Paper Mill Playhouse Announces 2004-2005 Season

The Paper Mill Playhouse, located in Millburn, New Jersey, has announced the six shows that will constitute its 2004-2005 season.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Of Thee I Sing, with songs by George and Ira Gershwin and a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, will kick off the season. The show is a political satire about the election campaign of John P. Wintergreen, who runs on a platform of Love. Of Thee I Sing will be directed by Tina Landau and will run from September 8 through October 17.

Next up, running from October 27 through December 7, will be the romantic musical comedy She Loves Me, with a book by Joe Masteroff and a score by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick. Based on Miklos Laszlo’s play Parfumerie (which also inspired a number of films, including The Shop Around the Corner and You’ve Got Mail), the musical concerns two bickering 1930s shop clerks who don’t realize that they’re carrying on a romantic relationship through letters. The Paper Mill production will be directed by James Brennan.

John Mahoney, best known for his role on TV’s Frasier, will star in the third show of the season: Michael Healey’s award-winning The Drawer Boy, all about what happens when two Canadian farmers take in a young actor and the lines between reality and theater begin to blur. The production — the first in the New York metropolitan area — will be directed by Anna D. Shapiro and will run January 5-February 6, 2005.

Harold and Maude, a new musical by Tom Jones and Joseph Thalken based on the 1972 cult film, will be the season’s fourth production. It tells the story of the odd relationship between a young man who’s obsessed with suicide and an older woman who’s very much in love with life. This world premiere production of Harold and Maude will be directed by Mark S. Hoebee and will run from February 23-April 3.

Next up will be a new production of The Baker’s Wife, a musical with a score by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Joseph Stein that was to have opened on Broadway in 1976 but closed on the road to New York. Based on a film by Marcel Pagnol and Jean Giono, the musical tells the story of a baker, his attractive young wife, and the handsome young gigolo who threatens to tear their marriage — and the community — apart. The score includes the now-familiar song “Meadowlark.” The Paper Mill production will by directed by Gordon Greenberg and will run April 13-May 22.

The season will be capped by Ragtime, the 1998 musical with a score by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty and a book by Terrence McNally, based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow. In Ragtime, the lives of three families — one WASP, one black, and one immigrant — become intertwined in early 20th century New York. Strafford Arima will direct the production, which will run from June 8 through July 17.

Only season subscription tickets are currently on sale; single tickets will go on sale beginning July 19, 2004. For more information about subscriptions, phone 973-379-3717; for more information about Paper Mill, visit www.papermill.org.