The Cape Playhouse in Dennis will reopen June 1 with the musical “Grease” as its first indoor summer season in three years, with a director and actress so familiar with the 50th anniversary show. See story below, plus here are three more new shows.
And theater reviews of “The Drag” at the Provincetown Theater and “St. Francis” at the Cotuit Center for the Arts, see www.capecodtimes.com/entertainment:
► Mark Cortale’s “Broadway @” series at Provincetown City Hall (260 Commercial St.) begins with one of the stage’s biggest stars: the six-time (a record!) Tony Award winner Audra McDonald (“Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess”, “Carousel”, “Ragtime”), sing and speak with Sirius XM Radio’s Seth Rudetsky as presenter/music director. The show takes place May 20 at 6:30 p.m. with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the Sandy Hook Promise. Indie rock star Melissa Ferrick will be the opening act and have her own show on May 28th at 7:30pm at the Art House. Tickets and information: https://provincetownarthouse.com/.
► Provincetown favorite Zoe Lewis opens Art House Season (214 Commercial St.) with her new mini-musical memoirs “A Piece of P-Town”, subtitled “30 years of songs and stories inspired by an incredible little headland”. Shows on May 27th at 7:30pm and May 28th at 6pm will feature Qya Cristal as well as Parker Ousley on cello and Roxanne Layton on recorder. Tickets and information: https://provincetownarthouse.com/
Summer entertainment:“Most Ambitious Lineup Yet”: Audra McDonald and Chita Rivera Headline the 40+ Star Summer at the Art House, Town Hall in Provincetown
► “silver threads”, The hit musical revue honoring Linda Ronstadt, conceived by Sonia Schonning and Marcia Wytrwal and starring them and Sara Bleything, is moving to the Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Falmouth Road (Route 28) this summer. Shows are from June 1st to June 19th. Tickets and information: https://artsonthecape.org/.
Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll
Cape Playhouse opens season with “Grease”
Broadway veteran Joyce Chittick looks forward to directing Grease at the Cape Playhouse when the historic Dennis Theater opens June 1 – marking the first indoor season in three years and also the 50th anniversary of the legendary musical.
Chittick is no stranger to the hit series, having served as the on-screen choreographer for segments of the reality TV show Grease: You’re the One That I Want (2007); became associate choreographer for the Broadway revival of the musical (2007-2009); and was a choreographer for his national tour (2008-2010).
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The high-energy musical about teenage romance, friendship, rivalries and pranks at 1950s Rydell High is so familiar to many of us, she says, that it “feels like a singalong show” — think Summer Nights, Greased Lightning” and “You’re the one I want.” And Chittick says she hopes to “deliver that quality” in the big season opener.
An exciting addition to the Cape show, Chittick says, will be an actress associated with the original Grease production. Ann-Ngaire Martin was a cast member in the original 1972 Broadway series Grease, replacing the teenage Patty Simcox in 1978. This year she is in the role of the teacher Miss Lynch for the anniversary production on the Dennis stage.
Fans of the musical can also take part. Cape Playhouse is hosting a Grease Costume Contest for ticket holders who arrive in their best Grease attire, take a photo on the spot and post it on Facebook or Instagram. The cast of “Grease” will select a winner who will receive two current Season Passes, all of which will be announced at the final screening on June 18th. (Stay tuned for details on the contest on Playhouse social media.)
As this return season begins, Chittick is also back at a theater she knows well: she was principal choreographer on 2018’s blockbuster South Pacific and directed 2019’s Cape Playhouse’s A Chorus Line.
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Chittick has appeared as an actor, singer and dancer in a variety of Broadway productions and national tours since the 1980s as a soloist, cast member and understudy. Her recent credits include Sweet Charity (2005), Pajama Game (2006) and Anything Goes (2011).
In recent years, Chittick’s breadth of experience has seen him transition into directing and choreography. Most recently, she was associate choreographer for the Broadway production of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (2015) and its national tour.
On Cape Cod, Chittick recalls the “wild summer” of 2019, when a storm caused power outages that blacked out many areas. There were frantic rehearsals before the show for “A Chorus Line,” she says, with only one light on stage powered by a generator. Just moments before the performance began, an attendant rushed down the aisle to announce that the lights would come on, and the curtain rose to exuberant dancers and cheers from the audience.
“As a dancer,” she says, “I understood” what the cast were feeling on stage that night.
David Elliott, the Cape Playhouse’s new artistic director, echoes Chittick’s description of the “thrill of being in the audience” when such special theatrical moments occur. If there are people in the audience on any given night, he says, “You’re the only ones watching the spectacle. That is what makes theater so unique.”
“The reaction of the audience determines so much,” he adds. “That’s oxygen for performance.”
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Elliott says he’s “thrilled to open the doors for the first time since 2019” and is among a number of new people working behind the scenes alongside longtime crew members and designers. The audience is “so ready to come back for a normal season,” he says.
In his own theater career spanning more than 30 years, Elliott has worked as director, producer and general manager for nearly 75 productions on Broadway and elsewhere in the United States and abroad. His first summer season at the Cape Playhouse consists of shows scheduled for 2020 before COVID-19 forced the indoor theater to pause, plus The Fantasticks, which was added in September.
The remainder of the Cape Playhouse summer: “Private Lives,” June 22-July 2 (a Noel Coward play in which famed actress Gertrude Lawrence first appeared at the playhouse in 1940); “Always… Patsy Cline, 6th-16th July; “God of Slaughter”, 20th-30th centuries July; “An American in Paris”, 3rd-13th c. August; “Murder on the Orient Express”, 17.-27. August; and The Fantasticks, September 7-24.
Reservations and information: http://www.capeplayhouse.com/.