Las Vegas Spotlight: September 2006
The end of summer break may be bad news for kids, but it’s great news for theater lovers. At last the new season is upon us, and here is what Las Vegas’ theater companies have on offer in September.
Real-life husband and wife Brandon and Kelly Albright star in Stage Door Entertainment’s production of The Last Five Years (September 1-17). Composer/lyricist Jason Robert Brown’s award-winning song cycle charts the demise of novelist Jamie and actress Kathy’s relationship, told from their alternating points-of-view. The production is directed by Terrence R. Williams, with vocal direction by Daniel Bernbach and musical direction by Cynthia Harris.
Stage Door Entertainment will also be offering a children’s show this month, bringing everybody’s favorite grade-schooler to life in Ramona Quimby (September 2-16), the stage adaptation of author Beverly Cleary’s popular Ramona series. The show will play at 11am and 3pm on Saturdays; tickets are only $6-8. Logan Linehan plays Ramona, Alexis Fitting is her older sister Beezus, and Brian Scott and Lisa Linehan are Mr. and Mrs. Quimby.
The Las Vegas Little Theatre kicks off the 2006-2007 season with Ken Ludwig’s farce Lend Me a Tenor (September 8-24). This comedy of crazy mishaps and misunderstandings takes place at the Cleveland Grand Opera Company in 1934 on the night that world-famous tenor Tito Morelli is set to perform. But when a series of accidents lead to Morelli’s passing out cold, the opera’s manager Saunders and his harried assistant Max must make the show go on. The production is directed by Rob Kastil, with John Randall starring as Max, Rebecca Zisch as his beloved Maggie, Daryl Morris as Saunders, and Bob Cox as Tito Morelli.
The first production of the season from the Nevada Conservatory Theatre at UNLV is the brilliant docu-drama The Laramie Project (September 22-October 1). Created by writer/director Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project, the play uses interviews and re-enactments of original events to show the aftermath of the brutal beating of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard. The Laramie Project will be presented in the Black Box Theatre, and part of the proceeds from the show will go to the Matthew Shepard Foundation.
