"I did this show two decades ago with these amazing ladies, and when I asked them if they would be willing to reprise their performances. When they said 'yes,' I was thrilled to be able to bring this new production here to MSMT."
Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark is speaking about Maine State Music Theatre's 2019 season opener, the dazzling Duke Ellington revue, SOPHISTICATED LADIES, and its co-stars E. Faye Butler and Felicia P. Fields, who are now playing at Brunswick's Pickard Theater. Butler, Fields, and Jessica A. Lawyer, one of the astounding dancers in the show, have joined Clark and BROADWAY WORLD'S Maine Editor, Carla Maria Verdino-Sullwold, on June 12 at Curtis Memorial Library to discuss the production at the opening panel discussion of the theatre's annual PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN series.
"It's like a first date, " says Christopher Schario, Executive/artistic Director of Lewiston's Public Theatre. "It's a total cross population between our institutions and our audiences," he adds.
Maine State Music Director Curt Dale Clark concurs: "This co-production is helping the arts in both our communities. It's upping the ante and providing more opportunities for people to enjoy live theatre,"
The two artistic heads , together with the leads of the production Tanner Callicutt and Katie Brnjac are chatting with Broadway World about the first-ever collaboration between the two theatres, a new staging of the musical GREASE, performed at The Public Theatre June 18-30, 2019.
"It's the kind of music that makes you feel regal," actress Felicia P. Fields says, describing the genius of Duke Ellington. "The word 'sophistication' isn't used as much today as it was back then. There was an elegance in the period." Fields, who is one of the stars of Maine State Music Theatre's new production of SOPHISTICATED LADIES, which runs at the Pickard Theater from June 5-22, 2019, believes that the production, directed by Marc Robin with three individual choreographers and an eleven piece orchestra perfectly captures the 1920s and 1930s and the big-band era.
So what does a theatre company do to keep its momentum and even up the ante after a 60th anniversary season that broke all records? Why not hire three choreographers, fourteen virtuoso singer-dancers, and an eleven-piece big band orchestra, to mount the largest dance show in its history that celebrates the music of one of America's immortal musical geniuses, Duke Ellington? That is precisely what Maine State Music Theatre has done in its 2019 season opener with its sensational all-singing, all-dancing, visually opulent extravaganza, SOPHISTICATED LADIES, that is currently blowing the roof off the Pickard with its high-octane visceral energy, heady joy, and pure lyrical magic.
The nationally regarded Fulton Theatre is proud to announce the most exciting season in the theatre's 166-year history! The Fulton "Engages Life Through Art" through three distinct series serving over 160,000 patrons through diverse programing reflecting the broad make-up of the Lancaster community and greater region of eastern Pennsylvania. The 2019-2020 season, with three regional premieres, begins September 17 and continues through July 26.
"Felicia and I have a song in our concert, LETTIN' THE GOOD TIMES ROLL, that we wrote. It's called 'That Wasn't Me,' laughs actress E. Faye Butler. It talks about how people will walk up to me and say, 'Felicia, I'm so glad to see you.' And then they do the same thing to Felicia, calling her E. Faye. It makes us laugh!"
Butler is speaking of her close friend and co-star at MSMT this summer, actress Felicia P. Fields, with whom she shares the stage in SOPHISTICATED LADIES and in their joint revue, LETTIN' THE GOOD TIMES ROLL. "We have known each other for thirty-one years on and off stage. We both began our journeys growing up on Chicago's South Side. I am godmother to her daughter; our husbands are good friends. We have gone on vacation and spent holidays together. She is like a sister to me. We can laugh, argue, say I'm sorry, and hug it out. We can finish each other's sentences. Working with Felicia is easy, so it is always a treat to do a show together."
'I love the way Snow White is a strong female character in this version. She doesn't go away with the Prince in the end, and she doesn't feel she owes him anything just because he rescued her. She is written to be a self-aware and smart character,' says Ayanna Stover, who plays the princess in MSMT's Theatre for Young Audiences musical SNOW WHITE.
