Palo Alto Players Announces 2018-19 Season

Palo Alto Players, the Peninsula's first theatre company, announces its 88th season - featuring four Peninsula premieres and a re-imagined classic. The 2018-19 line-up, beginning September 2018, was unveiled Sunday, January 28 by Artistic Director Patrick Klein at the company's annual Season Announcement Party and includes Disney's TARZAN®, ALL THE WAY, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, FLOWER DRUM SONG, and ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS. All performances are held at the Lucie Stern Theater located at 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto. Subscriptions are on sale now online at www.paplayers.org or by phone at 650.329.0891. Individual tickets for the September show go on sale in August and for the remaining season beginning in October.

Palo Alto Players' 88th season kicks off in September 2018 with its annual family offering, the Peninsula premiere of Disney's Broadway musical adventure Disney's TARZAN®, followed in November with ALL THE WAY, the 2014 Tony Award-winning play chronicling President Lyndon B. Johnson's first year in office. In January 2019, the company presents the West End and Oregon Shakespeare Festival hit SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, the play adapted from the Academy Award-winning film. In April 2019, the company revives a classic with Tony Award-winner David Henry Hwang's 2002 adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein jewel, FLOWER DRUM SONG, and closing the season in June 2019 is the show that made James Corden a star and broke box office records on the West End and Broadway, the hilarious, music-infused farce ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS.

"I have the incredible fortune and responsibility to choose a slate of shows that not only reaffirm our mission but also engage our community of patrons and production participants in new ways," says Palo Alto Players' Artistic Director Patrick Klein. "One comment I hear frequently is, 'we can't believe you were able to pull that show off!' I wear that as a badge of honor, and carry it as a mantra as the artistic leader for this historic company. As we enter our 88th season, it was important to me to continue to push the boundaries of what community-based theatre can be - the opportunity to create an extraordinary range of theatrical experiences. The five shows we are going to produce - four of which are new to our community - will certainly do just that!"

In addition to the five mainstage productions, the company will continue its staged reading companion series, five one-night-only events to complement the mainstage shows. Dates and play titles will be announced in the coming months.

In chronological order, Palo Alto Players' 2018-19 season is as follows:

Disney's TARZAN®

September 8 - 23, 2018 (preview September 7)

Book by David Henry Hwang

Music and Lyrics by Phil Collins

Based on the story, Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the Disney film, Tarzan

Washed up on the shores of West Africa, an infant boy is taken in and raised by gorillas who name him Tarzan. Apart from striving for acceptance from his ape father, Tarzan's life is mostly monkey business until a human expedition treks into his tribe's territory and he encounters creatures like himself for the first time. Tarzan struggles to navigate a jungle thick with emotion as he discovers his animal upbringing clashing with his human instincts. Based on Disney's unforgettable animated musical adventure and Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan of the Apes, TARZAN® features heart-pumping music by rock legend Phil Collins and a book by TONY Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang. Swinging excitement and hits like the Academy Award-winning "You'll Be In My Heart" as well as "Son of Man" and "Two Worlds" make TARZAN® an unforgettable experience for all ages.

"You are going to be amazed!" - NY Magazine

ALL THE WAY

November 3 - 18, 2018 (preview November 2)

By Robert Schenkkan

1963. An assassin's bullet catapults Lyndon Baines Johnson into the presidency. A Shakespearean figure of towering ambition and appetite, the charismatic, conflicted Texan hurls himself into Civil Rights legislation, throwing the country into turmoil. Alternately bullying and beguiling, he enacts major social programs, faces down opponents, and wins the 1964 election in a landslide. In the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright's vivid, 2014 Tony Award-winning dramatization of LBJ's first year in office, means versus ends plays out on a broad stage canvas as politicians and civil rights leaders plot strategy and wage war. As we enter our own midterm elections and explore the political battles waged before us, ALL THE WAY reflects the power of one person and one vote to transform our country.

