The award-winning Musical Theatre Guild, a company of professional performers who present concert-staged readings of seldom seen musicals, will continue its 14th season with the Jule Styne/Comden & Green musical: FADE OUT - FADE IN. The opening performance will take place on Monday, November 9, 2009 at 7:30 PM at the historic Alex Theatre in Glendale. A second and final performance will occur on Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 3:00 PM at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, Bank of America Performing Arts Center's Scherr Forum.
Comden and Green, who tackled the problems Hollywood players faced in the 1920's with the classic "Singin' In The Rain", teamed with composer
Jule Styne and moved up a decade to the 1930's with the hysterically funny 1964 Broadway musical FADE OUT - FADE IN. Originally staring
Carol Burnett as Hope Springfield, a chorus girl full of hope but not much talent, the show spoofs some of the great film stars of the era, such as
Shirley Temple and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. This rarely produced musical was last seen in Los Angeles 25 years ago.
In the Burnett role is Broadway veteran
Beth Malone with
Dan Callaway,
Damon Kirsche,
Paul Keith,
Michael Kostroff and
Jeffrey Polk also in leading roles. Rounding out the large cast are Chuck Bergman,
Jill Marie Burke, Christopher Carothers,
Robin deLano,
Joe Hart,
David Holmes,
Carol Kline,
Marsha Kramer and
Jeffrey Todd. FADE OUT - FADE IN will be directed by
Lewis Wilkenfeld with musical direction by
Dean Mora, choreography by Cheryl Baxter and is produced for MTG by
Karen Culliver and
Michael G. Hawkins.
The Alex Theatre is located at 216 North Brand Blvd. in Glendale. Tickets are available at the Alex Theatre box office, or by calling 818-243-ALEX. The Scherr Forum at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, Bank of America Performing Arts Center is located at 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd. in Thousand Oaks. Tickets to this venue are available by calling Ticketmaster at 805-583-8700, online at
www.ticketmaster.com or by visiting a Ticketmaster outlet.
The Musical
Theatre Guild 2009-2010 season continues with: HIGH SPIRITS (February 22, 2010) and IRMA LA DOUCE (April 18 & 25, 2010); and concludes with a special event in conjunction with the Ring Festival LA, DAS BARBECÜ (June 14, 2010).
Call 818-848-6844 or visit
www.musicaltheatreguild.com for complete schedule and venue information.