Maine State Music Theatre launches its 2019 Theatre for Young Audiences series with a fresh, vivid, polished production of Marc Robin and Curt Dale Clark's highly original musical version of SNOW WHITE. The familiar fairytale gets a 'politically correct' overhaul in this iteration - one which despite the fact that it was written more than twenty-five years ago - remains astoundingly innovative and relevantly modern.
Maine State Music Theatre (MSMT) presents Robin and Clark's Snow White. This 50-minute musical version of the fairy tale runs June 12th and June 15th, 2019. There will be performances on both days at 10 am and 1 pm.
Musical Theatre West (MTW) returns to the Carpenter Performing Arts Center with a line-up of West Coast regional premieres, Tony Award -winning classics, and a new family favorite, opening with the West Coast regional theater premiere of Something Rotten! (October 18 November 3, 2019); Ragtime (February 7 - 23, 2020); Mame (March 27 - April 12, 2020); and the West Coast Regional Premiere of Treasure Island (July 10 - 26, 2020).
The nationally regarded Fulton Theatre has announced the most exciting season in the theatre's 166-year history! The Fulton "Engages Life Through Art" through three distinct series serving over 160,000 patrons through diverse programing reflecting the broad make-up of the Lancaster community and greater region of eastern Pennsylvania. The 2019-2020 season, with three regional premieres, begins September 17 and continues through July 26.
The nationally regarded Fulton Theatre, in association with Maine State Music Theatre is proud to present the dance and music-filled Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies, May 2 through May 25, with Previews April 30 and May 1. Three acclaimed choreographers, Broadway's Mark Stuart, Broadway's Kenny Ingram and Lancaster's own Marc Robin, have joined to make this one memorable celebration!
'It's always hard to follow an anniversary season, where you've pulled out all the stops for that special celebration,' confides Maine State Music Theatre's Artistic Director, Curt Dale Clark, as he sits down with Broadway World Maine to preview the company's upcoming 61st season. 'It's a bit scary because after the anniversary, then, what next? But the beautiful thing about what we do for a living [in the theatre] is that every year seems like an anniversary. MSMT has carved out a niche here in Brunswick where we pull out all the stops year after year. Our public expects it, and it is pour job to do it!'
Thanks to generous, continuing grants from the Anna-Maria Moggio Foundation and new foundation support from Androscoggin Bank's Greater Giving Program and The Onion Foundation, Maine State Music Theatre will continue its annual sensory-friendly performance series this summer by presenting Snow White and The Little Mermaid.
Maine State Music Theatre (MSMT) is partnering with six local libraries starting April 1 through July 13 to inspire readers to discover or become reacquainted with Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, the novel that inspired the theatre's upcoming show Treasure Island: A Musical Adventure.
The nationally regarded Fulton Theatre, in association with Virginia Repertory Theatre, is proud to present the inspiring and romantic Once, The Musical, March 21 through April 14, with Previews March 19 and 20. The actors serve as their own orchestra, playing sixteen instruments, a mixture of Celtic and traditional, for a melodic and foot-stomping good time!
Maine State Music Theatre has announced that Kyle Coyer has joined Maine State Music Theatre in the newly created year-round position of Production Manager.
It is the winter doldrums here in North Country, but what better way to combat those blues than to take in an entertaining, moving, or inspiring evening at one of Maine's fine theatre companies? And if not in winter, why not plan ahead by subscribing to some of these companies or buying seats for one of the many exciting upcoming events for 2019?
To assist you in your planning, BWW offers these picks of the ten productions and company repertoire to which we look forward most.
The nationally regarded Fulton Theatre is proud to present the 2018/2019 Eichmann Family Series Holiday production, A Christmas Carol, December 1 through 30, 2018. Created by Lancaster's own Marc Robin and Curt Dale Clark, this Fulton Holiday classic is full of love, laughter, and a heartwarming message for audiences both young and young at heart!
