Childhood, magic, myths and legends, and Patsy Cline — who is arguably all of those — will make up the docket for Creative Cauldron’s 2019-2020 season.
Creative Cauldron will open the season with Disenchanted, Dennis Giacino’s scathing examination of the Disney Princesses, as they really are: embittered, dipsomaniacal, and not too bright. “Nobody’s pretending that making fun of the Disney princess image is a brand-new phenomenon,” Matthew J. Palm of the Orlando Sentinel says, “but Giacino’s catchy music and emphasis on female empowerment elevate familiar jokes to delightful heights.” A winner of the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical, Disenchanted will run from October 3 to 27, 2019.
Next: the Creative Cauldron Creative Team goes to work on a century plus-old classic: Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book. Mowgli, raised by wolves, sees the law of the jungle as it really is. Book by Ellen Selby and Laura Connors Hull; lyrics by Stephen Gregory Smith and music by Matt Conner. From November 8-24 of this year.
For the holiday season Creative Cauldron will once again present Madeline’s Christmas. While the other children in her orphanage lie sick on Christmas Eve, Madeline decides to visit a magic rug merchant to give her besties an unforgettable Christmas. “The Madeline series has touched hearts over the years because she’s exotic enough in a different French environment, she’s part of a loving community, and she gets things done with care and love,” says DCTS’ Debbie Jackson in this review. “Madeline’s Christmas is a perfect holiday treat, sure to bring smiles and laughter sprinkled with whimsy, nostalgia and sparkle for all.” From December 6-23, 2019.
Creative Cauldron kicks off 2020 with a Passport to the World of Music — blues, jazz, Latin, fusion, blues, folk, bluegrass and forms not yet named, curated by Ken Aviss and Lynn Veronneau of the samba group Veronneau. From January 4 to February 2, 2020.
Is the Gilbert & Sullivan opera The Mikado still playable today? Creative Cauldron will give it a try with David Bell and Rob Bowman’s adaptation, Hot Mikado. Nanki-Poo is still the son of the Japanese Emperor, and he’s still looking for Yum-Yum, and she’s still betrothed to the Lord High Executioner, but in this version Nanki-Poo is a trumpet player, the characters wear zoot suits and snoods, the setting is in the 1940s, and the music is jazz, blues, rock and hot gospel. The Chicago Critic’s Tom Williams calls it “the most energetic, funny, toe-tapping musical comedy you’ll ever see. It is a tour de force comic satire: it is a dazzlingly spirited dance spectacular; and it is musical treat.” From February 13 to March 8 of next year.
The Cauldron creatives then will take a shot at another ancient story — Cinderella. In Cinderella’s Dream, the hardworking heroine has a thing or three to say about her destiny and fate. Once again, the book is by Selby and Hull; music by Connors; lyrics by Smith. From March 20 to April 5, 2020.
The great country singer Patsy Cline had her own Cinderella story, and Ted Swindley’s Always…Patsy Cline presents it in a two-hander with Cline and superfan Louise Segar. The Berkshire Edge’s Dan Dwyer calls it “a glorious, nonstop songfest of Cline’s greatest hits and then some, and a lovefest of friendship between her and” Segar. From April 23 to May 17 of next year.
Creative Cauldron tops off its season with a little Sondheim — more specifically, Into the Woods, Sondheim’s opus about metafabulism, with a book by James Lapine. Jack grows the beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood confronts the Wolf, and in general the characters from our childhood reveal how things were from their perspective. “Sondheim and book writer James Lapine have packed the show to the gills with ideas about wish fulfillment and its consequences, the relationship between parents and their children and the awareness that existence is both struggle and reward,” said Roy Maurer, reviewing a Ford’s Theatre production for DCTS. From June 4-21, 2020.
Creative Cauldron has plans to produce one more yet show, to be announced — between February 13 and March 8 of next year.
Single tickets go on sale July 1, 2019.
Season passes are available now.
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