Hale Center Theater Orem recently announced its 2016 season, which features new shows, shows from its first year of operations and favorites such as “Catch Me If You Can,” “See How They Run” and “Peter Pan.”
“All the other places are filled in with our very favorites that either fill our souls with joy and love or just make us laugh,” managing director and executive producer Anne Swenson said in an interview with the Deseret News.
Kicking off the season is “The Nerd,” a “1980s comedy that is like no other,” which will run Dec. 31 of this year to Feb. 6, 2016, according to a news release.
“We start the season with a light-hearted comedy because everyone’s tired and staring down winter, so we need something bright,” Swenson said. “Everyone needs a good giggle.”
“The Nerd” is about how a man’s life is turned upside down when a houseguest comes and won’t leave, she said.
“It’s zany, a little bizarre and a lot hilarious,” she said.
Another show that did well in the ’80s, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” will run from Feb. 18 to April 9.
The musical is a “dazzling, vibrant story straight out of the Old Testament” about family and betrayal, and it hasn’t been performed at HCTO for at least 10 or 11 years, Swenson said. Because the rights were tied up for some time, she said, the younger generation has missed the “fun romp that has such sweet moments in it.”
“The music is so darn catchy, you’ll never be able to get it out of your head,” Swenson said.
“Jane Eyre,” a musical adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s classic Gothic romance novel, will run from April 21 to June 4.
The story of Jane, an orphan who grows up in a harsh boarding school and falls in love with her mysterious employer, is a beautiful, triumphant story about faith and forgiveness, Swenson said.
“The play leaves you feeling uplifted and better than when you arrived,” she said, as it shows the beautiful transformations that occur in both Jane and Mr. Rochester’s lives accompanied by “haunting” music.
“What sets this show apart from many musicals are the soaring, musical melodies that demand your attention,” Swenson said.
Continuing in the musical vein, the theater will bring back “Peter Pan” from June 16 to Aug. 6 because last year’s production did so well at enchanting children and making adults cry, Swenson said.
“We weren’t ready for Peter Pan to grow up, so we’re going back to Neverland,” she said.
The show, which took advantage of the stage's intimate space, was “so full of magic, so full of creativity and so full of joy” that patrons and cast members were left wanting more, she said.
Director Dave Tinney will revisit his steampunk rendition with Josh Valdez returning as Peter Pan.
Another show HCTO is bringing back for the 2016 season is “See How They Run,” one of the first shows the theater did 25 years ago.
“We’re sneaking it in because we love it so much,” Swenson said.
According to the news release, the show is “one of the funniest farces from the London stage,” and it will hit the stage at HCTO Aug. 12 to Sept. 24.
Swenson said the British play is “a romp of mistaken identity and silliness” and is a classic.
“Anyone that’s in it or seen it, end up quoting it for the rest of their lives,” she said. “It becomes a part of your vernacular.”
A newer selection, the 2011 musical “Catch Me If You Can,” will play from Oct. 6 to Nov. 19.
The musical tells the story of the “most amazing con in history,” Swenson said, and is based off of the 2002 film and Frank Abagnale Jr.’s 1980 autobiography.
“It’s also a really touching story of a father-son relationship” between Abagnale and the man trying to catch him, FBI agent Carl Hanratty, she said.
“It’s exciting for us to bring it to the stage,” Swenson said.
Though not included with season tickets, the HCTO holiday tradition “A Christmas Carol” will run from Nov. 26 to Dec. 23.
Swenson said the show isn’t included with season tickets because the run is short and because this allows people to choose whether they want to see it. For some patrons, the season isn’t complete until they’ve seen it, she said, while others are happy seeing it every couple of years.
“Patrons have different levels of ‘A Christmas Carol’ in their lives,” Swenson said.
In the three-week run, the theater has as many performances of “A Christmas Carol” as it does for the shows with longer runs. Double-casting the show allows the theater to add performances as the run goes along, Swenson said.
“A Christmas Carol” is a tradition across all of the Hale theaters, and the scripts for each originated from the same script, Swenson said. But over time, and because “every director who has touched it” has changed it, each theater’s version has become vastly different.
One year in the HCTO production, a director had the show end with Scrooge singing the last verse of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.”
“It focused it like a lens on the meaning (of Christmas),” Swenson said.
Tickets for the 2016 season go on sale for current season ticket holders July 15, and for new season ticket holders Aug. 1. More information is available at haletheater.org.
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