The Lost Treasures Collection Returns to Lakewood Theatre Company

The Lost Treasures Collection is back for its fourteenth season at Lakewood Theatre Company on its Side Door Stage. This year three musicals will be presented: Weird Romance (Oct 20-21, 2023),  Romance/Romance (Feb. 16-17, 2024), and A Day In Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine (April 12-13, 2024). This year’s theme is “Romance.” The shows, staged in a concert/cabaret style, are presented script-in-hand, with minimal staging. No sets, no props (free from the usual trappings of a fully staged production). 

The first offering of the series, Weird Romance, will have only three performances: Friday, October 20 at 7:00 PM and Saturday, October 21 at 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM. This 1992 musical has music by Alan Menken, the composer of the off-Broadway smash Little Shop of Horrors and the Disney hit musicals The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. Menken is teamed with lyricist David Spencer and librettist Alan Brennert on a pair of musical one-acts based on science fiction stories about the complexities of identity and genuine connection in an artificial world.

Lakewood’s 2023 production of Weird Romance is curated by Dennis Corwin and the musical director is Jeffrey Michael Kauffman. Performances are on Lakewood Theatre’s Side Door stage at Lakewood Center for the Arts in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The series sponsor is Fritz Camp and the playbill sponsors are Ed and Judy McKenney.

The first musical act of Weird Romance entitled The Girl Who Was Plugged In, directed by Dennis Corwin, is based on an award-winning story by Alice Sheldon, who wrote as James Tiptree, Jr. The tale is about a homeless woman whose soul is transplanted into the body of a gorgeous female android by a company which manufactures celebrities. 

The second musical act, entitled Her Pilgrim Soul, directed by Russ Cowan, comes from a story by Alan Brennert. It is about a scientist who researches holographic imaging. One day a mysterious "living" holograph, apparently a woman long dead, appears and changes his life forever. As their relationship evolves, questions arise about the nature of love, reality, and what it truly means to be human.

The cast of Lakewood’s production of Weird Romance includes Dennis Corwin, Russ Cowan, Michael Hammerstrom, Anna Prosser, Chelsea Jansen Williams, Alicia Green Kate Faye Cummings, LeRoy Lee, and Doug Zimmerman.  

Ticket prices are $20 for all seats. Contact the Lakewood Theatre Box Office at (503) 635-3901 or order online at https://www.lakewood-center.org/

Lakewood Theatre Company’s Side Door Stage is located in the Community Meeting Room at Lakewood Center for the Arts, 368 S. State Street in Lake Oswego. Light food, snacks, and beverages are available to purchase before and during the show.