Seth Rudetsky, and written by Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick. It's 1979 and New York's hottest A-listers are lining up for the opening of a floating casino and discotheque. What begins as a night of boogie fever quickly changes to panic as the ship succumbs to multiple disasters including earthquakes, tidal waves and infernos. "Knock on Wood," "Hooked on a Feeling," "Sky High," "I Am Woman" and "Hot Stuff" are just a few of the scintillating hits that will drive you wild in this hilarious side splitting homage to classic disaster movies of the 1970's.
Broadway Our Way: May 10 - 12, 2019
The Uptown Players divas return for another entertaining weekend of Broadway music with plenty of twists, laughs and surprises. The evening features many of your favorite actors from past Uptown Players seasons performing selections from Broadway shows, both past and present, all done with an Uptown Players twist! Our annual fundraiser Broadway Our Way has been moved to the Moody Performance Hall this year due to the strong demand for this event. For the eighth straight year, the show will be written and directed by B. J. Cleveland.
The View Upstairs: June 22 - July 7, 2019
This provocative new musical pulls you inside the UpStairs Lounge, a vibrant '70s gay bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The forgotten community comes to life when a young fashion designer from 2017 buys the abandoned space, setting off an exhilarating journey of seduction and self-exploration that Entertainment Weekly calls "a moving homage to LGBT culture, past and present." The View UpStairs asks what has been gained and lost in the fight for equality, and how the past can help guide all of us through an uncertain future. Glam-rock, gospel and modern pop collide in this smash Off-Broadway hit by Max Vernon!
The Cake: August 9 - 25, 2019
To close its 18th season, Uptown Players will present the regional premiere of Bekka Brunstetter's new comedy, The Cake. Della's North Carolina bakery is legendary! She is overjoyed when her best friend's daughter returns from New York to get married and asks Della to make her wedding cake. Della, a sweet-natured Christian, is forced to re-examine her deeply-held beliefs and her own marriage when she realizes there is not one bride, but two. Faith, family, and frosting collide in this delicious new comedy from the writer of the NBC hit series, "This is Us".
Individual ticket prices for all shows range from $25 to $60. Performances of Angels In America Part Two: Perestroika, A Judy Garland Christmas, Disaster!, The View Upstairs, and The Cake take place at the Kalita Humphreys Theater, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd at Blackburn. Performances of Spring Awakening and Broadway Our Way take place at Moody Performance Hall, 2520 Flora Street. Performances generally take place Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Four, five, or six show season ticket flex packages are available and include great discounts on both premium and regular seating. Season tickets can be purchased online beginning Tuesday, July 3rd at www.uptownplayers.org or by phone at 214-219-2718.
Uptown Players is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, presenting plays and musicals that challenge audiences artistically and create greater positive public awareness and acceptance through the performing arts. The 2018-2019 season will be its eighteenth season and its tenth season at the Kalita Humphreys Theater. Uptown Players is one of the leading regional theaters in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and is providing an opportunity for a wide diversity of gender styles to come together and explore life choices through great theatre themes such as relationships, family, prejudice, and values. The response from the community and critics has been remarkable, including over 25 Leon Rabin Awards from the Dallas Theatre League, and over 25 Theater Critics Forum Awards. Uptown Players has also been named the best theatre company by the Dallas Voice Readers and by the Dallas Observer and has been featured in D Magazine and on WFAA's Daybreak and Good Morning Texas programs.
Uptown Players has presented several world premieres, including Redesigning Women (2013), Crazy Just Like Me (2011) and the stage adaptation of The Valley of the Dolls (2007), along with the United States premieres of the West End hit musical Soho Cinders (2014), and the Pet Shop Boys Musical Closer to Heaven (2010). Uptown Players was the first regional theater in the United States to present the Tony Award Winner The Boy from Oz and the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning musical Next to Normal, following the closing of the Broadway productions. Each season, Uptown Players presents several regional premieres, including recent productions of The Legend of Georgia McBride, It Shoulda Been You, End of the Rainbow, The Nance, The Toxic Avenger, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, and The Producers.
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