Simon play heads crowded calendar

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Feb 8, 2004 | by Ivan M. Lincoln Deseret Morning News

A Neil Simon play leads this week's crowded calendar of new stage productions.

-- "BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS," the first of Neil Simon's autobiographical trilogy (with "Biloxi Blues" and "Broadway Bound"), is generally regarded as the playwright's masterpiece. Pioneer Theatre Company is reviving it Wednesday through Feb. 28, with guest Paul Barnes directing a cast of mostly New York-based Equity performers.

Alexis Verson, a 10th grader at West High School, is the one local, non-Equity player. But she's not inexperienced, having performed in "Anne Frank & Me" and "John Lennon & Me," both at the Babcock, and "Pride's Crossing" at the Rose Wagner Center. Bobby Stegger, who plays Eugene (based on Simon himself), was previously seen here in this season's "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde." Harris Doran, who plays Eugene's older brother, Stanley, performed in Roger Benington's recent production of "Sir Richard Burton's Arabian Nights" at the Rose Wagner.

Performances are in the Pioneer Memorial Theater on the University of Utah campus, 7:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, and 8 and 2 p.m. Saturdays. Tickets are $20-$39 (581-6961).

This engagement's "Drama and Dinos" event, which allows parents to leave their children at the nearby Utah Museum of Natural History during one matinee, will be Feb. 14, $20 per child ($14 for museum members). Children, 5-10 years of age, must be enrolled in advance by calling Kwin Peterson at 581-6270 or signing up online at www.pioneertheatre.org/box/dinos.html. Special "Brighton Beach Memoirs" performances for the hearing-impaired will be Feb. 23 and 24 at 7:30 p.m.

PTC management cautions that the play does contain some strong language.

-- "TONY 'N' TINA'S WEDDING," playing Thursday through Feb. 28 in the Grove Theatre, 20 S. Main, Pleasant Grove, is an audience- participation comedy. The show is still playing in New York, Chicago, Australia and Great Britain and had a brief run last year in Salt Lake City. This is its Utah County debut, one of the first "local" productions authorized by the show's New York-based creators.

Ticket-holders are not just theatergoers; they're guests at what turns into an out-of-control wedding and reception (the latter includes dinner and dancing). What happens during the evening pretty much depends on how the audience reacts.

The cast includes Linda Peterson and Josh Curtis as Tina and Tony; Joyce Gunter as Josephina, the bride's mother; Stephen Briggs as Tony Nunzia Sr., the groom's father; Jane Williams as Grandma Nunzia; Miriam Latour as Madeline, Tony Sr.'s companion; Verdon Walker Jr. as Father Mark; and Jeremy Showgrun as Vinnie Black, owner of the reception center.

Tickets are $18, including dinner. Performances are Thursdays- Saturdays, with the wedding party and "guests" arriving at 6:15 p.m., followed by the ceremony, the receiving line, dancing, cutting of the cake, toasts -- any or all of which may be interrupted at any time by tardy bridesmaids or angry ex-lovers (796-8499).

-- "SWING," an off Broadway song-and-dance revue being directed by Shawn Mortensen, opens Thursday in the SCERA Center Showhouse II, 745 S. State, Orem, and continues through Feb. 28.

Mortensen's 22-member cast will perform such classic tunes as "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)," "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," "In the Mood," "Cry Me a River" and "Sing, Sing Sing."

Performances are 7:30 p.m. nightly except Sundays and Wednesdays. All seats are $12 (225-2787 or 225-2569).

-- "COMPANY," Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's 1970 Broadway musical examining the life of a single man and the five couples who are his best friends, is directed by Jim Christian at Weber State University. Bobby, the confirmed bachelor who narrates the show will be played by Sean Michael Hunt.

Public performances are Friday and Saturday and Feb. 18-21, at 7:30 p.m. in the Allred Theatre of the Browning Center. Tickets are $5.50 and $8.50 (1-800-978-8457 or 801-626-8500). There will also be one free performance for WSU students on Feb. 17; students must have a valid Wildcat activity card.

-- "EVERYTHING TO DO WITH LOVE," featuring tunes from old and new Broadway musicals, is this year's "Music, Dance, Theatre Showcase" at Brigham Young University, Thursday and Friday at 7 and 9 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. Directed by Oliver Gaag and produced by Joel Tobey, the show includes songs from "Thoroughly Modern Millie," "Aida," Into the Woods," "Hairspray," "Rent," "Kiss Me, Kate" and others.

Tickets are $9 for general admission or $6 for those with BYU or student ID. (378-4322).

-- "JITNEY," August Wilson's 2001 drama set in Pittsburgh in 1970, directed by Richard Scharine, will be presented for this month's Babcock Performing Readers' gathering on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the Little Theatre of the U.'s Union Building. The plot revolves around unlicensed cab drivers who share stories about driving their jitneys. The performance, parking and refreshments are all free.

-- "BLACK BOY," Broadway performer Charles Holt's one-man production based on Richard Wright's life in the segregationist South of 1913, will be presented as a free Black History Month event on Monday at 7 p.m. at Westminster College, 1840 S. 1300 East. The performance will be in the Gore School of Business auditorium. Free parking is available in the stadium parking lot and the parking structure at 1700 S. 1200 East.