The 2017 season kicks off with Yasmine Reza’s Art, the critically acclaimed comedy, in its Playhouse premiere. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, Olivier Award for Best Comedy, and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play, Art focuses on the meaning of art (in the form of a solid white painting) and the meaning of friendship to the man who bought the painting and the two friends who come to see it. David Beach (Broadway: Something Rotten, It’s Only A Play, Mama Mia!, Urinetown; TV: Veep, The Good Wife) is Marc; the role of Yvan will be played by Eddie Korbich (original Broadway casts of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, A Christmas Story, The Little Mermaid, The Drowsy Chaperone; TV: Blue Bloods, Elementary); and David Andrew Macdonald (Broadway: Skylight; Rocky; Mamma Mia; regional: The Cape Playhouse, North Shore Music Theater) is Serge. Art is directed by Matt Lenz (Broadway: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Velocity of Autumn, Hairspray; national tours: A Christmas Story, The Sound of Music). Playing June 12-24, 2017, Art has won rave reviews and laughter of audiences around the world.
Sally Myles
Second on the roster will be the rollicking and heart-warming comedy brimming with misunderstanding and mischief, The Foreigner. Larry Shue’s play demonstrates what can happen when a group of devious characters must deal with a stranger who (they think) knows no English. Allison Layman (‘Shelby’ on Hulu/Universal’s The Path) is Catherine; John Scherer (Cape Playhouse: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Unnecessary Farce 42nd Street,; Broadway: Sunset Boulevard) is Charlie; John Skelley (Guthrie Theatre, Kennedy Center) is David; and Sally Mayes (Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle nominee, She Loves Me, Roundabout Theater; Steel Magnolias, Broadway) is Betty. Hunter Foster (Broadway roles: The Bridges of Madison County, Million Dollar Quartet, Urinetown), director of last season’s acclaimed Cabaret and My Fair Lady in 2015 at the Cape Playhouse, directs the production. Winner of two Obie Awards and two Outer Critics Circle Awards as Best New American Play and Best Off-Broadway Production, it may be one of the funniest American plays ever written. The Foreigner plays June 27-July 8, 2107.
Kyle Scatliffe
The first musical of the playhouse season was hailed by the New York Times as being “Remarkably ingenious!” Six spellers enter; one speller leaves victorious! In The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, an eclectic group of six adolescents, all played by adults, vie for the spelling championship of a lifetime. While candidly disclosing hilarious and touching stories from their home lives, the tweens spell their way through a series of (potentially made-up) words, hoping never to hear the soul-crushing, pout-inducing, life un-affirming “ding” of the bell that signals a spelling mistake. Kyle Scatliffe (Broadway: The Color Purple, Les Misérables, London: The Scottsboro Boys, Olivier Award nomination) plays Mitch; Kay Trinidad (Broadway: The Little Mermaid) is Marcy Parks; Farah Alvin (Cape Playhouse: Pump Boys and Dinettes; Broadway: It Shoulda Been You, Nine, The Look of Love, Saturday Night Fever, Grease!) is Rona; and Tony Award-winner Michael McGrath (Broadway: She Loves Me, Nice Work if You Can Get It, Spamalot) as Panch. Directed and choreographed by Tony Award-nominee Marcia Milgrom Dodge, with music and lyrics by William Finn and book by Rachel Sheinkin, and winner of two Tony Awards and three Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is one of the funniest musicals ever written. A Playhouse premiere, it plays July 11-22, 2017.
Winner of a staggering six Tony Awards, including Best Play, and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, John Logan’s sizzling drama Red is one of the most intellectually riveting shows to recently hit Broadway. At the pinnacle of his career, famed abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko struggles with a series of grand-scale paintings for the biggest commission in the history of modern art. He and his new assistant work feverishly in Rothko’s New York studio, until his assistant’s challenges to Rothko’s artistic integrity force the artist to confront his personal demons. Patrick Stafford (LA Drama Critics Circle Award as Ken in Red, TV: Modern Family, Criminal Minds, C.S.I., N.C.I.S., Glee, Major Crimes) is Rothko’s assistant, Ken; and Stephen Caffrey (TV: Tour of Duty, All My Children) is Rothko. Directed by David Glenn Armstrong, and a Playhouse premiere, Red plays July 25-August 5, 2017.
