Music, Mystery And Drama On Sherman Stage In 2003

SHERMAN — Music, mystery and drama will light up the stage of the Sherman Playhouse during the 2003 season, the theater company’s 77th year of productions. Two musicals – one futuristic and romantic, the other based on the world’s greatest love story – plus a tongue-in-cheek mystery and a suspense drama will be produced this year.

The season opens April 11 with Weird Romance, with music by Alan Menken, book by Alan Brennert, and lyrics by David Spencer. Christopher Rich will direct the musical that consists of two one-act musicals that comment on love and human nature. Weird Romance opens April 11 and runs weekends through May 3.

The Mystery of Irma Vep by Charles Ludlam, directed by Jocelyn Beard, will run June 6-28. A sympathetic werewolf, a vampire, and an Egyptian mummy star in the hilarious Victorian melodrama.

West Side Story, the landmark Broadway musical by Leonard Bernstein, with book by Arthur Laurents and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, continues the season. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is transported to modern-day New York City, as two young idealistic lovers find themselves caught between warring street gangs. Lanny Mitchell is the director. West Side Story will run August 1-30.

The final show of the season will be Robert D. Sherwood’s The Petrified Forest. Christine Daley will direct the drama, best remembered as the 1936 film starring Leslie Howard, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart.

The suspense drama is set in a desert roadhouse café, where a young woman, who dreams of escaping a dead end existence, meets up with a penniless poet and falls in love, only to have her dreams crushed by escaped convicts who take possession of the roadhouse. Performances will be October 3-25.

Curtain times are Friday and Saturday nights at 8 pm and Sunday matinees at 3 pm, with the exception of West Side Story, which will be performed two Friday nights only, August 1 and August 29. Saturday nights and Sunday matinees remain the same.

Ticket prices for musicals are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors and students; for plays it’s $15 for adults, $13 for seniors and students. Season subscriptions are $60. For information call 860-354-3622 or write PO Box 471, Sherman, CT 06784