The Heights Players’ 49th season will include
old favorites, new material and, a special treat for subscribers,
a two-for-the-price-of-one double-bill with Tony Kushner’s "Angel’s
in America."
"’Guys and Dolls,’ ’Anything Goes’
and ’South Pacific’ are very popular," member-at-large John
Bourne told GO Brooklyn. "We’re also doing the new plays
this year hoping to get more people interested."
The season kicks off on Sept. 10 with one of Neil Simon’s later
plays, "45 Seconds from Broadway," directed by Susan
Montez. The comedy consists of four slice-of-life pieces, all
set in a restaurant located in the theater district. The establishment
is frequented by a comic, a Broadway star, a producer and an
aspiring actress, or as Bourne says, "a typical Neil Simon
group of people discussing theater." The play runs through
Sept. 26.
The Heights Players’ second production is the old war-horse –
but forever young – "Guys and Dolls." Based on Damon
Runyan’s colorful short stories of Broadway gamblers and their
women, and blessed with a book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows
and a score by Frank Loesser, this play has proved to be a perennial
favorite on stage, on film and, most originally, on Broadway
in 1976 with an all-black cast. Ellen Pittari directs. "Guys
and Dolls" will run Oct. 8 through Oct. 24.
With "Look Homeward Angel," the Heights Players takes
a turn toward more serious drama. Ketti Frings’ drama, based
on Thomas Wolfe’s novel, is a powerful coming-of-age story about
a teenage boy whose thirst for knowledge takes him beyond the
borders of his mother’s boardinghouse. It won the 1957 Pulitzer
Prize and New York Drama Critics Circle Award.
"The play has been on our list for a long time, but we’ve
never done it before," says Bourne. "It’s a strong
play, and we’ve got a new director, Fabio Taliercio, who made
his debut here with Agatha Christie’s ’Toward Zero.’ He also
played the lead [Tommy Albright] in ’Brigadoon’ and he’s stage
managed a few shows."
Bourne told GO Brooklyn that when Wolfe wrote the book he was
living on Verandah Place in Cobble Hill. Years later, says Bourne,
Barbara Elliot, a former Heights Players president, lived in
that very same apartment. "Look Homeward Angel" runs
Nov. 5 through Nov. 21.
With all the buzz over "De-Lovely," Irwin Winkler’s
new movie about the life of Cole Porter, "Anything Goes,"
a popular 1930s musical that introduced many Porter standards
– "I Get a Kick Out of You," "All Through the
Night" and "You’re the Top" – certainly makes
a timely arrival on the Heights Players’ stage.
Although the musical, about society folk and con men aboard a
transatlantic ocean liner, was originally conceived as a vehicle
for stars Ethel Merman, William Gaxton and Victor Moore, its
continued popularity goes well beyond star value. Steve Velardi
directs. "Anything Goes" runs Dec. 3 through Dec. 19.
The Heights Players will present "Angels in America,"
Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about AIDS, politics,
sex and religion, in its entirety with both "Millennium
Approaches" and "Perestroika."
"[Director] Robby [Weinstein] liked the play. He asked if
he could do both parts," Bourne explains. "When subscribers
hand over their vouchers for the first show, the vouchers will
be punched and given back for the second show." Part One
runs Jan. 7-9, Jan. 13 and Jan. 14; Part Two runs Jan. 15, Jan.
16 and Jan. 21-23.
"The Hobbit," Patricia Gray’s adaptation of J. R. R.
Tolkien’s novel, is a fantastical adventure that appeals to theatergoers
of all ages.
"We’re doing this play for the first time," says Bourne.
"It’s something for the entire family." Bill Wood directs.
"The Hobbit" runs Feb. 4 through Feb. 20.
"Stalag 17" is best known as Billy Wilder’s classic
1953 film. But it was originally a stage play that went to Broadway
by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski.
Bevan and Trzcinski had both been prisoners of war in Germany,
and their story of a group of American POWs trying to discover
the traitor among them has the ring of authenticity. Ed Healy
directs. "Stalag 17" runs March 4 through March 20.
"When Ed [Healy] came up with a play for 17 men [’Stalag
17’] and no women, people asked me to do ’The Women,’" says
Bourne, who is scheduled to direct Claire Boothe Luce’s classic
1930s comedy about feminine folly.
"It’s about a woman whose husband has been cheating on her.
Her friends get her to go for a divorce in Reno where interesting
things happen," Bourne says.
There are 32 female speaking roles in this play, but Bourne,
who did the play for the Heights Players years ago, claims he
can make due with 25, because "there are roles that can
be doubled up." Viewers can judge for themselves when they
attend a performance of "The Women," which runs from
April 1 through April 17.
The Heights Players wrap up the season with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s
"South Pacific" directed by Thomas Tyler. The tale
of two sets of lovers on an island in the Pacific during World
War I is the vehicle for some of the duo’s best-loved songs –
"There’s Nothing Like a Dame" and "Some Enchanted
Evening."
When the Heights Players produced the show back in 1972, Broadway
star Mitch Gregg ("No Strings," "The Unsinkable
Mollie Brown," "Music in the Air") took the role
of Emile de Becque.
"He was 65, but so good-looking you wouldn’t know it,"
recalled Bourne.
The Heights Players is Brooklyn’s oldest, self-sustaining, not-for-profit
community theater. This year, the seasoned company may offer
the most value of the season.
The Heights Players season runs Sept.
10 through May 22. Performances take place at 26 Willow Place
at State Street in Brooklyn Heights. Subscriptions are $80 for
9 tickets and $150 for 18 tickets. For more information, call
(718) 237-2752.
