Porgy and Bess Program [pdf] - American Repertory Theater

guide to local theater (continued)
come fast and furious, is a worldwide phenomenon filled with
up-to-the-minute spontaneous humor and quicksilver improvisation
where the audience becomes part of the action and gets
to solve the crime.
SOUTH PACIFIC, Boston Opera House, 539 Washington St.,
617-931-2787. Sep 27–Oct 2. Based on James Michener’s
Pulitzer Prize-winning book Tales of the South Pacific, Rodgers
& Hammerstein’s classic musical set on a tropical island during
World War II tells the story of two couples and how their happiness
is threatened by the realities of war. The beloved show’s
songs include “Some Enchanted Evening,” “I’m Gonna Wash
That Man Right Outa My Hair,” “This Nearly Was Mine” and
“There is Nothin’ Like a Dame.”
THE SPEAKER’S PROGRESS, Sulayman Al-Bassam Theatre,
Paramount Theatre, 559 Washington St., 617-824-8000. Oct
12–16. Using Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night as a starting point
to explore events in the Middle East, this play set in a totalitarian
Arab state where all forms of theater have been banned is
a satire on the decades of political inertia that have fed recent
revolts across the Arab region and a daring theatrical metaphor
for the mechanisms of dissent.
YOU BETTER SIT DOWN: TALES FROM MY PARENTS’
DIVORCE, The Civilians, Paramount Theatre, 559 Washington St.,
617-824-8000. Oct 12–16. This hysterical account of marriage
and divorce, based on the troupe members’ interviews with their
own parents, presents four actors—each playing his or her own
parents—who serve as conduits for stories of family division.
LOCAL/REGIONAL THEATER
AS YOU LIKE IT, Theatre@First, Seven Hills Park (behind the
Davis Square T station), Holland Street, Somerville, 888-874-
7554. Sep 8–11. This free outdoor production presents one of
Shakespeare’s most enduring comedies, in which city and
country collide as Rosalind, a Duke’s daughter fleeing the
wrath of her uncle, heads into the woods to find her father—
and herself.
THE BACCHAE, Whistler in the Dark, Charlestown Working
Theater, 442 Bunker Hill St., 866-811-4111. Sep 15–23. In
Euripides’ ancient tragedy, the citizens of Thebes deny the divinity
of Dionysos, who punishes them by inciting the women
into a frenzy—driving them from their homes into the mountains
where they enact the wild rituals of worship to Bacchus.
The young king Pentheus wrestles the god for control of his
city, but will his lack of understanding lead to his ruination?
BEFORE I LEAVE YOU, Huntington Theatre Company, Wimberly
Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts,
527 Tremont St., 617-933-8600. Oct 14–Nov 13. In a blink,
Emily’s Harvard Square world falls apart. Her husband Koji suddenly
embraces his Asian roots. Her friend Jeremy’s work on his
novel gets interrupted by a health scare and his sister Trish moving
in. Four longtime friends face too much past and too little future
in this moving new comedy.
BIG RIVER, Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon St., 617-585-
5678. Sep 2–Oct 8. Join Huck and Jim on the Mississippi River
in the 1840s, where Huck, escaping from his drunken father,
meets up with Jim, a runaway slave. The story of their journey
downstream is an American classic that captures the idyllic
pleasures and unacknowledged injustices of life on the big river
with humor, song and spirit.
Stage
Spotlight
YOUR GUIDE TO
NEW ENGLAND THEATRE
PRESENTS THE MUSICAL ADAPTATION OF
NORTON JUSTER’S ACCLAIMED STORY
The Phantom Tollbooth
OCTOBER 21–NOVEMBER 20, 2011
617-879-2300 • tickets@wheelock.edu
www.WheelockFamilyTheatre.org
Boston’s Professional, Affordable Theatre
for Every Generation
THE BOSTON CONSERVATORY
Curtains
THE MUSICAL COMEDY WHODUNIT FROM
THE CREATORS OF CABARET AND CHICAGO
DIRECTED BY DAVID GRAM
MUSICAL DIRECTION BY BILL CASEY
OCTOBER 3–6, 2011
The Balcony
BY JEAN GENET • DIRECTED BY JOHN KUNTZ
FOR MATURE AUDIENCES
NOVEMBER 17–20, 2011
The Boston Conservatory Theater
31 Hemenway Street
Box Office opens Sept. 6, 2011: 617-912-9222
http://bostonconservatory.ticketforce.com
Advertise in Theatrebill’s
Not-for-Profit Theater section.
Call 617-423-3400 for more information.
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION