Side by Side by Sondheim
June 20, 21, 22, 27 & 28, 2025
Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30pm, Sundays at 3:00pm
William A. Lehnerd Performance Hall & Production Center, Butler Memorial Park
Stephen Sondheim has been the leading composer of musical theatre for the past fifty years. His work is timeless. From the streets of ancient Rome, through nineteenth-century Japan and turn-of-the-century Sweden, to the high-rise apartments of 1970 Manhattan, his songs represent a definitive time and place, and yet move beyond their particular settings to speak to us all. Now, with this award-winning revue of his earlier work, some of the most lush, unforgettable songs from this musical theatre master are presented in one magical evening. Featuring music from Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle and Pacific Overtures, not to mention the classics written with musical theatre giants, Leonard Bernstein, Jule Styne and Richard Rodgers, this dazzling array of some of Sondheim’s best-known songs demonstrates his masterful craft and astounding creativity.
Minimal sets and costumes, a small cast and two pianos allow the brilliant songs to shine. The proceedings are run by a charming, pithy narrator whose virtually nonexistent musical requirements are ideal for a nonsinging, local celebrity with limited rehearsal time.
TICK, TICK… BOOM!
October 10, 11, 17, 18 & 19, 2025
William A. Lehnerd Performance Hall & Production Center, Butler Memorial Park
Before Rent, there was Tick, Tick… Boom!. This autobiographical musical by Jonathan Larson, the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning composer of Rent, is the story of a composer and the sacrifices that he made to achieve his big break in theatre. Containing fourteen songs, ten characters, three actors and a band, Tick, Tick… Boom! takes you on the playwright/composer’s journey that led to a Broadway blockbuster.
His girlfriend wants to get married and move out of the city, his best friend is making big bucks on Madison Avenue and, yet, Jon is still waiting on tables and trying to write the great American musical. Set in 1990, this compelling story of personal discovery is presented as a rock musical filled with instantly appealing melodies and a unique blend of musical theatre styles.
DISASTER
April 17, 18, 19, 24 & 25, 2025
William A. Lehnerd Performance Hall & Production Center, Butler Memorial Park
Disaster! is a new musical straight from Broadway, featuring some of the most unforgettable songs of the ’70s. “Knock on Wood,” “Hooked on a Feeling,” “Sky High,” “I Am Woman” and “Hot Stuff” are just a few of the scintillating hits in this hilarious musical comedy with a book by three-time Emmy Award nominee and SiriusXM Broadway host, Seth Rudetsky, and Jack Plotnick.
It’s 1979, and New York’s hottest A-listers are lining up for the opening of a floating casino and discotheque. Also attending is a faded disco star, a sexy nightclub singer with her eleven-year-old twins, a disaster expert, a feminist reporter, an older couple with a secret, a pair of young guys who are looking for ladies, an untrustworthy businessman and a nun with a gambling addiction. What begins as a night of boogie fever quickly changes to panic as the ship succumbs to multiple disasters, such as earthquakes, tidal waves and infernos. As the night turns into day, everyone struggles to survive and, quite possibly, repair the love that they’ve lost… or at least escape the killer rats.
Audiences and critics are wild for this hilarious homage to the era of bell-bottoms, platform shoes and the hustle. With larger-than-life characters, snappy dialogue and some of the most recognizable songs of the ’70s, Disaster! will have your patrons dancing in their seats and rolling in the aisles.