Theater News

Bells Are Ringing Begins at Berkshire Theatre Group

The Tony Award-winning musical starts performances tonight.

Ethan Heard directs ''Bells Are Ringing," featuring Kate Baldwin and Graham Rowat, which begins tonight.
Ethan Heard directs ''Bells Are Ringing," featuring Kate Baldwin and Graham Rowat, which begins tonight.

Berkshire Theatre Group’s presentation of Bells Are Ringing begins tonight at The Colonial Theatre. The farcical love story focuses on telephone service operator and busybody, Ella Peterson. Through various personas she meddles in the lives of her clients while delivering their messages. This spells disaster when she falls for Jeff Moss, one of her customers. Throughout a confusion of mistaken identities and mishaps are the songs that make the musical a classic, such as "Long Before I Knew You," "Just in Time," and "The Party's Over."

The classic book and lyrics are by Betty Comden and Adolph Green set to music by Jule Styne. This production is directed by Ethan Heard and choreographed by Parker Esse, and the cast features Kate Baldwin and Graham Rowat.

"Bells Are Ringing is a love letter to NYC," says director Ethan Heard. "A wacky world of colorful characters, crazy coincidences, and dreams come true. It's also a love story about a muse, her man, and all the other people she inspires. She can't help but help people…Answering services, once the height of fashion, have now been replaced with voicemail boxes and texting, but our longing for connection is timeless as ever. So is our propensity to pretend to be people we're not."

The creative team includes Joel Fram (musical direction), Matthew Aument (orchestrations), Reid Thompson (set design), David Murin (costume design), Oliver Wason (lighting design), and Steve Brush (sound design).

Performances will run through July 26.

For tickets and more information, click here.

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Bells Are Ringing

Closed: July 26, 2015