Coming Soon
2010
The Lion in Winter
March 26 - April 18, 2010
It's Good To Be The King!
It is 1183 and King Henry II has just reached the Big Five-Oh! This was an advanced age in the 12th century, but he is not about to yield the English crown to any of his three sons, though they are all impatient,especially the eldest (Richard, the Lionhearted). Henry has kept his
Queen, Eleanor, in prison for ten years, and his romantic attentions are fixed on young Alais Capet, who clearly loves him.
This is the situation at the beginning of James Goldman's historical comedy "The Lion in Winter," opening March 26 at the ADOBE Theater, with Dave McDowell as Henry and Taunya Crilly as Eleanor. The sparring between these two royals is the source of much laughter. (You may remember the great performances by Peter O'Toole and Kate Hepburn in the film version. O'Toole received a Golden Globe as best actor and Hepburn the Academy Award for best actress in 1968.)
Director Kenneth Bennington has chosen this now classic play for its wit and intelligence. He has recruited a supporting cast of Adobe newcomers to assist veteran actors McDowell and Crilly including Roby Schapira,
who portrays the King of France, and Rory Cobb, Eric Werner and Mark Underwood, who play the three princes. Sarah Kraemer, recently arrived from UCLA where she did musical theater, will be the lovely Alais.
Bennington has been seen on the ADOBE stage in the musical version of "Luv" and he has directed here ("Harvey") and at the Vortex and Desert Rose. He is sure you will enjoy this fine play both for its historical interest and its "black humor."
"The Lion in Winter" by James Goldman opens at the ADOBE on March 26 and plays through April 18
Don't miss this historical/hysterical presentation.
Directed by Kenneth Bennington
Hay
Fever
April 30th - May 23, 2010
The Bliss family is ultra Bohemian. Mother is a retired actress who makes a crisis out of every scene and father is a novelist. The daughter and son are handsome and ill mannered. One weekend all announce they are expecting a guest: mother has invited an athletic youth who is in love with her, Sorel a diplomat, Simon an intense young woman and David a flapper (a type he is studying for a novel). The guests receive an unusual and rude reception. Soon mother is paired off with the diplomat, Sorel with the athlete, Simon with the flapper, and father with his son's young woman. Dramatizing for all it is worth, Judith first fears she must tell her husband about her romance, then realizes her daughter is younger and more attractive to young men so she enacts a scene of noble sacrifice, and, noticing her husband's flirtation, she follows with a poor unhappy wife scene. The family is used to such displays, but the guests are bewildered. A Noel Coward favorite!
Directed by Paul Barlow
Lucky Stiff
June 4th - June 27th, 2010
Tony Award winners Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty exploded on the musical theatre scene in 1988 with their first off-Broadway show, this zany, offbeat, and very funny murder mystery farce. Called "a delicious, zany throwback--pure frosting, but whipped to perfect consistency" by the New York Post, the show, based on the novel "The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo" by Michael Butterworth, is a classic musical farce, complete with slamming doors, mistaken identities, six million bucks in diamonds, and a corpse in a wheelchair. The story revolves around an unassuming English shoe salesman who is forced to take the embalmed body of his recently-murdered Atlantic City uncle on a vacation to Monte Carlo. Should he succeed in passing Uncle off as alive, Harry Witherspoon stands to inherit $6,000,000. If not, the money goes to the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn, or else to the gun-toting wife of the casino owner! First produced at Playwrights Horizons off-Broadway (Richard Rodgers Award) the show later went on to win Washington's Helen Hayes Award for Best Musical.Directed by Jane & Cy Hoffman