SF Theatre: 42nd Street Moon Announces 2019-2020 Season

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The 27th anniversary season of San Francisco's 42nd Street Moon (Daren A.C. Carollo and Daniel Thomas, Co-Executive Directors) has announced the complete array of programming for its upcoming 2019-2020 theatre season plus two new initiatives.

The 2019-2020 season will include full productions of HOT MIKADO (September 25 – October 13, 2019), SCROOGE IN LOVE! (Back by popular demand, December 4 – 23, 2019), A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER (February 26 – March 15, 2020), THE PAJAMA GAME (April 15 – May 3, 2020), MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG (the 1981 Musical) (May 13 – June 14, 2020) and MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG (the 1934 Play) (May 20 – June 23, 2020).


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42nd Street Moon's 2019-2020 season, its 27th in operation, will also include TITANIC THE MUSICAL In Concert (September 7 and 8, 2019). Additionally, the Company is pleased to announce the inauguration of two ambitious new programs: the BACK-TO-BACK SERIES  and SONDHEIM SWEEP.

"Each season seems to bring us more excitement, more fun, and more great theatre than the last," said Co-Executive Directors Daniel Thomas, "and our 27th Season is no exception! We are excited to welcome back so many returning directors (every director this season is a Moon veteran), and to welcome many other returning creative team members as well.

With a sultry and swinging take on Gilbert and Sullivan, a hilarious farce hot off of Broadway, one of the Golden Age's greatest musicals and the return of San Francisco's newest Christmas tradition, Moon's 2019-2020 season is truly out of this world."

"Along with the fantastic shows and special presentations planned for Moon's 2019-2020 season – more events than ever before - we are proud to be launching two incredible new programs," added Co-Executive Director Daren A.C. Carollo. "With BACK-TO-BACK, we aim to pull back the curtain on what inspires the creation of a musical.


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The musical theatre canon is bursting with examples of musicals based on plays (including famous ones such as PYGMALION & MY FAIR LADY, GREEN GROW THE LILACS & OKLAHOMA! and LILIOM & CAROUSEL), and Moon audiences will now enjoy the unique experience of witnessing the genesis of a musical right before their eyes.

For this first year, we've selected Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's 1981 show MERRILLY WE ROLL ALONG and the play that inspired it, George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's 1934 hysterical work of the same name. The 1934 MERRILLY WE ROLL ALONG will also be the first non-musical play that Moon has ever presented, and the 1981 MERRILLY WE ROLL ALONG continues Moon's commitment to presenting the work of Stephen Sondheim, arguably the all-time greatest contributor to the musical theatre art form.


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With THE SONDHEIM SWEEP, we are thrilled to crystallize our intention in being the first theatre to present Sondheim's entire body of work (as a lyricist, playwright, composer, and composer/lyricist). It is an exciting time for Moon, and we can't wait to share it all with our community!"

ABOUT THE BACK TO BACK SERIES
Since the beginning of the American musical theatre, composers and librettists have looked to great plays for their source material. In our two most recent seasons alone, Moon has presented shows adapted from classics like Eugene O'Neill's ANNA CHRISTIE (NEW GIRL IN TOWN) and N. Richard Nash's THE RAINMAKER (110 IN THE SHADE). 

42nd Street Moon's BACK TO BACK SERIES will present classic musicals in repertory with the plays they're based on. Audiences will be able to compare the language and structure of the original to its musical descendant and hear the monologues and dialogues that were transformed into song. We're excited to give our audiences this one-of-a-kind experience! 


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ABOUT THE SONDHEIM SWEEP

In what may be the most ambitious venture in our history, 42nd Street Moon is announcing our commitment to be the first theatre company ever to produce every single professional stage show by legendary composer Stephen Sondheim. 

THE SONDHEIM SWEEP will present his works, both lauded and obscure, either in production or in concert, for every season henceforward, from his first musical out of college (last season's SATURDAY NIGHT), to his most recent (ROAD SHOW), to whatever he comes up with next...
 

We look forward to honoring the reigning master of the musical form for many years to come! 




42nd Street Moon's 2019-2020 season features: 
TITANIC THE MUSICAL
IN CONCERT
Story and Book by Peter Stone
Music and Lyrics by Maury Yeston
Directed by Daren A.C. Carollo
Music Direction by Daniel Thomas
September 7 – 8, 2019
8:00 p.m. 

The gorgeous, Tony Award-winning score comes lushly to life with a 25-piece onstage orchestra and the Bay Area's best vocal talent!
 

