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Pasadena Playhouse Producing Artistic Director Danny Feldman announces four main stage productions for 2019/2020 including new productions of favorite musicals – Little Shop of Horrors with book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken, directed by Mike Donahue, and Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun with book by Herbert and Dorothy Fields, directed by Sarna Lapine – and two plays – the Los Angeles premiere of Lauren Yee’s The Great Leap directed by BD Wong, a co-production with East West Players, and Alfred Molina starring in the critically acclaimed West End and Broadway hit The Father by Florian Zeller and directed by Jessica Kubzansky. One more production and additional programming will be announced at a later date.
Memberships now available at www.pasadenaplayhouse.org, or by calling 626-356-7529.
Producing Artistic Director Danny Feldman said, “These four exciting shows are a great
reason to put down your phone, get off the couch, and head to the Playhouse. We’ve got two classic musicals with some of the best songs ever written for the theater, stunningly reborn and giving our audiences the chance to experience them in thrilling new ways. Add to that two extraordinary new dramas brought to the stage by two world-class artists, BD Wong and Alfred Molina. Our new lineup will take audiences on a bold theatrical adventure they won’t soon forget.”
The two musicals are from different eras – Little Shop of Horrors (September 17 to October
13) is the 1980s R&B megahit while Annie Get Your Gun (Spring 2020) is a return to the Golden Age of Broadway. Both productions take a fresh new perspective to the classic musicals.
In Little Shop of Horrors (book and lyrics by Howard Ashman, music by Alan Menken), a
power-hungry, R&B-singing, carnivorous plant sets its sights on world domination! Directed by Mike Donahue (The Legend of Georgia McBride, Geffen Playhouse), this deviously delicious sci-fi musical comedy favorite comes to the Playhouse with some deliciously devious new twists: a brand new puppet concept for Audrey II, and a whole new take on Skid Row. Little Shop of Horrors has devoured the hearts of theatergoers of all ages for more than 30 years. Village Voice critic Michael Feingold contends, “How often do you get to see a musical about a giant plant from outer space that sings, dances, talks jive and eats people?” Mel Gussow in The New York Times says that Little Shop of Horrors is “a show for horticulturists, horrorcultists, sci-fi fans and anyone with a taste for the outrageous! As entertaining as it is exotic.” Rex Reed summed it up by saying, “I just loved it!”
Annie Get Your Gun (Spring 2020) will bring the strongest and most revolutionary Annie
Oakley you have ever seen to the beloved music and lyrics of Irving Berlin. Directed by Sarna Lapine (Sunday in the Park with George with Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford), this production will return to the book by Dorothy and Herbert Fields made famous by Ethel Merman, rather than more recent versions from revivals. One of the classic scores of Broadway comes to life with There’s No Business Like Show Business, Anything You Can Do, I Got Sun in the Morning and You Can’t Get a Man With a Gun, all reimagined and performed by a country western, bluegrass band. Annie Get Your Gun is a co-production with Bay Street Theatre.
Lauren Yee’s newest work The Great Leap (November 6 to December 1, 2019) explores the story of an American basketball team traveling to Beijing for an exhibition game. The coaches find themselves in a conflict that runs deeper than the strain between the countries, and a young player’s actions abroad become the accidental focus of attention. Building tension right up to the buzzer, this sharp-witted new drama is about much more than making the shot, as two men with a past and one teen with a future struggle for their own personal victories. The Great Leap starred BD Wong (Jurassic Park films, HBO’s Oz, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) at the Atlantic Theatre off-Broadway and in San Francisco at ACT. The Tony Award winner will now direct the Pasadena Playhouse production presented in partnership with East West Players. New York Magazine described The Great Leap as “an exhilarating, deeply satisfying piece of work” and a “smart, feisty, highly enjoyable new play.” The San Jose Mercury News said “The Great Leap has got real game.”
Alfred Molina (Long Day’s Journey into Night, Geffen Playhouse; Miracle on 34th Street,
Pasadena Playhouse, Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, Broadway) stars in The Father (February 5 to March 1, 2020) by French playwright Florian Zeller — perhaps one of the most awarded plays of recent times on two continents – winning the 2014 Molière Award, and nominations for the Evening Standard Theatre Award, Olivier Award for Best New Play, and Tony Awardfor Best Play. The Guardian said, “The Frenchman Florian Zeller has been called the most exciting playwright of our times.” Frank Langella won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for the role being reprised by Molina. The production is directed by Jessica Kubzansky, artistic director of Boston Court Theatre and director of Hold These Truths, Pygmalion and Mauritius at Pasadena Playhouse, who is currently directing Ladies by Kit Steinkellner in its world premiere production at Boston Court. A New York Times Critics Pick, Ben Brantley said that The Father is “harrowing … one of the most disorienting experiences in town … The Father operates from an exceedingly ingenious premise … that’s presenting the world through the perspective of a mind in an advancing state of dementia, making reality as relative and unfixed as it might be in a vintage Theatre of the Absurd production … [however] André’s ego is too large and impregnable to be deflated by senility. Dementia is inherently tragic. That’s what Shakespeare saw in King Lear, himself a precursor to this absurdist existential hero.” Lyn Gardner said in The Guardian that The
Father is “hugely rewarding … a play that constantly confounds expectations and works
almost like a thriller, with a sinister Pinteresque edge.”
The Playhouse Membership Program, a new model of theater subscription, is the best way to see all season productions and experience everything the theater has to offer while
supporting the theater and our outreach programs. With a Membership to the Playhouse,
patrons simply purchase their package, then book their tickets throughout the year before
they go on sale to the general public. They can choose when they want to attend and where they want to sit, and never be charged for tickets to season productions!
A Playhouse membership includes: • Free tickets to all season productions • Access to the best seats in the house • The freedom to attend any performance • Savings of up to 50% over purchasing individual tickets • Tax deductibility at higher levels
For a full list of benefits and to see how it works, visit pasadenaplayhouse.org/membership,
or call 626-356-7529.
ABOUT THE PASADENA PLAYHOUSE
The Pasadena Playhouse is a place where people have gathered for 100 years to experience
bold and important theater. It is one of the most prolific theaters in American history with a
legacy of profound theatrical impact and courageous new work. In 1937, the Playhouse was
officially recognized as the State Theater of California for its contribution and commitment to the dramatic arts. Today it continues that tradition of excellence under the helm of producing artistic director Danny Feldman. Dedicated to enriching lives through theater, community programs and learning initiatives, Pasadena Playhouse is a living force in the community.
