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Tony Award Winning Best MusicalcontactKicks Off Dallas Summer Musicals Season
June 4-16, 2002 at the Music Hall at Fair ParkEdited by Madelyn Miller The Tony Award winning Best Musical contact, directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman and written by John Weidman, is coming to the Music Hall at Fair Park June 4-16, kicking off Dallas Summer Musicals’ 62nd season. Texas native and SMU graduate Deborah Yates, who originated the role of The Girl in The Yellow Dress and became the toast of Broadway, winning Tony and Drama Desk nominations and an Astaire Award for her performance, will join the company for its Dallas engagement.
In 2000, contact took New York by storm, winning every major award including the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Drama League Award for Best Musical. Three sensual stories told entirely through dance about people in the wild pursuit of love, contact is performed to a wide range of music – from Stephane Grappelli’s rendition of Rodgers & Hart’s “My Heart Stood Still,” to pieces by Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Bizet to Robert Palmer, Dean Martin, the Beach Boys and The Squirrel Nut Zippers by a cast of 24 dancers/actors who captivate and seduce the audience. A CD containing music from contact is available from RCA Victor. When contact opened at New York’s Lincoln Center Theater it was hailed by Time Magazine for “kicking the dust off a tired old Broadway.” Syndicated columnist Liz Smith called contact “one of the rare absolutely perfect things I have ever seen in the theater,” adding that “not since Bob Fosse and Michael Bennett has a choreographer-director made such an intelligent, creative impact on the American musical scene. You’ll be sitting on the edge of your seat, electrified.” And The New York Times exclaimed that “contact restores the pleasure principle to the American musical. It is that rare entertainment that leaves you floating all the way home.” The cast of contact will star Dallas’ own Deborah Yates as “The Girl in the Yellow Dress.” Contact will also feature Laura Catalano, Adam Dannheisser, Donna Dunmire, Gary Franco, Amy Hall, Stacey Todd Holt, Meg Howrey, Mike Jackson, Danielle Jolie, Keith Kuhl, Jason Lacayo, Daniel McDonald, Michele Micholas, Joseph Mooradian, Lee Mark Nelson, Angela Piccinni, John G. Ross, Marcos Santana, Julius Sermonia, Rebecca Sherman, Rick Spaans, Dan Sutcliffe, Susanne Trani, Michelle Weber, and Mindy Franzese Wild. Director-choreographer Susan Stroman won her third Tony Award, as well as the Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Lucille Lortel and Astaire Awards for contact. Ms. Stroman won her first two Tony Awards for her choreography of the hit Broadway musical “Crazy For You,” directed by Mike Ockrent, and for director Harold Prince’s new production of the classic musical “Showboat,” both of which enjoyed long runs on Broadway and on tour. Ms. Stroman’s other Broadway credits include the musicals “big” and “Steel Pier” and the annual Madison Square Garden spectacular “A Christmas Carol.” She won London’s coveted Olivier Award for her choreography of the acclaimed Royal National Theatre production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” and is also the director and choreographer of the current hit Broadway revival of Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man.” She has also created ballets for the New York City Ballet and Martha Graham Dance Company and choreographed the dances in the recent feature film “Center Stage.” Ms. Stroman recently collaborated as director/choreographer with Mel Brooks on the musical version of his classic film comedy, “The Producers.” Writer John Weidman wrote the books for the musicals “Pacific Overtures” (Tony nomination) and “Assassins,” both with scores by Stephen Sondheim, “big” (Tony nomination) and co-wrote the book with Timothy Crouse for Lincoln Center Theater’s hit revival of Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes.” He is currently working on a new musical with Stephen Sondheim and Harold Prince. Mr. Weidman won nine Emmy Awards for his writing for the PBS series “Sesame Street.” The tour of contact, which is produced by Lincoln Center Theater, Scott Nederlander and the SFX Theatrical Group, will reunite its acclaimed New York design team: Thomas Lynch (sets), William Ivey Long (costumes), Peter Kaczorowski (lighting) and Scott Stauffer (sound). Tickets to contact, which range in price from $10 to $56, are on sale now at The Box Office, 542 Preston Royal Shopping Center, or any Ticketmaster outlet including the Majestic Theatre Box Office. Tickets are available by phone by calling 214-631-ARTS or online at www.ticketmaster.com. For groups of 20 or more, please call 214-426-GROUP. All performances will be at the Music Hall at Fair Park, with evening performances at 8 p.m. Tues. June 4 through Sun. June 9, and weekend matinees at 2 p.m. Sat. June 8 and Sun. June 9 the first week. The second week of the show there will be performances Tues. June 11 through Sat. June 15 at 8 p.m., with matinees at 2 p.m. Thurs. June 13, Sat. June 15, and Sun. June 16. There is no Sunday night performance June 16 during the second week of a show. The season lineup for Dallas Summer Musicals continues June 18-30 with our own touring production of THE WIZARD OF OZ, followed July 2-14 by the winner of the 2001 Tony® Award for Best Special Theatrical Event, BLAST! July 16-28, Tony Curtis stars as an eccentric millionaire playboy in SOME LIKE IT HOT, a new musical based on Billy Wilder’s hilarious award-winning 1959 film starring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Joe E. Brown and Curtis. July 30-Aug. 4, STOMP, the British percussion sensation that has taken the theatrical world by storm, comes to the Music Hall at Fair Park for the first time ever as a one-week subscriber’s special. Aug. 6-18, Dallas Summer Musicals’ new and updated production of MY FAIR LADY comes to the Music Hall with an energetic and talented cast that includes locally cast performers. Aug. 20-Sept. 1, 42ND STREET, winner of the 2001 Tony® Award for Best Musical Revival, is next in the lineup. Sept. 13-Oct. 20, Dallas Summer Musicals’ patrons will then experience the phenomenon of Disney’s THE LION KING, which will also be the State Fair of Texas 2002 presentation. Single tickets for THE LION KING will go on sale May 18. Single tickets for all shows except THE LION KING are on sale now at The Box Office’s new location, 542 Preston Royal Shopping Center, or any Ticketmaster outlet including the Majestic Theatre Box Office, Foley’s, Fiesta, Tower Records and Wherehouse Music Stores. Single tickets are priced from $10 to $56, depending upon time and date of performance and seat location. For more information or to order by phone, call 214-631-ARTS or Metro 972-647-5700, or purchase tickets online at www.ticketmaster.com Group sales tickets (20 or more) for all shows including THE LION KING are available by calling 214-426-GROUP. Season sponsors for Dallas Summer Musicals are The Dallas Morning News, WFAA TV Channel 8, KLUV Radio and American Airlines. For more information about Dallas Summer Musicals, call 214-421-5678 or visit the Dallas Summer Musicals website at www.dallassummermusicals.org. Back to TravelLady Magazine |
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