The Venice Theatre announces 2015-2016 season

The Venice Theatre announced with great excitement and fanfare their upcoming 2015-2016 theatrical season. With MainStage, Stage II, Cabaret, Summerstock and Generations stages and perofrmances to fill, each Venice Theatre season has the opportunity to be packed with musicals and plays of a tremendous variety. This year’s season announcement was no different. The 2015-2016 season will include 17 independent productions and events that will satiate any ardent theater fan’s appetite.

On the MainStage, the theater’s largest space, the stage lights will shine on: “Exit Laughing” by Paul Elliot (Sept. 29 – Oct. 18); the original rock and roll and nudist-friendly musical “Hair (The American Tribal Love Rock Musical)” with music by Galt MacDermot and book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado (Nov. 10 – Dec. 12); the theatrical, backstage farce “Noises Off” by Michael Frayn (Jan. 12 -31, 2016); the expansive and American-defining musical “Ragtime” with book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens (Feb. 16 – March 13, 2016); and Stephen Sondheim’s first solo musical comedy “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” with music and lyrics by Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove & Larry Gelbart (April 5 – 24, 2016).

“Hair” will have some legendary guidance and direction with Broadway luminary Ben Vereen assuming the directorial duties of the influential hippie musical. Vereen made his Broadway debut as a replacement performer in the original production of “Hair.” The talented actor would then go on to receive a Tony Award nomination as Judas Iscariot in the original 1971 production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Vereen would then win the Tony Award for best actor in a musical with his portrayal of the Leading Player in the Stephen Schwartz musical and Bob Fosse-directed original production of “Pippin.” Vereen has also made a considerable impact in film and television with noted performances in the films “Funny Lady” and “All That Jazz” and the television programs “Roots,” “The Love Boat” and “How I Met Your Mother.”

On the Venice Theatre’s smaller space Stage II, the season lineup is filled with an equal variety of well-known and rarely performed dramatic gems. Stage II season is as follows: the black Irish comedy “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” by Martin McDonagh (Nov. 5 – 22); the Stephen Sondheim’s bloody and revengeful barber “Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street” with music and lyrics by Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler (Jan. 21 – Feb. 15, 2016); the popular erotic battle of the sexes “Venus in Fur” by David Ives (March 31 – April 17, 2016); and a recreation of Ovid’s ancient Roman myths in “Metamorphosis” by Mary Zimmerman (April 28 – May 15, 2016).

The Cabaret space will launch with the theater’s 3rd Annual Summer Cabaret Festival running from July 9 to Aug. 30 and continue with the comedy styling of “Church Basement Ladies” (Oct. 2-25) and “The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical” (Dec. 3 – 20). The cabaret season will conclude with the most popular underground film of all time: “The Rocky Horror Show.”

Venice’s summer months will be saturated with the soothing sound of Alan Jay Lerner and Fredrick Loewe’s Scottish romantic fable “Brigadoon” (July 23 – Aug. 9). And dominating the family friendly confines of the “Generations” stages will be “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” by Celeste Raspanti, which details the redemptive and inspiring story of a Holocaust survivor; Charles Dickens’s classic holiday tale “A Christmas Carol” (Dec 17 – 21); and the musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved story “James and the Giant Peach.”