MAINSTAGE SHOWS:
NEXT TO NORMAL – October 14-16, 2022 / Derry Opera House – Book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, Music by Tom Kitt / Next to Normal explores how one suburban household copes with crisis and mental illness. Winner of three 2009 Tony Awards, including Best Musical Score and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, Next to Normal was also chosen as “one of the year’s ten best shows” by critics around the country, including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone and The New York Times. Dad’s an architect; Mom rushes to pack lunches and pour cereal; their daughter and son are bright, wise-cracking teens, appearing to be a typical American family. And yet their lives are anything but normal because the mother has been battling manic depression for 16 years. Next to Normal takes audiences into the minds and hearts of each character, presenting their family’s story with love, sympathy and heart. This deeply moving piece of theatre features performers who will explore the dramatic material while showcasing their vocal talents through an energetic pop/rock score. Next to Normal is an emotional powerhouse that addresses such issues as grieving a loss, ethics in modern psychiatry, and suburban life.
SEASONAL ALLERGIES – November 11-13, 2022 / Majestic Studio Theatre – By Katherine DiSavino & Kevin Mead / Do you have Seasonal Allergies? You might be experiencing the symptoms of them and not even know it. Seasonal Allergies tend to show themselves right around the holidays: do you feel a tickle in the back of your throat when you realize your vegetable dishes cooked faster than you thought, and now they’re ready a full hour before the turkey will be out of the oven? Do your eyes water uncontrollably after you’ve nearly broken your back climbing into the attic to find the Christmas lights (and then discover that only half the strand lights up)? Do you find yourself overheated when family members decide to extend their vacation and “hang out” for a few more days in your home? Then you, my friend, have got Seasonal Allergies. And you are not alone! 9 out of 10 people have Seasonal Allergies, but nobody has a case worse than Julia Shelby and her brother Peter. So get ready to laugh away your throat tickle, and clear your sinuses with a healthy dose of Holiday Fun.
BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER – December 9-11, 2022 / Derry Opera House – Book and Lyrics by Jahnna Beecham, Music and Lyrics by Malcolm Hillgartner / The Herdmans are the worst kids in the history of the world–so when they crash Sunday school and demand parts in the Christmas pageant, the whole town panics. There’s not supposed to be biting or cigar-smoking in Bethlehem, and while these kids have never even heard the Christmas story, they definitely have rewrites! Soon everyone is calling for reluctant director Grace Bradley to cancel the whole thing. It’s up to the Bradleys and the Reverend to help their community see the Christmas story and the Herdman kids through new eyes in this buoyant musical adaptation of the funny and touching holiday classic.
Ken Ludwig’s LEADING LADIES – February 17-19, 2023 / Majestic Studio Theatre – By Ken Ludwig / In this hilarious comedy by the author of “Lend Me A Tenor” and “Moon Over Buffalo”, two English Shakespearean actors, Jack and Leo, find themselves so down on their luck that they are performing “Scenes from Shakespeare” on the Moose Lodge circuit in the Amish country of Pennsylvania. When they hear that an old lady in York, PA is about to die and leave her fortune to her two long lost English nephews, they resolve to pass themselves off as her beloved relatives and get the cash. The trouble is, when they get to York, they find out that the relatives aren’t nephews, but nieces! Romantic entanglements abound, especially when Leo falls head-over-petticoat in love with the old lady’s vivacious niece, Meg, who’s engaged to the local minister. Meg knows that there’s a wide world out there, but it’s not until she meets “Maxine and Stephanie” that she finally gets a taste of it.
DEATH BY DESIGN – April 14-16, 2023 / Majestic Studio Theatre – by Ron Urbinati / What happens when you mix the brilliant wit of Noël Coward with the intricate plotting of Agatha Christie? Set during a weekend in an English country manor in 1932, Death by Design is a hilarious, delightful and mysterious mash-up of two of the greatest English writers of all time. Edward Bennett, a playwright, and his wife, Sorel Bennett, an actress, flee London and head to Cookham after a disastrous opening night. But various guests arrive unexpectedly – a conservative politician, a fiery socialist, a nearsighted ingénue, a zany modern dancer – each with a long-held secret. When one of the guests is murdered, it’s left to Bridgit, the feisty Irish maid with a macabre interest in homicide, to solve the crime. Death by Design is more than homage – it’s a new classic.
