Tacoma’s community theater scene preparing for stellar season

With Tacoma Musical Playhouse (TMP) having just made national waves, the community theaters throughout the Tacoma area are set for a standout season in 2017-2018.  

 

At the National AACTFEST 2017 festival held earlier this month, TMP’s production of The Addam’s Family raked in more than half the awards on the docket, including the top awards for outstanding production, leading actor, featured actor, supporting actress, ensemble performance, set design, sound design and costume design.

 

With TMP’s success making it the linchpin of the area’s community theater scene, the coming season throughout the region is full of drama, comedy, suspense and intrigue.

 

(descriptions provided by the theaters)

 

 

September 22 – October 15, 2017

To the rockin’ rhythm of its Oscar and Tony-nominated top 40 score and augmented with dynamic new songs for the stage musical, Footloose celebrates the wisdom of listening to young people, guiding them with a warm heart and an open mind.

 

November 24 – December 17, 2017

Based on “The Princess and the Pea” by Hans Christian Andersen, Princess Winnifred arrives at Prince Dauntless the Drab’s castle hoping for the hand of the prince. His mother, Queen Agravain, insists that her son can only marry a princess of true blood (one who can feel a pea that is underneath a pile of mattresses).

 

February 2 – February 25, 2018

With over 50 classic songs, many of which were made famous by “Old Blue Eyes” himself, this show is sure to be a hit! Come reminisce and honor the past with us and enjoy the music of Frank Sinatra, including: All of Me, The Best is Yet to Come, Fly Me to the Moon, I Get a Kick Out of You, I Only Have Eyes for You, I’ll Be Seeing You, It Was a Very Good Year, and The Lady is a Tramp, to name a few.

 

April 6 – April 29, 2018

Based on the hit film and the incredible true story, Catch Me If You Can is the high-flying musical comedy about chasing your dreams and not getting caught.

 

May 18 – June 10, 2018

Lerner and Loewe transform George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion into this musical theatre classic. When aristocratic professor Henry Higgins takes in Cockney pupil Eliza Doolittle on a bet, he gets far more than he wagered.

 

July 6 – July 29, 2018

Step into the enchanted world of Broadway’s modern classic, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, an international sensation that has played to over 35 million people worldwide in 13 countries. Based on the Academy Award-winning animated feature, the original Broadway production ran for over thirteen years and was nominated for nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

 

 

September 8 – October 8, 2017

Susy Hendricks, a blind yet capable woman, and her husband Sam, are imperiled by a trio of con men in the Greenwich Village apartment.  As the climax build, Susy discovers that her blindness might be the key to her escape, but she and her tormentors must wait until dark to play out this classic thriller’s chilling conclusion.

 

October 13, 14 & 15, 2017

We celebrate the first decade of Our Annual Live Radio Show with something truly special … The Vault of Horror– The Greatest Scares from the Last 9 Years. With episodes from such iconic radio shows as “Lights Out,” “The Inner Sanctum” and many more surprises!

 

November 2 – November 12, 2017

Travel down the rabbit hole and join Alice, one of literature’s most beloved heroines, in her madcap adventures.  The ever-curious Alice’s journey begins innocently enough as she chases the White Rabbit.  Her adventures become increasingly more strange as she races the Dodo Bird, gets tied up with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, raps with a bubble-blowing Caterpillar and beats the Queen of Hearts at her own game!

 

November 24 – December 17, 2017

An adaptation of the story of Ebenezer Scrooge's journey from an embittered, ungenerous creature into a giving, caring human being at the hands of three spirits, who, one Christmas Eve, show him what life means. This richly textured play brings the full spirit of the book, as well as those of Christmases Past, Present and Yet To Come, to life on the stage.