"Action-packed, jaw-dropping drama." - Variety

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE

January 19 - February 3, 2019 (preview January 18)

Adapted for the stage by Lee Hall

Based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard

Young playwright Will Shakespeare is stuck. He is overdue in finishing his latest play-a half-baked mess of a comedy called Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter. He finds his muse in Viola de Lesseps, who is driven to do anything-even disguise herself as a man-to fulfill her dream of performing onstage, where no women are permitted. Surrounded by familiar players, including Queen Elizabeth herself, backstage antics collide with on stage dramas. Will and Viola's passionate, forbidden love affair goes on to inspire Shakespeare's masterpiece-the most romantic tragedy ever written. Adapted from the Academy Award-winning film, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE is a warm and witty romance filled with music and farcical characters.

"Riotously enjoyable. You will fall in love!" - The Sunday Times

FLOWER DRUM SONG

April 27 - May 12, 2019 (preview April 26)

Music by Richard Rodgers

Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

Book by David Henry Hwang

Based on the original book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joseph Fields and the novel by C.Y. Lee

'To create something new, we must first love what is old,' claims Mei-Li in Tony Award-winner David Henry Hwang's new adaptation of this Rodgers and Hammerstein jewel. Mei-Li flees Mao's communist China after the murder of her father and finds herself in San Francisco's Chinatown. This naïve young refugee is befriended by Wang, who is struggling to keep the Chinese opera tradition alive despite his son's determination to turn the

old opera house into a swingin' Western-style nightclub. A unique blending of American razz-ma-tazz and stylized Chinese opera tradition creates a beautifully theatrical tapestry sure to delight our Bay Area audience.

"Daring, vibrant, and charming!" - NBC News

ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS

June 15 - 30, 2018 (preview June 14)

By Richard Bean

Based on The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni

with songs by Grant Olding

It's London in the swinging 60's, and recently canned (and desperately hungry) Francis Henshall finds himself newly employed by small-time gangster Roscoe Crabbe, in town to collect a fee from his fiancee's gangster father. But Roscoe is really Rachel, posing as her own dead brother, herself in love with Stanley Stubbers (her brother's killer) who, in turn, becomes our hero's other 'guvnor.' Fighting a mounting sense of confusion, Francis goes out of his way to serve both bosses. But with the distractions of a pneumatic bookkeeper, a self-important actor, and select members of the criminal fraternity (not to mention his own mammoth appetite) to contend with, how long can he keep them apart? ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS is a hilarious, music-infused farce, and one of the best received comedies in modern theater.

"One of the most hilarious shows I have ever seen in theater." - Daily Telegraph

For more information or to purchase season subscriptions, visit the company online at www.paplayers.org, by phone at 650.329.0891, or in person at the Box Office at the Lucie Stern Theater located at 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto, Tuesday-Friday 11am - 4pm PT. Early bird subscriptions prices (starting at just $125 for all five productions) are available through May 13, 2018. Prices increase after May 13. Special discounts for seniors, educators, military and patrons under 30 are also available. Some restrictions may apply. In addition to significant savings, subscribers receive other benefits such as priority seating, free ticket exchanges, discounts on the purchase of additional single tickets, and invitations to special events.

In cooperation with The City of Palo Alto, Palo Alto Players performs at the Lucie Stern Theater located at 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto, California. Use of this facility is made possible through support from The City of Palo Alto, Community Services Department, Division of Arts and Sciences, and from our patrons.

About Palo Alto Players

Founded in 1931, Palo Alto Players is the San Francisco Peninsula's first theatre company. Based at the Lucie Stern Theater, built explicitly for Palo Alto Players in 1933, Palo Alto Players produces a season of comedies, dramas, classics, and musicals from September to June. Audiences and participants come from all over the Bay Area to be a part of Palo Alto Players' productions. Palo Alto Players is committed to providing a meaningful theatre experience for both audience and production participants. Intrinsic in this is the belief that theatre benefits the community-at-large and enhances the quality of life of those who are touched by it through education, enlightenment, and enrichment. Palo Alto Players is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established for public benefit.

For more information about Palo Alto Players and upcoming shows, please visit paplayers.org or call the Box Office at 650.329.0891.

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