May 1 – May 16, 2015
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Meredith Willson
Story by Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey
Winner of 6 Tony Awards including Best Musical!
Fast-talking Harold Hill sweeps into a sleepy Iowa town, and soon there’s trouble, right here in River City. Harold is selling marching bands, despite the fact that he doesn’t know the difference between a treble clef and trumpet. Taking the townspeople for a ride, with rousing numbers like “Seventy-Six Trombones,” “Goodnight Ladies,” and “The Wells Fargo Wagon,” Harold plans on skipping town with their cash before anyone’s the wiser, but he didn’t count on falling for Marian, the town’s librarian.
Important Dates
Monday–Thursday 7:00 PM
Friday & Saturday 7:30 PM
Saturday 2:00 PM
ASL-interpreted performance: Saturday, October 7th @ 2 PM
Overview
Cast
Creative Team
KAREN AZENBERG (Director/Choreographer) This marks Karen Azenberg’s third season as Artistic Director here at PTC. Earlier this season she directed The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Alabama Story. In previous season’s she has directed and/or choreographed Something’s Afoot, A Few Good Men, Sweet Charity, A Christmas Carol –The Musical, Next to Normal (Regional Premiere), Rent, Miss Saigon, and she created the musical staging for the record-breaking 2007 production of Les Misérables. Originally from New York, her work there includes Lyrics and Lyricists (92nd St. Y), Blocks (a collaboration with Jonathan Larson), Prom Queens Unchained, and choreography for Richard Greenberg’s The Dazzle (Roundabout). Other credits include national tours of Carousel andBrigadoon, West Side Story (over 15 productions), and productions at Indiana Rep, Geva, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Goodspeed, and many others. Karen is on the Board of the New York Musical Theatre Festival and a past President of the Stage Director and Choreographers Society (SDC). Her favorite productions are her son Alexander and her daughter Emelia.
LENNY DANIEL (Asst. Director/Choreographer) Mr. Daniel has assisted Ms. Azenberg on such great shows as The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Concert), Sweet Charity, A Christmas Carol: The Musical (PTC), Mary Poppins, Peter Pan (Alabama Shakespeare), Brigadoon, Carousel(Troika & NYU), West Side Story (Virginia Opera) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (NYC workshop). He directed and choreographed Mid-Life! The Crisis Musical at TexArts Theater, assistant directed The Wizard of Oz National Tour starring Mickey Rooney and Eartha Kitt and assistant choreographed GiGi (Papermill Playhouse). Mr. Daniel happily assisted Ann Reinking and performed in Here Lies Jenny starring Bebe Neuwirth (NYC & SF). Performing credits include: Broadway: Cats–Final Company, The Wizard of Oz. NYC: Sinatra (Radio City),Wonderful Town (NYC Opera). Tours: Spamalot, Chicago, South Pacific, Camelot, Jekyll & Hyde. Regional: Sweet Charity, A Christmas Carol: The Musical (PTC), Two Gentlemen of Verona (Baltimore CenterStage), Mary Poppins, Peter Pan (Alabama Shakespeare), GiGi andEvita (Papermill). Grammy Nominated Cast album The Wizard of Oz.
MICHAEL RICE (Musical Director/Conductor) is happy to return to Pioneer Theatre Company after conducting Annie, Sunset Boulevard, 42nd Street and The Light in the Piazza. He has conducted at Sacramento Music Circus, The Muny, Ford’s Sleter, The Alley, Signature Theatre and Trinity Repertory Company where he is the resident musical director and recently mountedOliver with director Richard Jenkies. He also recently mounted two productions of 1776 with director Frank Galati. Broadway and tour credits include Radio City Christmas Spectacular,Peter Pan, Cats, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Camelot and Grand Hotel. Anne Bogart premieres: American Vaudeville and Marathon Dancing. Off-Broadway: Original arranger and conductor for Nunsense. He is musical director for vocalist Klea Blackhurst. As a composer/lyricist he has penned (with Eric Bentley) an adaptation of Brecht’s The Good Woman of Setzuan, and wrote the musical American Beauty. He is currently completing an opera.Michaelricemusic.com
GEORGE MAXWELL (Resident Scenic Designer) has been the resident scenic designer at Pioneer Theatre Company for over 30 years and has had the distinct pleasure of designing over 90 productions for the company. Earlier this season he designed Peter and the Starcatcher. Hisfavorite PTC designs include Next to Normal, Rent, Sunset Boulevard, White Christmas, A Christmas Story, Chicago, Metamorphoses, Enchanted April, The Importance of Being Earnest,West Side Story, Proof, Peter Pan, Noises Off, Man of La Mancha, Ain’t Misbehavin’, The Foreigner, Miss Saigon and A Christmas Carol The Musical. He was tapped by the Utah Opera Company to design The Coronation of Poppea and The Ballad of Baby Doe. George has also designed for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and 21 productions (over seven seasons) for the Utah Shakespeare Festival. George is a member of United ScenicArtists. To see more of his work visit http://user.xmission.com/~gmaxwell/.
