78th Season
2015-2016
84 CHARING CROSS ROAD
Drama
JUNE 26 - JULY 19, 2015
Adapted by James Roose Evans from the book by Helene Hanff
Directed by Steve Murdock, Produced by Jennifer McKenna
This show is a dramatization of business letters between a young, struggling writer in New York and an antiquarian book store in London. In a sense, these are also love letters. They are about the love of good literature. It takes place over a twenty year period, beginning in 1949 when Helene Hanff first writes Marks & Co. and ends in 1969 with the death of Frank Doel, the delightfully dusty supplier of so many old volumes to Helene who has shown her gratitude through the years by sending “care packages” to the staff.
THE SUPPORTING CAST
Comedy
AUGUST 14 - SEPTEMBER 13, 2015
by George Furth
Directed by Kristen Fogle, Produced by Mark Loveless
Ellen, the wife of a successful author, has written a book about friends who are spouses of celebrities and what it is like to be married to Somebody Famous. She has invited them to her house on the beach at Malibu to let them read advance copies and to break the news to them gently that they are depicted warts and all. All nearly have apoplexy when they read the book because it really does tell all. When the news arrives that the book is to be made into a movie, they change their tune and get excited about which star will play them.
STAGE FRIGHT
Drama/Mystery
OCTOBER 9 - NOVEMBER 8, 2015
by Todd McGinnis
Directed by Jerry Pilato, Produced by George Bailey
A leading metropolitan drama critic is led by an attractive production assistant into a recently discovered nineteenth-century theatre. There, the critic will film a television interview for a documentary on the actor John Wilkes Booth, who once acted on those very boards. The critic, F.F. Charnick, notorious for his venomous reviews, visibly warms to the classy elegance of the British P.A. But no sooner has he downed a glass of wine than he falls drugged and unconscious.
ORSON WELLES PRESENTS: A CHRISTMAS CAROL RADIO SHOW
Holiday
NOVEMBER 27 - DECEMBER 20, 2015
Directed by Robin Pollock, Produced by Rob Conway
This production will recreate Orson Welles’ annual radio production of “A Christmas Carol” presented every Christmas Eve. The year is 1939 and the audience will see the radio show as actors celebrate the holiday season performing “A Christmas Carol” with live music and sound effects.
** This holiday show is not part of the season subscriptions **
SEND ME NO FLOWERS
Comedy
JANUARY 15 - FEBRUARY 14, 2016
by Norman Barasch & Carroll Moore
Directed by Keith Anderson, Produced by Mary Anderson & Dorothy Courtney
George Kimball, a Westchester commuter whose favorite hobby is hypochondria mistakenly overhears his doctor discussing another patient diagnosed with heart trouble. Therefore, he prepares to meet the end bravely, sure it is 'his time.’ Putting his affairs in order, he writes a heartbreaking letter to his wife to be read as his eulogy. He even arranges a good second husband for his soon-to-be widow, with a cemetery plot for three: himself, his wife and the new future 'Mister Kimball.’
MACK & MABEL
Musical
MARCH 11 - APRIL 10, 2016
by Jerry Herman, Michael Stewart, and Leonard Spigelgass
Directed by George Bailey, Produced by Mark Loveless
This is a musical by the composer/lyricist of “Mame” and “Hello Dolly” which is about the complex relationship between Max Sennett, a temperamental, workaholic film director and Mabel Normand, a waitress who became one of his biggest stars. In a series of flashbacks, Sennett recalls the time he discovered Mabel back in 1911, her rise to stardom, their love affair, until when she leaves him to work for the "serious" director W.D. Taylor and her untimely death in 1930.
CHAPTER TWO
Comedy/Drama
MAY 13 - JUNE 12, 2016
by Neil Simon
Directed by Larry Steckling, Produced by Judy Hughes
Recent widower and writer George Schneider, is encouraged by his younger brother Leo to start dating again. Which sends George into even more depression after a series of bad matches. Then, Leo comes up with Jennie Malone and she's a keeper. Still, it's a bumpy trip on the road to Dreamland for these not-so-young lovers. George and Jennie stumble on, overcoming both their hesitation on the rebound and emotional neediness. In a hilarious, farcical subplot, Leo has a fling with Faye, Jennie's neurotic married friend.