The 2019-2020 season will be a busy one at Olney Theatre Center with 16 plays, concerts, and presentations as part of the company’s 82nd season. Musicals will frame the opening of the season and of the new year, with Cabaret kicking off the season, and Miss You Like Hell, a new musical from Erin McKeown and Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegria Hudes (Water by the Spoonful and book for In the Heights) to begin the new year.
Here, we step through the season.
Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret. This unique musical tragedy (with a book by Joseph Masteroff, and based by a play by JohnVan Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood) explores the decadent days of Germany’s Weimar Republic, with the shadow of Nazism in the background. From August 28 to October 6, 2019; Shakespeare Theatre’s Alan Paul will direct.
The Royale, a story about a fictional version of the first African-American heavyweight boxing champion, Jack Johnson. Jay Jackson is “the black bringer of retribution,” a superb fighter who dominates the heavyweight ranks. Ben Brantley of the New York Times says, “It’s a complicated and ambivalent tale that bears far more social freight than the usual beat-the-odds sports melodrama. But…it’s hard not to experience the anxious, invested thrills that come with rooting for an underdog hero on the ropes.” Paige Hernandez will direct this Marcos Ramirez drama, which will run from September 25 to October 27 of this year. Olney will produce The Royale in collaboration with 1st Stage.
Olney’s holiday season will be a doubleheader. On the Mainstage, Olney will bring us the famed musical about the day the silent movies died, Singin’ in the Rain. The movie version is best known for Gene Kelly’s astonishing dancing; Olney’s version will be directed by the celebrated director and choreographer Marcos Santana, who choreographed In the Heights. From November 8, 2019 to January 5, 2020.
Paul Morella’s traditional, and much-loved, one-actor A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas will be celebrating its 10 anniversary at the Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab. DCTS’ Rosalind Lacy called Ghost Story of Christmas, “up front and personal in an inspired, deeply-felt, moving one-man marathon monologue” in this review. From November 29 to December 29 of this year.
Miss You Like Hell. Jesse Green’s mixed New York Times review concluded that the show “is a powerful example of what musicals do best: explore the unprotected border where individual needs and social issues intermix.” From January 29 to March 1, 2020.
The Amateurs, a comedy about a medieval theatrical troupe staging travelling productions about the Great Flood and Noah’s family while their fellow cast-members, and audiences, die from the plague. The productions are uniformly awful, but only when one of the actors begins to question God (and also why her character is just called “Noah’s wife” instead of being given a real name) do they also develop human characters for their audiences. The Times’ Green called The Amateurs “a hilarious, slightly eggheaded and strangely moving medieval backstager.” From March 4 to April 4 of next year; Jason King Jones directs Jordan Harrison’s piece.
Stephen Karam’s Tony-winning The Humans. This is the story of a family telling itself, incorrectly, that it is keeping its head above water, “Playwright Stephen Karam…won a best play Tony for this script, and it’s easy to see why” DCTS said in this review. Aaron Posner will direct. From April 1 to May 3, 2020.
Pippin, about the son of Charlemagne (or someone like him) who leaves the trappings of familial power to find himself as an everyday human. Eleanor Holdridge will direct this Stephen Schwartz musical. From June 10 to July 19 of next year.
In addition to its regularly scheduled shows, Olney will also present one-night concert versions of Kiss of the Spider Woman (Friday, October 11, 2019), Dessa Rose (Friday, March 6, 2020) and Brigadoon (Friday, July 24, 2020).
In addition to all that, Olney will present two short-run shows for young audiences: Dragons Love Tacos & Other Stories (October 26-27, 2019) and Pete the Cat (January 11-12).
The National Players will present Tom Arvetis’ Walk on Two Moons (August 10-11, 2019), As You Like It (August 16-19, 2019) and The Diary of Anne Frank (September 17-19, 2019).
Olney Theatre Center has membership packages ranging from 3 to 9 shows. Once subscriber tickets are available, you will be able to find them here.