THE WILD WOMEN OF WINEDALE – June 2-4, 2023 / Majestic Studio Theatre – By Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, Jamie Wooten / This joyful and exuberant, yet ultimately touching, comedy focuses on three women at crossroads in their lives—the Wild sisters of Winedale, Virginia—Fanny and Willa and their frustratingly quirky sister-in-law Johnnie Faye. This feisty and fun-loving trio has supported and cheered one another through life’s highs and lows through the years, including the early demise of two of their husbands. And they really need each other now, as Fanny experiences a hilariously inappropriate reaction to her 60th birthday, while Willa is so stressed out from her nursing job she resorts to vodka and speed-knitting to cope, and Johnnie Faye, determined to put her year of fraught widowhood behind her, desperately tries to find a man—preferably a man with a house, since hers is somewhere at the bottom of a Florida sinkhole. These women’s lives are further upended by the responsibility of caring for their free-spirited, ailing aunt and the realization that they are drowning under loads of family keepsakes and possessions nobody wants—especially them! With equal doses of hilarity and heart, these extraordinary women come up with delightful and surprisingly unorthodox ways to clear the clutter from their lives, their homes and their relationships so they can move their lives forward. Together they prove it’s never too late to take another one of life’s paths for a grand new adventure. This Jones Hope Wooten comedy is guaranteed to drive you wild with laughter—and motivate you to keep hounding the kids to please take that stack of quilts and Granny’s Christmas china!
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN – July 14-16, 2023 / Derry Opera House – Book by Terrence McNally, Music by Marc Shaiman, Lyrics by Marc Shaiman Scott Wittman / Based on the hit film and the incredible true story, “Catch Me If You Can” is the high-flying musical comedy about chasing your dreams and not getting caught. Nominated for four Tony awards, including Best Musical, this delightfully entertaining show was created by a Tony Award-winning “dream team,” with a book by Terrence McNally (The Full Monty, Ragtime) and a swinging score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray). Catch Me If You Can is a big and bright spectacle with high-energy dance numbers and a riveting story. Seeking fame and fortune, precocious teenager, Frank Abignale, Jr., runs away from home to begin an unforgettable adventure. With nothing more than his boyish charm, a big imagination and millions of dollars in forged checks, Frank successfully poses as a pilot, a doctor and a lawyer – living the high life and winning the girl of his dreams. When Frank’s lies catch the attention of FBI agent, Carl Hanratty, though, Carl pursues Frank across the country to make him pay for his crimes.
NUNSENSE 2 – August 11-13, 2023 / Majestic Studio Theatre – By Dan Goggin / The Little Sisters of Hoboken, those humble nuns with a touch of show biz flair, return in style with Nunsense II: The Second Coming. Presenting a high-spirited and zany “Thank You Program” for their many supporters, the sisters sing and dance their way across the Mount St. Helen’s stage, which is already dressed for the Hoboken Music Society’s upcoming production of The Mikado. Musical numbers include “Winning Is Just the Beginning,” “There’s Only One Way To End Your Prayers,” “What Would Elvis Do?,” “The Padre Polka,” and “A Hat and Cane Song.”
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MAJESTIC ACADEMY: (Youth and Teens)
WONDERLAND – October 21-23, 2022 / Majestic Studio Theatre – Book adapted by James Devita, Music and Lyrics by Bill Francoeur / Wonderland! is an unabashedly silly adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass. With hip-hopping music, it is an upbeat, coming-of-age story that audiences of all ages will adore! You’ll recognize some of your favorite familiar characters of Alice’s Wonderland along with meeting dozens of new ones: a baseball team, a gospel group called The Responsibilities, a train conductor, star-struck tourists, plastic light-saber wielding knights, and much more. An eclectic mix of music that ranges from gypsy swing to doo-wop to bluegrass will have you grinning like a Cheshire cat! You’ll love the toe-tapping musical renditions of “Jabberwocky” and “The Walrus and the Carpenter” as well as other great numbers such as “Anything’s Possible,” “Step by Step” and the hysterical “I Was a Good Egg But Then I Done Went Bad,” sung by Humpty Dumpty and the Dixie Chickens!
