Everything from Broadway musicals to one-act plays are on the calendar this week for Wasatch Front theatergoers."SHENANDOAH," the 1975 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical based on the 1965 James Stewart movie about a Virginia farmer determined to protect his daughter and six sons while the Civil War rages around them, will play April 28-June 3 at the Rodgers Memorial Theatre, Centerville.
Leslie Warwood is directing a double-cast ensemble that includes Steve Evans and Dave Hill alternating in the role of indifferent widower Charlie Anderson, who is torn between loyalty to his beloved Virginia and the ground he settled with his wife and children.
Lyricist Peter Udell and composer Gary Geld's 15-song score ranges from such energetic tunes as "Next to Lovin' " and "Freedom" to such ballads as "The Only Home I Know."
Assisting Warwood are choreographer Marilyn Montgomery and music director Larry Smith.
Costumes for the production should be authentic. They're being sewn by a woman in Florida who created the costumes for the TV mini-series "North and South."
Performances will be Mondays and Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. There will be no matinees. Tickets are $12 for adults, $11 for senior citizens and students and $10 for children. There are also group rates for parties of 12 or more. Call 298-1302 for reservations. The theater is located at 292 E. Pages Lane, Centerville.
"ROBIN HOOD: BOOOS AND ARROWS!" brings the heroes of Sherwood Forest to the Desert Star Playhouse stage April 27-June 10. (The theater itself will be closed from June 11 until mid-September for extensive remodeling.)
Scott Holman is directing Bob Bedore and Eric Jensen's script.
Holman will also play Robin Hood, with Jack Drayton as the Sheriff of Nottingham, Mary Parker Williams as the beguiling Maid Marion, Ben Millet as Little John, Matthew Mullaney as Friar Tuck, Jonathon Phipps as the sheriff's dim-witted assistant, Sir Guy; Randy Taylor as Sheik Hugh Boote, a charming rogue; and Leslie Richards as Lady Clydesdale.
The cast will also perform a "Pop Into Summer" olio revue.
Performances will be 7 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays, 7 and 9 p.m. on Fridays, and 3, 7 and 9:30 p.m. on Saturdays. All seats are reserved. Tickets range from $6 to $12, depending on age range and performance day. There is also a family pass ($35 to $45) for a table of five, available for any Saturday matinee or 9:30 p.m. performance. Food and beverage service is extra. Call 266-7600 for reservations.
"A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S SPACE ADVENTURE," presented by Wasatch Theatre Company at Dilworth Elementary, is the result of a collaborative effort by both the theater troupe and the school.
Directed by WTC board member George Plautz, the production involved nearly 200 Dilworth Elementary students, ranging from 5 to 12 years of age.
According to Jim Martin, WTC's artistic director (and a fourth-grade teacher at the school), the students not only perform onstage; many have taken on other tasks, such as assistant directors, business managers, computer designers, artists, costumers, lighting designers -- virtually all aspects of producing a show.
The performances, co-sponsored by the School 2 Careers project, is also a fund-raiser, with all proceeds used to fund a similar activity next year.
Admission is $3 for adults, $1 for students or $10 per family.
Performances, all open to the general public, will be 7 p.m. April 27 and 28 and 2 p.m. April 29 at the school, 1953 S. 2100 East.
"EDGAR ALLAN POE: ONCE UPON A MIDNIGHT. . ." features John Astin in a one-man drama about the life and times of one of the most tragic and fascinating of literary figures. The production will play one night only -- 7:30 p.m., Friday, April 28 -- at Peery's Egyptian Theater, 2415 Washington Blvd., Ogden.
Written by noted authors and Poe experts Paul Day Clemens and Ron Magid, the script blends historical events with the supernatural to create a journey through Poe's imagination.
(For details about the touring production, see the Deseret News' Weekend entertainment section for Friday, April 21.)
Tickets are $22 for the general public, $20 for senior citizens and one-third off (or $14) for students. Group discounts are also available. For reservations, call the theater at 395-3227, or purchase tickets through Weber State University's Dee Events Center box office, 626-8500 or 1-800-WSU-TIKS (928-8457).
TWO ONE-ACT PLAY FESTIVALS are scheduled this week in the Eccles Theatre of Weber State University's Browning Center, Ogden, and the Studio Stage of Utah State University's Chase Fine Arts Center in Logan.
The plays in Logan are all original scripts, written by student playwrights in USU's advanced play-writing seminar. Those performed in Ogden are by established playwrights.
-- "Script and Stage" is the theme for USU's Conservatory Series presentation of six different one-act plays over three nights, April 24-26, at 8 p.m.
There will be staged readings of E.G. Stoddard's "Mulch," Paul Filan's "One Night, Two Bags and a Couple of Bodies," Sage Davis' "Fault," Tina Lambard's "Forgiven, Not Forgotten: The Legacy of Fear," Melinda Bastian's "Sisters" and Amber Tuttle's "What is Sacred?"
Theater arts professor Mark Damon cautions that all of the plays, except "Forgiven, Not Forgotten," contain adult themes and language.
Tickets, available only at the door beginning at 7 p.m., are $5 for general admission seating. USU students will be admitted free of charge with valid I.D.
-- The One-Act Play Festival at WSU will feature four plays, each presented twice as part of a "double bill."
Jonathan Marc Sherman's "Women and Wallace," directed by Jennifer M. Buckley, and Cherie Vogelstein's "Cats and Dogs," directed by Gamyr Worf, will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on April 27, and 29.
Barbara Weichmann's "Feeding the Moonfish," directed by Kirsten Gale Worf, and Tina Landau's "1969 or Howie Takes a Trip," directed by Corey Atkins, will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on April 28 and as a 2 p.m. matinee on April 29.
All plays carry a warning for adult situations and language.
General admission seating for adults is $8.50, with senior citizens and WSU students and employees admitted for $5.50. Tickets may be purchased at the Browning Center box office (626-6565) or the downtown Peery's Egyptian Theater (395-3227).
"ALADDIN AND TALES OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS," directed by Anna Murdock, will be staged by the Villa Youtheatre troupe at the Villa Playhouse Theatre, 254 S. Main, Springville, April 28-May 8.
The production presents five of the legendary 1001 stories told by Scheherazade to her husband, the Sultan, including the adventures of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and the familiar story of Aladdin.
Tickets are $7 for adults, $6 for senior citizens and students, and $5 for children, 3-11 years of age. There is also a family pass for $30. For reservations, call 489-3088.
"MORE MYSTERY ON THE MOORS," a Hunt Mystery & Company production, will be presented Friday, April 28, at the Inn on the Creek in Midway. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the audience participation mystery begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 per person, including buffet and performance. For reservations, call 1-800-654-0892.
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