Staff Report
PCPA has announced a 2019-20 season of theater that ranges from Disney to Shakespeare and from Rogers and Hammerstein to doo-wop.
New York City’s 2 Ring Circus and director Melissa Rain Anderson (“Always…Patsy Cline”) will bring breathtaking aerial feats and imaginative theatrical magic to a holiday production of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” from Nov. 7 through Dec. 22 at the Marian Theatre in Santa Maria.
Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s beloved story and the Disney animated film, the play tells the tale of longing, love, and sacrifice as princess Ariel risks everything to join her prince on land.
The season also will include the heart-warming and witty memoir from Neil Simon, “Brighton Beach Memoirs.” It is the first of Simon’s autobiographical trilogy of plays (with “Biloxi Blues” and “Broadway Bound”).
In the play, Eugene dreams of baseball and girls while coping with life in Depression-era Brooklyn with a formidable mother, an overworked father, and a worldly older brother — not to mention his widowed Aunt Blanche and her two young but rapidly growing daughters.
Directed by Associate Artistic Director Roger DeLaurier, it will run from Feb. 13 – March 1 in the Marian Theatre.
Friendship, loyalty and betrayal amid political upheaval are the timeless concepts probed in William Shakespeare’s tragedy “Julius Caesar,” running March 5-22 in the small Severson Theatre in Santa Maria.
Filled with searing rhetoric and thrilling intrigue, the story exposes the inner regions and outer manifestations of the places where personal ambition and the ideals of noble citizenry diverge, as Brutus and Marc Antony make their stands.
Running in both Santa Maria and Solvang, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s most glorious score sings its way onto the stage in “The Sound of Music.”
Inspired by the true story of the von Trapp family and their escape from the 1938 Nazi invasion of Austria, “The Sound of Music” features beloved and memorable songs, including “Maria,” “My Favorite Things,” “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” and “Edelweiss.”
Directed by Resident Artist Kitty Balay, “The Sound of Music” will play at the Marian Theatre April 23 through May 10, and then under the stars in the Solvang Festival Theater from June 11 through July 5.
Riding on the rhythm of the 1960s R&B, rock and doo-wop, the hilarious “Little Shop of Horrors,” a musical hit sci-fi homage to B-movies, will run June 25 – July 3 in the Marian Theatre and July 10 – Aug. 2 in Solvang.
Mushnik’s flower shop on Skid Row is about to go under until meek assistant Seymour happens upon a new breed of plant with an unusual appetite for blood. The magical, musical plant promises Seymour unending fame and fortune and the love of his co-worker, Audrey. When Seymour discovers the out-of-this-world origins of the plant and its intent for global domination, it leads to a terrible showdown of ridiculous proportions.
The Broadway hit “Something Rotten!” — called “The funniest musical comedy in at least 400 years” by Time Out New York — will run July 23 – Aug. 1 in Santa Maria and Aug. 7 – Sept. 6 in Solvang.
In 1590s London, brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom are desperate to write a hit play but are stuck in the shadow of that Renaissance rock star known as “The Bard.” When a local soothsayer foretells that the future of theatre involves singing, dancing and acting, at the same time, Nick and Nigel set out to write the world’s very first musical.
At the climax of Henrick Ibsen’s 1879 groundbreaking masterwork, “A Doll’s House,” Nora Helmer makes the shocking decision to leave her husband, children and community to begin a new life on her own. Her famous door slam ushered in the modern age of world drama.
In his award-winning Broadway debut, “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” playwright Lucas Hnath picks up the story 15 years after Nora’s exit. Now, there’s a knock on that same door. Nora has returned, but why? And what will it mean for those she left behind?
“A Doll’s House, Part 2,” directed by Karin Hendricks, plays in the Severson Theatre Aug. 20 – Sept. 6.
Tickets will go on sale in October.
