Goodspeed Announces 2004 Season

Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut has announced that its 2004 season at the Opera House in East Haddam will include “Call Me Madam” (April 16 - July 3), “Where’s Charley” (July 9 - September 25) and “Mack & Mabel” (October 1 - December 12).

The Tony Award winning “Call Me Madam” was originally produced in 1950 and was allegedly based on the life of one of Washington’s most famous society hostesses, Perle Mesta. Authors Irving Berlin, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse denied the rumors (with a wink), however few could watch the onstage antics of the Hostess With The Mostess without connecting the character to Mesta (who coincidentally happened to be a friend of the musical’s original star, Ethel Merman). The classic Irving Berlin score includes such songs as “You’re Just In Love,” “The Best Thing For You” and “It’s A Lovely Day Today.”

“Where’s Charley,” based on the 1892 London farce, “Charley’s Aunt,” first opened on Broadway in 1948. This lively musical spies on two Oxford chaps as they woo their ladies without supervision. Trouble ensues when Charley’s “aunt” drops in for a visit, setting off a chain of unexpected troubles. With a book by George Abbott and music by Frank Loesser, the Goodspeed production will be directed by Tony Walton. “Where’s Charley,” which originally starred Ray Bolger, contains the timeless song “Once In Love With Amy” as well as the vigorous mouthful “The New Ashmolean Marching Society and Student Conservatory Band.”

The third show of the season, “Mack & Mabel” takes a giddy, slapstick look at Hollywood’s silent film era. Complete with Keystone Kops and a bevy of Hollywood Bathing Beauties, “Mack & Mabel” originally starred Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters as filmmaker Mack Sennett and silver screen star Mabel Normand. The exuberant score by Jerry Herman includes “Tap Your Troubles Away,” “Look What Happened to Mabel,” “Wherever He Ain’t” and the show's best known number, “Time Heals Everything.”

Advance season subscriptions are now on sale through the box office at 860-873-8668 or online at www.goodspeed.org. Individual seating will be available beginning on March 14.

Goodspeed Musicals is dedicated to the preservation and advancement of musical theatre, producing six musicals each season at the historic Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, CT, and the Norma Terris Theatre in nearby Chester.

-- OnStage Boston

2/5/04