Half of this week's 12 stage openings are mysteries -- both comedic and suspenseful -- in keeping with the Halloween season. There are also a couple of Broadway classics and a one-day stop for the national tour of a new musical about the life and times of country legend Hank Williams.THE GREAT PERFORMANCES series at Peery's Egyptian Theatre in Ogden gets under way for the 1999-2000 season with the first regional presentation of "Lost Highway: The Music and Legend of Hank Williams," which premiered in 1996 at Nashville's landmark Ryman Auditorium, where it played for two years.
The production is now touring the country with many of the original cast members, including Jason Petty, who originated the role of Williams.
Although his personal career lasted only six years, Hank Williams -- who died on New Year's Day 1953 in an auto crash -- recorded 66 songs, 50 of which he wrote himself. Of these, 39 were country hits, including 36 in the top 10 and 11 ranked as No. 1. Among his hit tunes are such country classics as "Hey, Good Lookin'," "Your Cheatin' Heart" and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry."
Performances will be Saturday, Oct. 9, at 3 and 7:30 p.m. at the Egyptian Theatre, 2415 Washington Blvd. For reservations, call 395-3227.
TWO VERSIONS of Gaston Leroux' classic novel, "The Phantom of the Opera," will be playing concurrently on the Wasatch Front from Oct. 8 through Nov. 13 -- the Maury Yeston-Arthur Kopit musical at Rodgers Memorial Theatre in Centerville, and a new, nonmusical adaptation by Collyn Kreuzer by the Academy Theatre Company at the Lighthouse Theatre at Cottonwood Mall.
-- "Phantom," with music and lyrics by Yeston and script by Kopit (which was also the basis for a recent made-for-TV film, has been acclaimed by many critics to be superior, in some instances, to the far more famous Andrew Lloyd Weber version.
Directed by Ron Jewett, this RMT production includes Cliff Cole and Craig Stephenson alternating in the role of the disfigured Phantom, and Margo Watson and Debra Lowe sharing the role of Paris Opera ingenue Christine Daae.
This version is noted for the lyrical "operetta" quality of the score.
Performances will be Mondays and Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., with one matinee on Saturday, Nov. 13, at 3 p.m. All seats are reserved. Tickets are $10 for children, $11 for students (12-18) and senior citizens (60 and over), and $12 for adults. For reservations, call 298-1302.
-- Collyn Kreuzer's new adaptation is geared toward the Academy Theatre Company's family audiences, including younger children.
Kreuzer will portray the Phantom, with Marey Bishop as Christine, Traci Stumpp as Madame Giry, Natalie P. Sheppard as La Carlotta and John Brinton as Raoul de Chagny, with Jason Williams, Lisa McKenzie, Tim Stumpp, Juli Trujillo, Carrie Reed, Peter Golub, Kelly Taylor, Peter Cobb and Jennifer Weeks in other roles.
Performances will be Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. at the Lighthouse Theatre, 4991 S. Highland Drive (the freestanding building behind JCPenney's). Tickets are $7 for adults, $6 for senior citizens and $5 for children, under 10. Call 274-9494 for reservations. Group rates are also available.
"FUENTE OVEJUNA," adapted from Spanish playwright Lope de Vega's most famous play, and directed by Richard Scharine, will play for 10 performances in the intimate Babcock Theatre, located on the lower level of the Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre building on the University of Utah campus.
This version, adapted by Scharine from a translation by Angel Flores and Muriel Kittel, is set in a small town on the Texas border during the Mexican Revolution, where a traveling tent theater troupe is performing a Spanish "golden age" classic (written in 1612 and set in 1476).
The play-within-a-play is about a peasant uprising in the town of Fuente Ovejuna. When the question is asked, "Who killed the commander?" the entire village despite being tortured -- bands together and refuses to give the state a single victim. Their battle cry is "Fuente Ovejuna did it." The drama touches on themes of insurrection, atrocities in the abuse of power, individual love and collective courage.
The cast includes Lanee Augat as Queen Isabella, Jon Mathews as King Ferdinand and Cameron Jones as Esteban, the mayor of Fuenta Ovejuna.
Also in the cast are Sam Littlefield, David A. Neisler, Brady Morrison, B. Joe Rogan, Carnell Cummings, Chase B. Averett, Luz Violeta Gonzalez, Marilyn Stout, Leah Dutchin, Kat Hendleman, Mario Mendez, Jason M. Armbruster, Paulmichael Maxfield, Francis Reyes and Marjorie Lopez Tibbs.
Local musician Anastacio Castillo and his group, Rio Bravo, will perform original ballads during the production, which has been choreographed by Monica Gomez-Rogerson, creative director of the Gomez Mexican Folkloric Dancers of Salt Lake City.
Performances during the first week will be Wednesday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m. During the second week, evening performances will be at 7:30 Thursday-Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday, with one matinee at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 16. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for students. Group rates ($8 each for 10 or more) are available on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings and the Saturday matinee. Call 581-6961 for reservations.