 

January 5 – January 28, 2018

In the Tradition of The Who’s “Tommy” and Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” comes a Rock Opera for This Generation.  Johnny, Tunny and Will struggle to find meaning in a post-9/11 world. When the three disgruntled men flee the constraints of their hometown for the thrills of city life, their paths are quickly estranged when Tunny enters the armed forces, Will is called back home to attend to familial responsibilities, and Johnny's attention becomes divided by a seductive love interest and a hazardous new friendship. An energy-fueled rock opera, American Idiot, features little dialogue and instead relies on the lyrics from Green Day's groundbreaking album to execute the story line.

 

February 16 – March 11, 2018

Amanda Wingfield strives to give meaning and direction to her life and the lives of her children, though her methods are ineffective and irritating. Tom seeks escape in alcohol and the world of the movies and Laura, handicapped, has receded more and more into herself. When Tom invites a young friend to dinner with the family. Jim, the caller, is a nice ordinary fellow who is at once pounced upon by Amanda as a possible husband for Laura, the gentleman caller is once again.

 

April 13 – May 6, 2018

​A wildly theatrical adaptation of Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson’s best-selling novels, the play was conceived for the stage by directors, Roger Rees and Alex Timbers, and written by Rick Elice, with music by Wayne Barker. From marauding pirates and jungle tyrants to unwilling comrades and unlikely heroes, Peter and the Starcatcher playfully explores the depths of greed and despair... and the bonds of friendship, duty and love.

 

May 25 – June 24, 2018

The meek floral assistant Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a new breed of plant he names "Audrey II" - after his coworker crush. This foul-mouthed, R&B-singing carnivore promises unending fame and fortune to the down and out Krelborn as long as he keeps feeding it blood. Over time, though, Seymour discovers Audrey II's out of this world origins and intent towards global domination!

 

 

September 15 – October 1, 2017

Rumors is an uproariously hilarious comedy about lies, deceit and rumors. At a large, tastefully appointed Sneden's Landing townhouse, the deputy mayor of New York has just shot himself. Though only a flesh wound, four couples are about to experience a severe attack of farce.

 

October 20 – November 5, 2017

Misery follows successful romance novelist Paul Sheldon, who is rescued from a car crash by his “Number One Fan,” Annie Wilkes, and wakes up captive in her secluded home. While Paul is convalescing, Annie reads the manuscript to his newest novel and becomes enraged when she discovers the author has killed off her favorite character, Misery Chastain.

 

December 1 – December 24, 2017

The Cat in the Hat tells the story of Horton, an elephant who discovers a speck of dust that contains the Whos, including Jojo, a Who child sent off to military school for thinking too many "thinks." Horton faces a double challenge: not only must he protect the Whos from a world of naysayers and dangers, but he must guard an abandoned egg, left in his care by the irresponsi-ble Mayzie La Bird.

 

January 19 – February 4, 2018

After three years in the Peace Corps, James, a young speech therapist, joins the faculty of a school for the deaf, where he is to teach lip-reading. He meets Sarah, a school dropout, totally deaf from birth, and estranged both from the world of hearing and from those who would com-promise to enter that world.

 

March 9 – April 1, 2018

It seems especially fitting that the first rock opera, created as a concept album at the end of the turbulent '60s, should have at its center a social and political rebel. Jesus' meteor-like rise in renown provides, as the title suggests, a parallel to contemporary celebrity worship.

 

April 20 – May 6, 2017

With echoes of Stoppard, Kafka, and the Brothers Grimm, The Pillowman centers on a writer in an unnamed totalitarian state who is being interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories and their similarities to a series of child murders. The result is an urgent work of theatrical bravura and an unflinching examination of the very nature and purpose of art.

 

June 1 – June 17, 2018

Macbeth is a brave and loyal Thane to King Duncan. After hearing a prophecy that he will be-come king himself, Macbeth is overcome by ambition and greed. Bolstered by the prophecy and his wife’s encouragement, he kills King Duncan and takes the throne. Afterwards, Macbeth’s guilt, fear, and paranoia lead him to commit even more murders to secure his power.