Pioneer Theatre Company's 2013-2014 Season Will Include ELF, OTHER DESERT CITIES and More

Pioneer Theatre Company's 2013-2014 season includes three musicals, Utah premieres of two dramas, a thriller, and one of Shakespeare's most light-hearted comedies.

The season includes the musical-comedy murder-mystery Something's Afoot, which runs September 20 through October 5, 2013; the Utah premiere of the 2012 Outer Critics Circle Award-winning drama Other Desert Cities, running October 25 through November 9, 2013; Elf-The Musical, running December 6 through December 24, 2013; the military courtroom drama A Few Good Men, running January 24 through February 8, 2014; Shakespeare's romantic comedy Much Ado About Nothing, running from February 21 through March 8, 2014; the thriller Deathtrap, running from March 28 through April 12, 2014; and the song-and-dance musical Sweet Charity, running May 9 through May 24, 2014.

Remarking on the season, Artistic Director Karen Azenberg said, "What excites me the most about this season, and I hope it excites our audience as well, is that, with the exception of Much Ado About Nothing, which we last did 21 years ago, all of the shows in the season have never been done at Pioneer Theatre Company before. While I think we have selected some real crowd-pleasers, almost everything in the season will be brand new to Utah audiences. Even if you're familiar with the titles, I'd bet you've never seen the stage versions of these shows-so I hope you'll jump on board and come along for the ride.

"The season begins and ends with two musicals I've loved and wanted to direct for years.Something's Afoot is a wonderful cross between an Agatha Christie murder mystery and a traditional musical comedy-two types of theatre that our audiences have always loved; it's a show I saw twenty-five years ago and just fell in love with. To close our season, we're doing Sweet Charity, one of the great under-appreciated song-and-dance musicals of all time, with a score that features "Hey Big Spender!" and "If My Friends Could See Me Now" and will, I promise, have some of the best razzle-dazzle dance routines you've ever seen on stage. Pioneer Theatre Company has never done either of these musicals and, as far as I can tell, it has been quite a while since they have been produced in Utah.

"We're doing a musical at Christmas again this year, Elf-The Musical, based on the hit movie. I saw every holiday show on Broadway last year, and Elf was by far the most enjoyable. Not only that, but my teenaged daughter watches the movie at least twenty times every Christmas, which I take as a good indicator of its appeal. The rights to Elf-The Musical have not been generally available, so we will be one of the first regional theatres in the country to produce it.

"For the non-musicals, I was surprised to discover that PTC has never produced A Few Good Men, which was written as a stage play by Aaron Sorkin before it was adapted into the hit movie, and before he went on to write the popular television series The West Wing. Deathtrap, also a PTC premiere, is one of the all-time great laugh-one-minute-shriek-in-terror-the-next thrillers. It's by Ira Levin, who also wrote The Stepford Wives and Rosemary's Baby. Our second show of the year will be a Utah premiere-Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities, which was one of the two breakout hits from the 2012 Broadway season. And, of course, Much Ado About Nothing is a lovely romantic comedy by Shakespeare, who was writing romantic comedies before that expression was even coined."

Ticket prices for almost all performances have not been increased for the 2013-14 season (Saturday matinee prices have increased). Season tickets range from $84 to $307, which means that season ticket patrons pay between $12 and $44 a ticket to see shows that cost over $125 on Broadway or National Tours. Notes PTC Managing Director Chris Lino, "For the price of one or two tickets to a Broadway show theatergoers can have a full season of entertainment at PTC, and be assured of the best seats and the convenience of exchanging their tickets if they can't make their regular performance. And, as our long-time patrons know, you'll be seeing the same actors who appear on Broadway stages, and the same spectacular sets and costumes that you would see on Broadway."

For season tickets contact Pioneer Theatre Company's Box Office at 801-581-6961 or visit online at www.pioneertheatre.org.