HOT MIKADO
Book and Lyrics Adapted by David H. Bell
Music Adapted and Arranged by Rob Bowman
Based on "The Mikado" by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan

Directed and Choreographed by Jeffrey Polk
Music Direction by Dave Dobrusky
September 25 – October 13, 2019


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HOT MIKADO takes the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta masterpiece and amps it up with a killer jazz interpretation of the score performed by a multicultural cast who will have you dancing in the aisles! Welcome to Titipu, a town turned upside down by the arrival of Nanki-Poo, a roving trumpet player looking for his lost love, Yum Yum. Before long, he's embroiled in the topsy-turvy machinations of Titipu's powers-that-be, with hilarious results.

 

Back by Popular Demand

SCROOGE IN LOVE!
Music by Larry Grossman
Lyrics by Kellen Blair
Book by Duane Poole
Directed by Dyan McBride
Choreographed by Staci Arriaga
Music Direction by Ken Brill
December 4 – 23, 2019
 

SCROOGE IN LOVE! had its world premiere at Moon in 2015, and our 2016 reprise was a smash hit. Set a year after the events of the Dickens tale, we find a reformed Scrooge looking for his lost love, Belle, and revisiting past, present, and future with hilarious, ghostly friends! Both side-splitting and hopelessly romantic, SCROOGE IN LOVE! is the perfect holiday show for the whole family—and now a cherished San Francisco tradition!
 

A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER
Book and Lyrics by Robert L. Freedman
Music and Lyrics by Steven Lutvak
Based on a Novel by Roy Horniman
Directed by Daren A.C. Carollo
Choreographed by Christina Lazo
Music Direction by Daniel Thomas
February 26 – March 15, 2020
 

A perfect blend of farce, romance, and treachery, GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE... won the Tony for Best Musical in 2014, and we're proud to host the Bay Area professional premiere! When a commoner finds he's eighth in line for an Earldom, he begins fiendishly plotting to move to the top of the heap. With a sparkling score and a crack ensemble cast, this GUIDE is part comedy of manners and part music hall romp—you'll be dying of laughter.


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THE PAJAMA GAME

Music and Lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross
Book by George Abbott and Richard Bissell
Based on a Novel by Richard Bissell
Directed by Ryan Weible
Choreographed by Kelly Cooper
Music Direction by Dave Dobrusky
April 15 – May 3, 2020

One of the greatest scores of Broadway's Golden Age, THE PAJAMA GAME is full of immortal standards, plus a story that continues to resonate with audiences: workplace romance, clashes between management and labor, and the great middle-class struggle to do more than just get by. Add to that the early choreographic genius of Bob Fosse, and you're in for an evening of love, laughter, and some of musical theatre's greatest songs.

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
The 1981 Musical
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by George Furth
Based on the Original Play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
Directed by Dennis Lickteig and Daren A.C. Carollo
Choreographed by Rick Wallace
Music Direction by David Möschler
May 13 – June 14, 2020
 

A nakedly emotional cautionary tale of friendship told in reverse, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG is legendary. We follow three best friends from their wayward middle age back to their idealistic youth as they find out where they took a wrong turn. At its heart is a rousing, ingeniously backward Sondheim score— his most classically "Broadway" in feel. MERRILY is a heartbreaking and exhilarating journey to recapture the hope of our youth.


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MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG

The 1934 Play
By George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
Directed by Daren A.C. Carollo
May 20 – June 23, 2020
 

Playwright Richard Niles is in crisis: he's sold his soul, his integrity, and his dearest friendships for comfort and material success. One of the most ambitious undertakings of the writing team that brought the world You Can't Take it with You, The Man Who Came to Dinner, and Of Thee I Sing, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG is told in reverse, examining the motives and mores of the glittering art world between the Great War and the Great Depression. 

1934's MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG is part of 42nd Street Moon's new BACK TO BACK SERIES, presenting classic musicals in repertory with the plays they're based on.
 

Subscriptions to 42nd Street Moon's 2019-2020 season are currently available by calling the Box Office at (415) 255-8207 (Tues. – Fri., 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.), and will be available for sale online beginning April 1. Single tickets will go on sale on July 16, 2019.

42nd Street Moon celebrates and preserves the art and spirit of the American Musical Theatre. The organization contributes to its evolution and continuing vitality by presenting intimately produced performances of classic and rarely performed musical works. Through productions, educational programs, and community outreach, 42nd Street Moon is committed to increasing the awareness and appreciation of the rich heritage and cultural perspective of the musical theatre and its vast influence on the world stage. For more information, visit:www.42ndstmoon.org