Lyric Stage Company has announced
two additional shows for its 2006-2007 Season: "Souvenir:
A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins" by
Stephen Temperley, and the classic Shaw comedy "Arms
and the Man." Both productions will be presented
in the Spring of 2007.
The previously announced productions are the Tony
Award-winning musical "1776" by Peter Stone
and Sherman Edwards, and the New England premieres of Heather Raffo’s
"Nine Parts of Desire" and "See
What I Wanna See" with words and music by Michael John
LaChiusa. Two additional selections will be announced to complete
the season.
"Souvenir" is the off-beat portrayal of
the wealthy, eccentric music-lover, Florence Foster Jenkins,
who became famous for her annual recitals and concerts in the 1930's
and ‘40's. Despite the fact that she could not carry a
tune, New York society flocked to attend her charity performances
which achieved cult-status, culminating in a sold-out performance
at Carnegie Hall. She also recorded several popular albums ("The
Glory ??? of the Human Voice" and "Murder
on the High Cs"). This funny and poignant new
play with music previously received critically acclaimed productions
at the York Theatre Company, the Berkshire
Theatre Festival and on Broadway in 2005. Boston's
Leigh Barrett (currently appearing in "Ragtime"
at the New Rep) will play Mrs. Jenkins. Producing Artistic Director
Spiro Veloudos will direct.
First produced in London in 1894 and published in the collection Plays
Pleasant in 1898, George Bernard Shaw’s masterpiece of
comedic drama "Arms and the Man" is said
to be his most popular and most successful play. Set in war-torn
Bulgaria in the mid-1880s, a young woman’s overly idealistic
and romantic notions of both love and war are turned upside down when
a handsome enemy soldier appears at her bedroom window. Shaw
takes the title for this charming comedy from Virgil’s ode to
the heroics of war, The Aeneid (“Of arms and the man
I sing”) and uses it ironically to highlight the foolishness
and foibles of war and love.
As previously announced, the Lyric season will also
include:
"1776"
September 8 – October 14, 2006
Heather Raffo’s
"Nine Parts of Desire"
October 20 – November 18, 2006
"See What I Wanna See"
Words and music by Michael John LaChiusa
January 5 – February 3, 2007
For information on season ticket packages call 617-585-5678.
Additional information can be found at www.lyricstage.com.
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OnStage Boston
