NSMT’s Abyssinia and Camelot to Play at Boston’s Shubert

The North Shore Music Theatre’s upcoming productions of Abyssinia and Camelot will now play at Boston’s Shubert Theater, as a result of an electrical fire last month at NMST. That theater, located in Beverly, Massachussets, is still undergoing repairs.

Abyssinia, a musical based on Joyce Carol Thomas’s novel Marked By Fire, will run August 23-September 11. Shannon Antalan, who appeared on Broadway in Caroline, or Change, will take on the title role. The 16-member supporting cast includes Broadway veterans B.J. Crosby and Andre Garnier.

The production will be directed by Stafford Arima, whose credits include the Off-Broadway hits Altar Boyz and Children’s Letters to God and the London and Paper Mill Playhouse productions of Ragtime. The NSMT’s Camelot will begin performances September 20. Casting and other details will be released shortly.

The Wang Center, the non-profit organization that owns the Shubert, is giving NMST the theater rent-free. “It’s important that we all work together as a community,” says William Poduska, chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Wang Center. “This is an obvious need and one that can be shaped into a positive and strong opportunity for both companies. It’s a great example of a non-profit supporting a non-profit.”