SHARON—In a world of strife, Sharon Playhouse is bringing a “season of joy” to the stage in 2024.
Artistic Director Carl Andress, who lives in Kent, said this week, “We want to offer patrons a chance to come, to laugh, to enjoy the performances and really have fun. There is a lot going on in the world and up here, we want everyone come to a place where they can have a great time with some great performances. There will be nothing but smiles at the Sharon Playhouse.”
“We’ve brought in some fun titles,” he continued. “We just opened “Rock of Ages,” which is fantastic. It’s a story about big bands in the MTV days. The cast is really singing their faces off with a live rock band on stage. It’s a real party in there.”
“Rock of Ages” runs through July 7 and is directed by Tony Award Nominee Hunter Foster and choreographed by Sharron Lewis. It stars Danny Drewes, who appeared in “Something Rotten” last season.
Andress will make his directorial debut during his tenure as artistic director at Sharon Playhouse with the next selection, “The Prom.” It is choreographed by Krystyna Resavy and runs from July 26 to Aug. 11.
“It’s a wonderful, heartwarming story about four eccentric Broadway stars in need of image makeovers,” he recounted. The stars descend on the conservative town of Edgewater, Ind., to help a a lesbian student banned from bringing her girlfriend to high school prom.
“We have an extraordinary cast of 28 on the stage,” said Andress, “including eight local teenagers playing teens at the prom. The show stars Kate Baldwin, who is a two-time Tony Award nominee playing a two-time Tony winner.”
The Playhouse season continues with “an all-time favorite,” according to Andress. “Steel Magnolias,” brought to the screen in 1989 by the likes of Julia Roberts, Sally Fields, Olympia Dukakis and Dolly Parton, is all about female friendship. “There is a group that meets in a small-town beauty salon and their interactions reveal the strength of community that underlies all the funny banter,” said Andress. “We have a wonderful cast with Jen Cody returning this year. We’re so happy about that.”
Directed by Jackson Gay, it runs Aug. 30 through Sept. 8 in the Olsen Theater.
“Then, we go full-tilt nostalgia with ‘You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,’ an adorable show with adults performing as four-year-old children,” said Andress. “It is based on Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip, “Peanuts,” and Kristin Chenoweth won a Tony for her performance of ‘Sally’ in it on Broadway.”
In Sharon, the show will be directed by Julia Murney and choreographed by Michelle Lemon. It will run from Sept. 20 though 29.
There will be six youth performances, with the youngest performers (starting at age 5) taking to the stage Saturday in “Where Sharon Playhouse Stars are Born.”
An adaptation of “As You Like it,’ with its emphasis on horses, will be performed at Equus Effect, 37 Drum Road, an agency that helps veterans and first responders deal with stress through their relationship with horses. Performances are scheduled for July 12 and 13.
“It’s a new partnership for us and it is so exciting,” said Andress. “We went to an event last year and immediately said, ‘Can we do a show here?’ They have a beautiful outdoor ring, so 16 teens will be performing in the round. It is so exciting it to have young kids discovering Shakespeare, learning to speak it.”
The youth season carries on with a production of “Willy Wonka Kids on July 20 and a musical review, “Let your Voice be Heard, on Aug. 3”
See the Sharon Playhouse website for details.
“We just want to give the community a lot of variety, from Broadway stars to up-and-coming performers, form local performers and young people,” said Andress. “We spend so much of our time on screens, it’s really wonderful to come out and connect with other people. And you can’t beat the experience of live theater—it’s so invigorating.”