There will also be a free symposium and open forum following the Oct. 16 matinee.
"THE 1940s RADIO HOUR," written by Walton Jones and directed by Jim Christian, will be presented Oct. 8-16 in the Allred Theatre of the newly renovated Val A. Browning Center for the Performing Arts on the Weber State University campus, Ogden.
Filled with hit songs from the 1940s, the production replicates a real-time radio program before a "live studio audience." WSU's renowned Jazz Ensemble will be the radio station's band.
The cast includes Rock White, Brett Palmer, Kenneth Kendall, Melissa Backstrom, Luckey Heath, Marissa Lee Heiser, Don Keipp, James King, Joshua Madsen, Emily Morgan, Charity Pomeroy, Mark Scott, Chris Stauffer and Nathan Zubal.
Performances will be 7:30 p.m. Oct. 8, 9, 11 and 14-16. There will also be one free performance on Oct. 13 for WSU students (with current activity card). Tickets to other performances will be $8.50 for adults and $5.50 for students and senior citizens. Tickets may be purchased in advance from the Dee Events Center box office (626-8500 or 1-800-WSU-TIKS) or Peery's Egyptian Theatre box office (395-3227).
Following every performance, the audience is invited to join in an hour of swing dancing in the adjacent Eccles Theatre. Also, on Oct. 15, there will be a free postshow discussion and open forum with the cast and director.
"ARSENIC AND OLD LACE," Joseph Kesserling's classic Broadway comedy, is scheduled Oct. 8-Nov. 13 at the Villa Playhouse Theatre, Springville.
Directed by Bill Brown, the cast includes Maureen Eastwood and Rae Barney as the sweet but rather deadly spinster sisters, Abbey and Martha Brewster. (They put the "brew" in Brewster with their tasty but fatal recipe for homemade elderberry wine.)
Also in the cast are Kerry Murdock as their shocked nephew, Mortimer; Dane Allred as his crazy brother (who believes he's Teddy Roosevelt); Malcolm Phipps as another brother, the sinister Jonathan; and Mel Taylor as the latter's sidekick, Dr. Einstein; with MinD Jensen as Elaine Harper, Mortimer' fiance.
Performances are Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays. Tickets range from $5 to $7. For reservations, call 489-3088.
"GUYS AND DOLLS," the classic Broadway musical based on Damon Runyon's colorful characters, will play Oct. 8-Nov. 23 at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse, 99 E. 4700 South, Ogden.
The cast includes Kevin Ireland and Brandon Stott alternating as Sky Masterson; Jan Smith and Holly Slack as Sarah Brown; Melinda Cole Welch and Kim Madsen as Adelaide; and Wayne Welch and Dave Madsen as Nathan Detroit.
Performances are Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for students and $5 for children, or $24 for a family ticket. Group rates are also available. For reservations, call 393-0070.
"CHARLIE'S MONUMENT," a musical drama adapted by Susan Evans McCloud and Marvin Payne from Blaine Yorgason's original story, is scheduled to play Oct. 7-Nov. 20 at the Little London Dinner Theatre, 20 S. Main, Pleasant Grove.
Davison Cheney will perform the role of Charlie, a young deformed man who is shunned by his neighbors in a frontier town, with Kathryn Laycock Little as Nellie, the town belle, who sees past his shell and discovers a sensitive and giving soul.
K. Newell Dayley wrote the score.
Play dates are Thursdays-Saturdays, with doors opening at 6:30, dinner served at 6:45 and curtain about 7:30. Advance reservations are required, 24 hours in advance.
Tickets are $21.50, including dinner and show. Call 785-0827 for reservations.
"BAREFOOT IN THE PARK," Neil Simon's comedy about a young newlywed couple and their problems in setting up house in a cramped New York City flat, will play at 8 p.m., Oct. 6-9, at Snow College's Crane Theatre, Ephraim. For reservations, call 1-435-283-7411.
"THE LIBATION BEARERS," the University of Utah's 29th annual Classical Greek Theatre Festival production, will be staged Tuesday, Oct. 5, at 7:30 p.m. in Brigham Young University's de Jong Concert Hall.
The drama, the second part of Aeschylus' trilogy, "The Oresteia," focuses on the youth Orestes, claiming to follow the divine will of the god Apollo, he kills his mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover Aegisthus in revenge for their murder of his father, Agamemnon.
THE VALLEY CENTER PLAYHOUSE, 780 N. 200 East, Lindon, is rolling out its traditional Halloween season double-feature: "Hotel Frankenstein" alternating with "Shadowbrook Mansion." The former, a comedy, back for the 18th year, will play Mondays-Wednesdays, Oct. 4-27 and Nov. 5-8, while the latter plays Thursdays-Saturdays. Oct. 7-30 and Nov. 12-15. For reservations, call 785-1186 (recorded message).
Information on stage productions or auditions must be submitted at least two weeks in advance. Compiled by Ivan M. Lincoln, Deseret News theater editor, 1-801-236-6017. Fax: 1-801-237-2550; e-mail: ivan@desnews.com