2006 Summer Music Theatre Season Opens June 14th With The Valley Premiere Of The Taffetas
Opening the 2006 season of Muhlenberg College’s Summer Music Theatre is the Lehigh Valley premiere of The Taffetas: A musical journey through the fabulous 50’s on the Baker Theatre stage, June 14 to July 2.Thursday, May 25, 2006 01:59 PM
The Taffetas will take you back to the bubble gum innocence, sweet optimism and the boy-crazy glory of the 1950’s through the early days of live television. With champagne bubbles for sets and applause signs for the audiences, legends Lawrence Welk, Arthur Godfrey and Ed Sullivan hosted broadcast and televised talent shows that are the grandly entertaining ancestors of American Idol.
In a post-war decade dominated by the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower and the assurances of security and prosperity for America, popular music was represented by the comforting, romantic sounds of “crooners” Perry Como, Pat Boone and Rosemary Clooney. Thirteen million teens lived at home with their families, many with part time jobs after school and summers, and they had time to enjoy radio and television entertainment, the spending money to subscribe to fan magazines, and the freedom to play 45 rpm records on their own portable record players. Predictably, the era produced America’s first generation of “teenagers” - a marketplace for blue jeans, poodle skirts, saddle shoes, Barbie Dolls, hula hoops and silly putty – a world of fashion punctuated by having a date to the sock hop and going to a drive-in movie in a Chevrolet convertible.
Conceived by Rick Lewis, who grew up watching “My Little Margie” and who returned to research the period through old record archives, 50’s fan letters and videotapes of early television variety shows, The Taffetas began its musical life in the cabaret scene in New York City. The story of the four Midwestern sisters aspiring to recording fame was inspired by the popular Chordettes, four young women from Wisconsin who had established their fan base on radio and television before ever cutting their first record. The Chordettes joined Arthur Godfrey’s “Talent Scouts” on radio in 1949, graduated to his TV show, and in 1954 had their first number one hit record with ”Mister Sandman.”
Lewis created, with additional material from its original director, Arthur Whitelaw, an evening of entertainment that embraces the innocence and the sweetness of the popular culture of the time. The Taffetas introduces audiences to the songs, the charm and the fun of this era through the rich personalities of four sisters – Kaye, Peggy, Donna and Cheryl. Encouraged by hometown fans, these naive young ladies from Muncie, Indiana are making their television debut on “Spotlight on Music” – shining the spotlight on new talent in a program supported by the live commercials from Galaxy beauty products on the Dumont Television Network. Ranging in ages from 19 to 28, the fictional “Taffetas” were discovered performing on a radio show in Fort Wayne, Indiana and are hoping for a career-breaking appearance in New York.
“The Taffetas” have a delightfully polished harmonic style reminiscent of the more famous McGuire Sisters. With solos, duets and medleys of popular songs like “Sh-Boom (Life Could be a Dream),” “Mister Sandman,” “Johnny Angel,” “I’m Sorry,” “Fly Me to the Moon,” “Where the Boys Are,” “Tonight You Belong to Me,” “Sincerely” and “Lollipop” - there are nearly 40 songs represented in the show. Whether you remember (or admit to remembering) the 50’s, The Taffetas is a fabulous drive down memory lane – as one critic described it, “coolly delicious as a malted milk shake.”
David Caldwell ,whodirected the very popular Forever Plaid on the Muhlenberg stage in 2000,returns to direct The Taffetas. Caldwell has directed productions of Forever Plaid, Oil City Symphony, Radio Gals and Smoke on the Mountain at Mt. Gretna, Allenberry and Totem Pole Playhouses and at theatres across the country. Dennis Parichy, who has received three Tony nominations, an Obie and a Drama Desk Award for his professional designs, is designing SMT lights for the 10th season. Michael McDonald, who has designed more than 30 shows for Muhlenberg and now works on and off Broadway, including Associate Designer on 2 Tony-Award winning Best Plays: Take Me Out, and Edward Albee’s The Goat, will design costumes for The Taffetas.
Starring as “The Taffetas” are Brigitte J. Choura (Peggy), Courtney Romano (Kaye), Kara Senich (Cheryl) and Lindsay Quinn (Donna). Choura has previously appeared in the SMT’s George M! and Candide. Romano and Senich are 2006 graduates of Muhlenberg College who double majored in theatre and dance. Romano performed in Muhlenberg productions of Cabaret, Pippin and A Chorus Line, and many others. Senich has appeared in summer productions of Godspell and George M! and choreographed The Cat in the Castle. Quinn is a graduate of Muhlenberg College currently residing in New York City. Her SMT credits include Godspell, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Once Upon a Time in New Jersey.
Tickets for The Taffetas are $32 for adults, $28 for seniors and $17 youth. Subscriptions, discount performance and group prices available.
THE 26th SEASON SCHEDULE
The Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre 2006 season also includes the classic Broadway musical Carousel, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II (July 12 – 30), and the off-Broadway hit I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change with music by Jimmy Roberts and book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro (July 26 – August 13). Performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m., and Family Nights on Sundays at 8 p.m. (except the last performance of the run of each show). Family Night tickets are one free youth ticket with each adult or senior ticket purchased.
The Theatre Box office (484-664-3333) is open in the Trexler Pavilion for Theatre & Dance on the Muhlenberg College campus; tickets to all shows of the 2006 season are available online at www.summerbroadway.org. Subscriptions are available by calling the Box office, open Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm and Sunday 12 noon to 4 pm.
MUSICAL THEATRE FOR CHILDREN. Tickets are also available for the season’s stage musical for children, Miss Nelson Has a Field Day, on stage in The Studio Theatre, June 28 - August 5. Miss Nelson Has A Field Day is another witty, wacky musical for the entire family based on the popular children’s books by Harry Allard and James Marshall. The adapted book, music & lyrics by Joan Cushing were originally commissioned and produced by Imagination Stage, Bethesda, MD. The story takes Miss Nelson on to the football practice field, where the third graders just want to clown around. Enter Viola Swamp, who mysteriously appears to rescue school spirits by taking charge on the practice field. Peformances are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m. only. TICKETS: $9 General Admission, $7 for groups of 15 or more. Call 484-664-3333 or order tickets online at www.summerbroadway.org
The Artistic Director of the Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre is Charles Richter is the Director of Theatre at Muhlenberg College, where he has taught and directed for 28 years. A member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, he has directed the world premiere of Once Upon a Time in New Jersey as well as many classics of the Broadway stage at Muhlenberg. He is currently directing James Ryan’s one-act play “On the Sporadic” for the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York City, May 30 – June 19.
