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WHAT'S NEW in Wayne’s World?
Notes from Wayne Bryan, producing director
4/21/08
Do You Hear the People Sing?
We certainly did! We were privileged to hear 1,017 performers during our country-wide auditions, with talented artists spending time with us in Wichita, Oklahoma City, Chicago, Ann Arbor, New York and Los Angeles.
Offers have been made for just about every role, and we’re very excited at the mix of familiar and new faces we’ll be bringing you.
(We’re also very pleased at the wonderful response we’ve gotten to the “new face” we’ve put on our website and our stationary. Our new “Dancing Star” logo seems to be generating a lot of good “buzz,” and we thank the bright folks at Netappz Creative Solutions for designing him, along with all the other innovative work they perform for our website, our brochures, our advertising, and our playbills!)
Even though April sees us concentrating on our upcoming season, we're still getting comments about the 2007 shows. Last summer MTWichita set amazing new records for attendance - 81,212 people showed up! - including a lot of first-time visitors.
(To re-visit highlights of last summer, go to Archives and click on 2007 Season.)
Speaking of last summer -- Have you heard the good news about our delightful Annie Funke? She was so perfect as Tracy Turnblad in MTWichita’s Hairspray, the Broadway company had no choice but to invite her to join them. She currently is a member of the New York cast, standing by for the actress playing Tracy, and any day now she’ll be making her Broadway debut in the role. Congratulations, Annie!
Here’s to a Brand New Season!
First! Let me remind you that the INTRUST Festival of Broadway, on Tuesday evening May 13 in Kennedy Plaza outside Century II, is a GREAT way to hear some of the music from all five of the upcoming shows. We have dozens of wonderful performers getting ready to entertain you, and admission is free (with your River Festival button, of course!). Come spend a fast-paced, music-packed 90 minutes with us, won’t you?
Finding our Theme
On Friday, September 7, 2007, British producer Cameron Mackintosh personally signed off on MTWichita being allowed to do Les Miserables in 2008. This international sensation has been one of our dream projects ever since it debuted.
The acquisition of Les Mis gave us our theme for the summer. Since it is based on the famous novel by Victor Hugo, we decided that all five shows this year would be based on the works of famous authors.
Here’s a brief description of our five summer shows. For more details, go to 2008 SEASON on the menu and click on the individual shows. We’ll have up-to-date casting news, detailed plot synopses, and song lists.
is based on the raucous Roman comedies of Plautus, and it's a side-splitting show we haven’t done since 1974. I'm going to direct, with choreography by John MacInnis, musical direction by Thomas Wesley Douglas, and sets by J Branson. Starring as Pseudolus is Broadway veteran James Brennan, seen here last summer as devilish Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees. Other New Yorkers offering hilarious support will be Kilty Reidy (Prince Dauntless in Once Upon a Mattress) as Hysterium, Myrna Paris (Carlotta in Phantom) as Domina, and Ed Watts (Adam in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) as Myles Gloriosus. Add Californian Justin Robertson (Horton in Seussical) as Marcus Lycus, plus local favorites Charles Parker as Senex and Bucky Walters as Erronius, and I can pretty much guarantee you'll be laughing!
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| James Brennan |
Kilty Reidy |
Myrna Paris |
is Lerner and Loewe’s magical transformation of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. We’re very excited to welcome back our two stars of The Scarlet Pimpernel, Kim Huber (also seen in Beauty and the Beast, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and White Christmas) as Eliza, and Damon Kirsche as Henry Higgins. The deliciously elegant Kathleen Huber (Mrs. Meers in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Aunt Alicia in Gigi) will be Mrs. Higgins, and Charles Parker will reprise his outstanding 1996 portrayal of Colonel Pickering. Company member Johnny Stellard will be featured as the amorous Freddy Eynsford-Hill, singing “On the Street Where You Live.” I'll have the pleasure of directing, with choreography by the marvelous Sharon Halley.
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| Kim Huber |
Damon Kirsche |
Kathleen Huber |
is Roger Miller’s toe-tapping adaptation of Mark Twain's masterpiece, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It will be directed by Mark Madama, who just staged a wonderful version of this show at the University of Michigan. The evocative new sets will be designed for us by a new MTWichita face, Arthur Ridley, who designed the Michigan production. Broadway artist Nikkieli Demone (Miss Saigon, Ragtime) will make his Wichita debut as Jim, and we’re hoping to have Andy Mientus reprise his U of M performance as Huck, before Andy starts rehearsals for the national tour of Spring Awakening on Monday July 7. Co-starring as the conniving Duke and King will be Gordon Goodman (Jud in Oklahoma!, Edward in On a Clear Day...) and Danny Stiles (weight-challenged Dave in The Full Monty). The incredible singing voices in this show will also include Betti O. (Ain’t Misbehavin’, Seussical) and Sheila J. Kinnard (Once on this Island, Sound of Music).
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| Andy Nientus in the University of Michigan production of Big River |
Nikkieli Demone |
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*** (On Friday, 4th of July, our Big River performance will be at 7 p.m., and the city of Wichita will reserve 1000 parking spaces for our crew and patrons; The show will finish around 9:35, so patrons may leave before the 10:15 fireworks, or stay and enjoy them.)
takes Shakespeare's romantic comedies and puts them in a blender with the Elvis Presley songbook. Talented director-choreographer Roger Castellano and I are going to collaborate on staging this brand new Broadway show, and we’ll be joined by musical director Flint Hawes. Our amazing cast will include Broadway’s Chris Peluso (seen here as Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees, Tom in Good News!, Jimmy in Thoroughly Modern Millie) in the role of Chad, the mysterious young Elvis-like roustabout. Joining MTWichita for the first time will be an exciting new face for us, Gwen Stewart as Sylvia, a role she recently performed to great acclaim in California. Gwen is the original “Seasons of Love” soloist in the original cast of Rent, and she’s one of the most exciting singers we’ve ever presented. Adding to the fun will be the return of David Ruprecht, well-known game show host who has delighted our audiences in HONK! and The Music Man. You won’t want to miss this one!
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| Chris Peluso |
Gwen Stewart |
David Ruprecht |
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| Gwen Stewart and cast in All Shook Up at Musical Theatre West, Long Beach, CA, 2008 |
is the international sensation, based on Victor Hugo’s epic novel. Starring as Jean Valjean will be Nicholas Saverine, who is no stranger to the role, having played it in Europe and across the U.S. (but never yet in Wichita!). Joining Nick will be Chris Peluso as Marius, Jessica Chesbro as Fantine, Desi Oakley as Eponine, Karen and Tim Robu as the Thenardiers and Shaun-Michael Morse as Enjolras, all under the direction of Joe Locarro (who appeared in the show on Broadway, and who guided our award-winning production of
Ragtime).
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| Nicholas Saverine |
Jessica Chesbro |
Desi Oakley |
We’re selling season tickets and gift certificates right now, with single tickets for individual shows going on sale Monday, May 19.
You won’t want to miss one minute of this amazing summer!
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