K.L. ALBERTS (Costume Designer) Previous designs at PTC include: the world premieres ofDumas’ Camille and Laughing Stock, as well as Elf-The Musical, Of Mice and Men, Annie, White Christmas, 42nd Street, Miss Saigon, The Producers, Les Misérables (2007 and 2013),Metamorphoses, West Side Story, Ragtime, Proof, Phantom, Communicating Doors, A Raisin in the Sun, Death of a Salesman, The Dining Room, Inherit the Wind, Little Shop of Horrors,Private Lives, Uncle Vanya, Scapino!, Born Yesterday, Rough Crossing and The Cripple of Inishmaan. Designs for the University of Utah’s Babcock Theatre include: On the Verge,Summer and Smoke, The Cherry Orchard, School for Scandal, I Do! I Do!, The Seagull, Table Manners and Edward II. For Salt Lake Acting Company, K.L. has designed Venus in Fur, Red,boom, Angels in America, Go, Dog. Go!, I Am My Own Wife, Rabbit Hole, Sexsting, Gross Indecency, The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Beard of Avon among others. K.L. recently designed Infantry Monologues and Shadows of the Bakemono for Meat & Potato Theatre Company, and has designed Ah! Wilderness, Hay Fever, The Matchmaker, Fiddler on the Roof,Great Expectations: A New Musical, Les Misérables and Anything Goes for the Utah Shakespeare Festival.
JOSHUA C. HIGHT (Resident Sound Designer) A Graduate With Distinction of London’s Alchemea College of Audio Engineering, Joshua comes to us with many years of experience in professional audio systems repair and design, and has established himself as an exceptional live sound engineer in both London and Salt Lake City. Joshua is looking forward to a successful second season working in theater design with Pioneer Theatre Company. His other projects of note include working with Sommerset House for the 2012 Olympic Games, and PTC’s Elf-TheMusical, A Few Good Men, Much Ado About Nothing, Deathtrap, Sweet Charity, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Rocky Horror Show, One Man, Two Guvnors, Alabama Story, The Crucible and I Hate Hamlet.
AMANDA FRENCH (Hair and Makeup) has been a Makeup and Hair Designer for over 25 years. She has worked for Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Utah Opera, Egyptian Theatre Company and the University of Texas at Austin. She is a contributing writer in the tenth edition of Stage Makeup by Corson, Glavan and Norcross, and her work can be seen in The Costume Technician’s Handbook by Ingham and Covey, and WigMaking and Styling: A Complete Guide for Theatre and Film by Ruskai and Lowery. She attended the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati where she studied with Hair and Makeup Designer Lenna Kaleva. She is a member of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) and a current University of Utah adjunct professor of wigs and makeup.
Media
Publicity
Preview Coverage
BroadwayWorld
A CHRISTMAS STORY, THE MUSICAL to be Presented at Pioneer Theatre Company in December
Gephardt Daily
A Christmas Story, The Musical’ to bring festive cheer to Pioneer
Salt Lake City Weekly
The Essential A&E Picks for Dec 8-14
ABC-4
Family-friendly Christmas events in Utah
Reviews
BroadwayWorld
A CHRISTMAS STORY at Pioneer Theatre Company is Warm-Hearted”
Front Row Reviewers
Oh Fudge! Pioneer Theatre Company Brings A Christmas Story, the Musical to Utah and If You Miss it–Well, You Know What You’ll Say
Gephardt Daily
PTC’s ‘A Christmas Story, The Musical’ adds comedy, depth to nostalgic film story
Good Things Utah
A Christmas Story, The Musical hits the Pioneer Theatre stage
Utah Arts Review
PTC’s high-energy cast serves up enjoyable, family-friendly ‘Christmas Story
The Utah Review
Pioneer Theatre Company’s A Christmas Story: The Musical is spiffy, enjoyable homage to holiday film classic
Utah Theatre Bloggers
PIONEER’S A CHRISTMAS STORY IS A BULLSEYE
Study Guide
Content Advisory
Hello Dolly!
SYNOPSIS: Jerry Herman’s energetic Hello, Dolly! is a musical filled with charisma and heart. Matchmaker Dolly Levi is a widow, a matchmaker, and also a professional meddler –but everything changes when she decides that the next match she needs to make is to find someone for herself. Set in New York City at the turn of the century, Hello Dolly! is boisterous and charming from start to finish. Dolly Levi is one of the strongest and richest starring roles for a woman ever written for musical theatre.
LANGUAGE: A few mild uses of “damn.”
SMOKING AND DRINKING: The characters sing of smoking although none is depicted, and wine and champagne are consumed during dinners.
SEX: None.
VIOLENCE: None.
FOR WHICH AUDIENCES? Hello, Dolly! is suitable for all ages.