Hartt's 2012-13 Theatre Season is Sure to Delight

Lars Lee '13 and Jenna Zito '13 in a scene from "Miss Saigon."

The Hartt School Theatre Division, under the direction of Alan Rust, has announced an exciting and diverse 2012-13 Theatre Division performance season.

Tickets are available six weeks prior to each show. University of Hartford students, faculty, and staff are entitled to one free ticket to each production when they show their University ID at the Box Office in Lincoln Theater. Admission for the general public is $20 for each performance, with discounts for seniors, students, and groups.

For tickets and up-to-date scheduling information for all performances, call the University Box Office at 860.768.4228 or 800.274.8587 or visit www.hartford.edu/hartt. Please note that shows in the Kent McCray Theater and the Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation Theater (both located in the Handel Performing Arts Center) have limited seating.

The 2012-13 Season

Theatre Division Director Alan Rust directs Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, the first show in the 2012-13 Theatre season. Hartt composition student Matthew Primm composes original music for this performance. After the death of her young son and then following a lover to Paris, Madame Ranevsky returns to her beloved home in Russia with its well-known cherry orchard to find it will soon be auctioned off to pay down the family’s debt. Lopakhin, a local businessman, proposes a solution to the problem that haunts this family, for whom his grandfather was once a slave. Find out what Madame Ranevsky and her family decide to do with their beloved cherry orchard. Thursday through Saturday, October 11-13, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, October 14, at 3 p.m., in the Kent McCray Theater, Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts Center, 35 Westbourne Parkway, Hartford.

University Professor and former Hartt Dean Malcolm Morrison directs Actor Training students in Sophocles’ Antigone, Thursday through Saturday, October 18-20, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, October 21, at 3 p.m., in the Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation Theater, Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts Center. One of the greatest plays of ancient Greece, whose title character represents one of literature’s first great feminist heroines, Antigone features original music by Hartt composition student Evan Cogswell.

For the first music theatre production of the season, Hartt students perform Miss Saigon, with music by Claude-Michel Schonberg; lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr. and Alain Boublil; adapted from original French lyrics by Alain Boublil; additional material by Richard Maltby Jr.; orchestrations by William P. Brohn; and under the direction of Hartt faculty member Kevin Gray. Miss Saigon is the epic tale of a courageous young Vietnamese girl, Kim, and her journey of survival in post-war Vietnam and Bangkok. Based loosely on Puccini's Madame Butterfly, and set against the backdrop of Saigon in the turbulent final days of the U.S. involvement, Miss Saigon tells the story of ordinary people caught in the extraordinary circumstances of war. Miss Saigon runs Thursday through Saturday, October 25-27, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, October 28, at 3 p.m., in Lincoln Theater.

Guest artist Terry Layman returns to Hartt to direct Actor Training students in Moss Hart's great comedic expose of show business, Light Up the Sky, with original music by Hartt composition student Robert Tomasulo, Thursday through Saturday, November 29-December 1, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, December 2, at 3 p.m., in the Kent McCray Theater, Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts Center. Light Up the Sky takes place in Boston, where New York theatre folk are preparing the "out of town tryout" of a new play. The star, the director, the producer and the playwright fall all over each other trying to save the troubled show.

Music Theatre students perform in Honk!, Thursday through Saturday, December 6-8, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, December 9, at 3 p.m., in the Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation Theater, Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts Center. Honk! is the musical adaption of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Ugly Duckling and follows Ugly, an odd looking duck, on his quest to find his mother. With book and lyrics by Anthony Drewe and music by George Stiles, Honk! is sure to entertain.

As part of The Hartt School’s Partnership-in-Training with Goodspeed Musicals, fourth-year Music Theatre students will participate in the Goodspeed Festival of New Artists, January 18 through January 20. This weekend-long creative gathering of authors, actors, artists, and music theatre lovers includes staged readings of three brand new works. Don’t miss your chance to see the next big musical hit! Visit http://goodspeed.org/education-library/festival for details.

Associate Professor of Theatre Diana Moller-Marino directs Paul Rudnick’s dramatic comedy I Hate Hamlet, Thursday through Saturday, February 21-23, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, February 24, at 3 p.m., in the Kent McCray Theater, Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts Center. An actor who is to play the part of Hamlet in Central Park has a fear of the role. While in his apartment, he calls on the help of a former tenant, the ghost of John Barrymore, to help him overcome his fear.

Professor of Theatre Robert H. Davis directs On the Twentieth Century, the musical that goes behind the scenes to follow the relationship of an actress and director aboard a train – the Twentieth Century Limited – as it travels from Chicago to New York. With book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Cy Coleman, this Tony Award winning musical comedy is sure to entertain. On the Twentieth Century runs Thursday through Saturday, March 14-16, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 17, at 3 p.m., in Millard Auditorium.

Actor Training students perform Carlo Gozzi’s The King Stag, Thursday through Saturday, April 11-13, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, April 14, at 3 p.m., in the Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation Theater, Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts Center. The King Stag, a tale of love, magic, and mystery, appeals to both the young and the young at heart.

The musicals The Drowsy Chaperone and Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn run in repertory Monday, April 22, through Sunday, April 28, in the Kent McCray Theater, Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts Center. Times vary for each show. With book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar and music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison and directed by Theatre Division Director Alan Rust, The Drowsy Chaperone revolves around a present day music theatre fanatic who is listening to an original cast recording of The Drowsy Chaperone. As he listens, the characters come to life in his apartment. The musical Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn features a book by William Hauptman and music and lyrics by Roger Miller and is directed by David Watson. This musical follows Huckleberry Finn in his adventure down the Mississippi River as Huck and his friend Jim, a slave, escape to freedom.

As part of the Actor Training curriculum, students travel to England to receive intensive Shakespeare training with faculty from the professional British theatre. Upon their return, these students will present Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona. This show runs Thursday, May 2, through Saturday, May 4, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, May 5, at 3 p.m., in the Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation Theater, Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts Center.