Beck Center Announces 2012/2013 Professional Theater Season Exciting new season includes cult classics, daring dramas, and a family favorite
Beck Center for the Arts is proud to announce it's 2012/2013 Professional Theater season, including five locally produced premieres and an eclectic mix of outrageous comedies, award-winning musicals and inspiring dramas that Northeast Ohio audiences have come to expect from Beck Center.
“Selecting the 2012/2013 season was truly a labor of love and an exercise in patience, but the payoff was worth the wait!” exclaimed Artistic Director Scott Spence. “We are thrilled on so many levels, from our locally produced premieres to continuing our newfound collaboration with Baldwin-Wallace College Musical Theatre program.”
According to Spence, there were a few hurdles in finalizing the new season, but his persistence paid off when he secured a title that he has always wanted to direct, Monty Python's Spamalot. “To be able to cap off the season with the Eric Idle and Monty Python-inspired Spamalot – well, it's pure icing on the cake. We hope you buy your subscriptions before we have to ‘taunt you a second time’!” quipped Spence.
Subscriptions for Beck Center's 2012/2013 Professional Theater season are now on sale. Subscribers save more than 30% off regular ticket prices and pay no service fees. As a subscriber, theater patrons have first choice of the best seats in the house and lost tickets are replaced at no additional cost. Plus, there is no fee to exchange tickets for another date or performance. Subscribers who sign up for email also receive advance notice of special events and discounts. For more information or to purchase a season subscription, call Customer Services at 216.521.2540 x10. Individual tickets go on sale August 1, 2012.
Xanadu
September 14 – October 14, 2012; Mackey Main Stage
A beautiful Greek muse named Kira descends from the heavens of Mt. Olympus to Venice Beach, California on a quest to inspire Sonny, a struggling artist, to build his greatest artistic creation – the first ROLLER DISCO! (Hey, it's 1980!). This hilarious, roller skating, musical adventure about following your dreams despite the limitations others set for you rolls along to the original hit score including pop-rock hits such as Magic, Evil Woman, Have You Never Been Mellow, and Xanadu. Winner of the 2008 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Broadway Musical.
The Little Dog Laughed
October 5 – November 11, 2012; Studio Theater
This fast-paced farce examines the scandalous world of Hollywood celebrities. Mitchell Green is a movie star who could hit it big if it weren't for one persistent problem - his hard-driving Hollywood agent can't seem to keep him in the closet. Will the leading man’s career be derailed before it gets started with what his agent describes as Mitchell's "slight recurring case of homosexuality?” Don’t miss what the New York Times called “Devastatingly funny, with dizzy, irresistible writing that brings down the house."
Annie
December 7, 2012 – January 6, 2013; Mackey Main Stage
Leapin' Lizards! Winner of seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, Book and Score, Annie is the touching story of a spunky Depression-era orphan determined to find her parents who abandoned her years ago on the doorstep of a New York City orphanage run by the cruel, embittered Miss Hannigan. In adventure after fun-filled adventure, Annie foils Miss Hannigan's evil machinations, befriends President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and finds a new home in the mansion of billionaire Oliver Warbucks, as well as a new family with “Daddy” Warbucks, his personal secretary Grace Farrell and a lovable mutt named Sandy.
Next to Normal
March 1 – April 21, 2013; Studio Theater
An emotional powerhouse of a musical, Next to Normal features a compelling Tony Award-winning pop rock score that shatters through the façade of a suburban family dealing with the traumatic effects of mental illness. Winner of three Tony Awards and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, this intense, emotional, yet ultimately hopeful musical makes a direct grab for the heart with a story that takes us inside the lives of a typical American family that’s anything but typical. Contains strong language and themes. In collaboration with Baldwin-Wallace University Music Theatre Program.
The House of Blue Leaves
March 22 - April 21, 2013; Mackey Main Stage
Considered John Guare's most popular and arguably most important play, The House of Blue Leaves won the 1971 Drama Critics' Circle Award and Obie Award for Best American Play. Meet Artie Shaughnessy, an aspiring songwriter with visions of glory. Toiling by day as a zoo-keeper, Artie performs in seedy lounges by night in Queens, New York where he lives with his schizophrenic wife, Bananas – much to the chagrin of his downstairs neighbor and mistress, Bunny Flingus. With the arrival of an old school buddy, now a successful Hollywood producer, Artie plans to escape the life he despises and pursue his musical career in la-la-land. But like many dreams, this promise of glory evaporates amid the chaos of ordinary lives.
The Pitmen Painters
May 31 – July 7, 2013; Studio Theater
Heralded in London’s West End and on Broadway, this new play by the Tony Award-winning writer of Billy Elliot is based on a triumphant true story. In 1934, a group of miners in Northern England take an art appreciation class and begin experimenting with painting. They soon build an astonishing body of work that makes them the unlikeliest of art-world sensations. An arresting and hilarious salute to the power of individual expression and the collective spirit, The Pitmen Painters is richly funny, deeply moving and continuously entertaining as it examines the lives of a group of ordinary men who do extraordinary things.
Monty Python's Spamalot
July 12 – August 18, 2013; Mackey Main Stage
The outrageous musical comedy lovingly ripped off from the cult classic motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail, tells the story of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table as they embark on their quest for the Holy Grail. Winner of three 2005 Tony Awards including Best Musical, this hysterically irreverent musical features a chorus line of dancing divas, knee-slapping knights, flatulent Frenchmen, flying cows, killer rabbits, a legless knight, and several show-stopping musical numbers.
Programming at the Beck Center is made possible through the generous support of the Ohio Arts Council. Beck Center gratefully acknowledges the generous funding provided by the citizens of Cuyahoga County through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.