Julia Murney
Regarded as one of the greatest musicals ever created, Gypsy is the ultimate tale of an ambitious stage mother fighting for her daughters’ success… while secretly yearning for her own. Set in America in the 1920s, when vaudeville was dying and burlesque was born, Arthur Laurents’ landmark show explores the world of two-bit show business with artful humor, heart, and sophistication. The celebrated score, by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim, boasts one glorious hit after another, including: “Let Me Entertain You,” “You Gotta Get A Gimmick,” and “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.” Rose will be played by Julia Murney (Broadway and national tour, Wicked; The Wild Party, Drama Desk nomination); Caroline Bowman (Broadway: Wicked, Kinky Boots) is Louise; James Lloyd Reynolds (TV: The Blacklist, Odd Mom Out, Law and Order, Law and Order SVU) plays Herbie; Jane Blass (Gypsy starring Patti Lupone; national tours, Hairspray, 9 To 5) is Mazeppa; June will be played by Tess Soltau (Broadway: Wicked, Addams Family); Playhouse favorite Jennifer Cody (Broadway: Shrek the Musical, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Pajama Game) plays Tessis/Cratchit; Amy Bodnar (Broadway: Oklahoma; Cape Playhouse: As Bees in Honey Drown) is Electra; and Garett Hawe (Broadway: Newsies; Mary Poppins, Matilda; national tour: Wicked) is Tulsa. Cape Playhouse Artistic Director Michael Rader directs, with choreography by Jason Sparks. Winner of six Tony Awards, four Olivier Awards, and seven Drama Desk Awards, Gypsy plays August 8-19, 2017.
The season wraps up with Murder for Two, the perfect comedic blend of music, mayhem, and murder, coming to the Playhouse following a smash-hit off-Broadway run, in its Cape Playhouse and Cape Cod premieres. In this hilarious show, two performers play thirteen roles—not to mention the piano—in a witty and winking homage to old-fashioned murder mysteries. Ian Lowe (Lincoln Center Theatre, NY Music Festival Theatre) played Marcus and Jeremiah Ginn (Broadway: Anything Goes) plays The Suspects, reprising the roles they played on the national tour of Murder for Two. Directed by J. Scott Lapp, with book and music by Joe Kinosian, book and lyrics by Kellen Blair, this killer musical comedy wraps up the season, playing August 22-September 2, 2017.
Season tickets and single tickets are now on sale and can be purchased at www.CapePlayhouse.com or by calling 508-385-3911. The box office will open for the season on May 30.
About The Cape Playhouse
The non-profit Cape Playhouse was founded in 1927 by Californian Raymond Moore, who spent several summers in Provincetown painting scenery, writing plays, and acting in local theatre. His vision, however, was to have a theatre of his own—a smart, sophisticated summer theatre that would bring Broadway to Cape Cod. He purchased a 19th-century former Unitarian Meeting House for $200, had it moved to 3½ acres of pasture land fronting the Old Kings Highway in Dennis, and converted it into a professional theatre. The Cape Playhouse has been kept true to its original structure—even the original pews still serve as seats. The opening performance on July 4, 1927 was The Guardsman, starring Basil Rathbone. Over the years, many big- name stars from Broadway and the silver screen have acted there, including Bette Davis (who first worked as an usher), Gregory Peck, Gertrude Lawrence, Lana Turner, Ginger Rogers, Humphrey Bogart, Tallulah Bankhead, Helen Hayes, Julie Harris, and Paulette Goddard. It’s no wonder the Cape Playhouse is known as “The Birthplace of the Stars.” Many young, aspiring performers have spent their summers here. In 1956, a young student was given a small part in The Male Animal, starring Henry Fonda (his daughter, Jane)! Today, most of the stars still come from Broadway, but it seems that almost every well-known star of stage, screen, and TV has walked the stage of the Cape Playhouse.
About Cat Wilson
