Theatre Cedar Rapids announces 2010‑11 Season

CEDAR RAPIDS — Theatre Cedar Rapids has announced its 2010-11 Season, which will kick off with “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” in September and end with the musical “Guys And Dolls.”

The full lineup, which features a mix of musicals, plays, comedies and dramas both current and classic, includes “Spelling Bee,” “Six Characters in Search of an Author,” “White Christmas,” “Crimes of the Heart,” “Sweeney Todd,” “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” and “Guys And Dolls.”

Theatre Cedar Rapids is currently taking season ticket orders. Season brochures are available from the theatre, 102 Third St. SE. Order forms are also available online. For more information, call (319) 366-8591 or visit www.theatercr.org.

The season includes:

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

September 10 – October 2
Music and Lyrics by William Finn;
Book by Rachel Sheinkin

An acclaimed musical comedy chronicling the experience of six outsiders who are vying for the spelling championship of a lifetime. From a Tony Award winning creative team, this hit musical features a quirky yet charming cast of outsiders who learn that winning isn’t everything, and that losing doesn’t necessarily make you a loser.

Rated: PG-13 (for mature language; not a show for young children)

Six Characters In Search of an Author

October 15 – October 30
By Luigi Pirandello;
Adapted by Jason Alberty

This play follows the drama of six fictional, but living and breathing characters, who force their way in on the rehearsal of a theater company and demand that their suffering be played on the stage. Regarded as one of the most influential plays of the 20th century, this version is adapted and directed by longtime TCR volunteer Jason Alberty.

Rated: PG-13 (for language and mature subject matter)
A Linge Series Production

White Christmas

November 26 – December 18
Based upon the Paramount Pictures Film;
Written for the screen by Norman Krasna,
Norman Panama, and Melvin Frank;
Music & Lyrics by Irving Berlin;
Book by David Ives, Paul Blake

Based on the film, this musical adaptation features seventeen Irving Berlin songs and a book by David Ives and Paul Blake. WWII veterans Bob Wallace and Phil Davis have a successful song-and-dance act. When the two follow a duo of beautiful singing sisters en route to their Christmas show at a Vermont lodge, will romance ensue?

Rated: G

Crimes of the Heart

January 28 – February 12
By Beth Henley

In Hazlehurst, Mississippi, the three Magrath sisters have gathered to await news of their grandfather, who is living out his last hours in the local hospital. One sister is unmarried at thirty and facing diminishing marital prospects; another is back after a failed singing career on the West Coast; while the youngest sister is out on bail after having shot her husband in the stomach. Its characters escape the past to seize the future in a story that’s both touching and comedic.

Rated: PG (for language and some mature situations)

Sweeney Todd

March 4 – March 26
Book by Hugh Wheeler;
Music by Stephen Sondheim;
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim;
Based on a version of ‘Sweeney Todd’
by Christopher Bond

This chilling, suspenseful, heartpounding musical thriller tells the infamous tale of a barber who returns to 19th century London seeking revenge against the judge who framed him. His thirst for blood expands to include his unfortunate customers, and the resourceful proprietress of the pie shop downstairs soon has the people of London lining up in droves with her mysterious new meat pie recipe.

Rated: PG-13 (for mature subject matter and excessive meat pies)

Eurydice

April 8 – April 23
By Sarah Ruhl

The classic Greek myth of Orpheus is reimagined through the eyes of its heroine. Dying too young on her wedding day, Eurydice must journey to the underworld, where she reunites with her father and struggles to remember her lost love. With contemporary characters, new plot twists, and poetic dialogue, the play is a fresh look at a timeless love story.

Rated: PG (for mature subject matter)
A Linge Series Production

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

May 13-May 28
Dramatized by Joseph Robinette
from the story by C.S. Lewis

Four children wander from an old wardrobe into the exciting, never-to-be-forgotten land of Narnia. The action features chases, duels and escapes as the witch is determined to keep Narnia in her possession and to end the reign of Aslan the Lion. All the memorable episodes from the story are represented in this exciting dramatization of C.S. Lewis’ classic in a play about love, faith and courage.

Rated: G

Guys and Dolls

July 8-July 30
Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows;
Music & Lyrics by Frank Loesser;
Based on “The Idyll of Sarah Brown”
and characters by Damon Runyon

This classic musical comedy introduces its audience to a cast of vivid characters: Sarah Brown, the upright but uptight “mission doll”; Sky Masterson, the slick, high-rolling gambler who woos her on a bet and ends up falling in love; Adelaide, the chronically ill nightclub performer who’s been engaged to the same man for 14 years; and Nathan Detroit, her devoted fiance, desperate as always to find a spot for a game.

Rated: PG

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Theatre Cedar Rapids is currently taking season ticket orders. Season brochures are available from the theatre, 102 Third St. SE. Order forms are also available online. For more information, call (319) 366-8591 or visit www.theatercr.org.