CATS: Young Actors Edition – January 27-29, 2023 / Derry Opera House – Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Based on Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot / CATS: Young Actors Edition is an brief adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical, specially tailored for young actors. CATS is set amongst a larger-than-life junkyard playground and is alive with purr-fect felines, including Rum Tum Tugger, Mr. Mistoffelees, Macavity, Jennyanydots, Old Deuteronomy, Skimbleshanks and Grizabella. The Jellicle Cats come out to play on one special night of the year—the night of the Jellicle Ball. One by one, they tell their stories for the amusement of Old Deuteronomy, their wise and benevolent leader, who must choose one of the Cats to ascend to The Heaviside Layer and be reborn into a whole new Jellicle life.
ANYTHING GOES: Youth Edition – March 24-26, 2023 / Derry Opera House – Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter, Original Book by P.G. Wodehouse & Guy Bolton and Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse, New Book by Timothy Crouse & John Weidman / Anything Goes: Youth Edition is a brief adaptation of Anything Goes, specially tailored for elementary and middle school-aged actors. Anything Goes is a wacky shipboard farce featuring romance, intrigue, colorful characters and a glorious score from Cole Porter. Highlights include: “You’re The Top,” “It’s De-Lovely,” “Friendship,” “I Get A Kick Out Of You,” “Blow, Gabriel, Blow,” and the title number.
LITTLE WOMEN – May 12-14, 2023 / Derry Opera House – Music by Jason Howland, Lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, Book by Allan Knee, Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott / Little Women has been praised by critics for its ambition in adapting such a well-known story for the stage. This timeless, captivating story is brought to life in this glorious musical filled with personal discovery, heartache, hope and everlasting love. The original production starred the unparalleled Sutton Foster, who received Tony, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk nominations for her performance. Based on Louisa May Alcott’s life, Little Women follows the adventures of sisters, Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy March. Jo is trying to sell her stories for publication, but the publishers are not interested – her friend, Professor Bhaer, tells her that she has to do better and write more from herself. Begrudgingly taking this advice, Jo weaves the story of herself and her sisters and their experience growing up in Civil War America. Little Women embodies the complete theatrical experience, guaranteeing a night filled with laughter, tears and a lifting of the spirit. The powerful score soars with the sounds of personal discovery, heartache and hope – the sounds of a young America finding its voice.
THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE – May 19-21, 2023 / Majestic Studio Theatre – Dramatized by Joseph Robinette from the story by C.S. Lewis / This dramatization of C.S. Lewis’ classic work faithfully recreates the magic and mystery of Aslan, the great lion, his struggle with the White Witch, and the adventures of four children who inadvertently wander from an old wardrobe into the exciting, never-to-be-forgotten Narnia. The intense action features chases, duels and escapes as the witch is determined to keep Narnia in her possession and to end the reign of Aslan. All the memorable episodes from the story are represented in this exciting dramatization: the temptation of Edmund by the witch, the slaying of the evil wolf by Peter, the witnessing of Aslan’s resurrection by Susan and Lucy, the crowing of the four new rulers of Narnia, and more. The supporting characters are also here: the unicorn, the centaur and other forest animals, along with Father Christmas, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver and Tumnus the Faun. This story of love, faith, courage and giving, with its triumph of good over evil, is a true celebration of life. Easily staged, the play may be presented without intermission or in two short acts if desired.
ADDITIONAL MUSIC EVENTS:
A NIGHT OF ELVIS – February 4, 2023 / Majestic Studio Theatre – Join us for “Everything Elvis” at this Variety show that will pay tribute to “The King”. Songs, skits, comedy, and more! How many different ways can we celebrate the man, the legend?
ROCKIN’ DADDIOS – March 4, 2023 / Majestic Studio Theatre – Your favorite Doo-Wop returns with their great harmonies, energetic performance, and antics. Doo-wop music at it’s best!
Call (603)669-7469 for tickets or purchase online.
Multiple show discounts are available; please call.
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