Here we are behind the scenes in NYC, having a blast singing, dancing and talking about the day of getting into New Hope for the holidays - thanks to this lively and meaningful show & the BCP! Cast & Creative info below!
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-FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-
BUCKS COUNTY PLAYHOUSE REPRISES
“IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY”
Hunter Foster to Direct at the Playhouse’s Version of
This New Holiday Classic
NEW HOPE, PA (11/19/2015) – Bucks County Playhouse will cap its 2015 season with the return of the popular holiday classic, “It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” by Joe Landry. The show will run at Bucks County Playhouse (70 S. Main Street, New Hope, PA) December 11 – 27, 2015.
Directed by Hunter Foster with musical staging by Jennifer Cody, “It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” is inspired by the classic Frank Capra classic film of the same name. Performed as a 1940s live radio broadcast in front of a "studio audience," “It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” tells the story of idealistic George Bailey as he considers his demise one fateful Christmas Eve. The story comes to captivating life with the help of an ensemble that brings over two dozen characters to the stage. Landry’s adaptation premiered in 1996 in Stanford, CT and has since been produced countless times around the country to critical acclaim – including at Bucks County Playhouse in December 2012 under the direction of Gordon Greenberg with musical staging by Lorin Latarro.
“It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” features Wayne Wilcox as Jake Laurents (Broadway: “The Normal Heart,” CW’s “Gilmore Girls”), Brandon Ellis (Broadway: “Company,” “Once,” and Off-Broadway: “Balls…The Musical?”) as Harry “Jazzbo” Heywood, Maggie Lakis as Lana Sherwood (National Tour: “Avenue Q,” Off-Broadway: “Allegro”), Whitney Bashor as Sally Applewhite (Broadway: “The Bridges of Madison County”), Kevin Pariseau as Freddie Filmore(Broadway: “Legally Blonde the Musical”) and Garth Kravits (Broadway: “The Drowsy Chaperone”) as the Foley Artist/Sound Effects Guy. Kevin Pariseau is the production’s musical director. Rob Bissinger is Scenic Designer with lighting design by Robert Denton and costume design by Nicole V. Moody. Matthew Given serves as Sound Designer. “It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” is produced by special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc. (www.playscripts.com).
Bucks County Playhouse will offer discounted preview performances of “It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” on Friday, December 11 at 8 pm and Saturday, December 12 at 2 pm. Tickets to preview performances are only $30. Opening night is Saturday, December 12 at 7:00 pm. The Playhouse is also offering a special matinee performance discount for Christmas Week performances. All tickets in the mid-orchestra (blue section) are $40 for 2 p.m. performances on December 22-24. Santa Claus will be in the lobby before the show to greet those attending the performance.
The production will play the following schedule: Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m., Wednesdays and Thursdays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (note: there is 7:30 performance on December 16), Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. There is no evening performance on Christmas Eve and no performances on Christmas Day. For full details, and to purchase tickets, please visit buckscountyplayhouse.org or call 215-862-2121.
ABOUT BUCKS COUNTY PLAYHOUSE
Bucks County Playhouse, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization, is the oldest and largest professional Equity performing arts center in Bucks County, and provides the finest theatrical entertainment for visitors and residents of New Hope, Doylestown, Lambertville and the Delaware Valley. Under the direction of Tony Award-winning Producers Alexander Fraser and Robyn Goodman, its mission is to present first class professional entertainment and regain the Playhouse’s historic place in the national theatrical landscape; and to stimulate, support, inspire and celebrate the performing arts via community programs, partnerships and arts education.
Located between Philadelphia and New York, Bucks County Playhouse opened in 1939 in a converted 1790 gristmill after a group of community activists, led by Broadway orchestrator Don Walker and playwright Moss Hart, rallied to save the building. The Playhouse quickly became one of the country’s most famous regional theaters, featuring a roster of American theatrical royalty including Helen Hayes, Kitty Carlisle, George S. Kaufman, Grace Kelly, Robert Redford, Bert Lahr, Walter Matthau, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, Alan Alda, Tyne Daly, Liza Minnelli and Audra McDonald and remained in continuous operation until December 2010. In 2012, the Playhouse re-opened thanks to the efforts of the Bridge Street Foundation, the nonprofit family foundation of Kevin and Sherri Daugherty, and Broadway producer Jed Bernstein.
Since its renovation, significant productions include Terrence McNally’s “Mothers and Sons” starring Tyne Daly which moved to Broadway and was nominated for two Tony Awards; “Misery” by William Goldman based on the Stephen King novel which opens on Broadway in fall, 2015, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”, starring Marilu Henner and playwright Christopher Durang, and this summer’s hit production of “Company” starring Justin Guarini, which the Wall Street Journal claimed “borders on the miraculous. The Playhouse is surely headed back into the spotlight.”
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