Buckley, Clark, Graff, Thomas, et al. Set for Kennedy Center Season

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has announced its selections for its 2008-2009 season.

The season will kick off with Richard Thomas starring in Blanche and Beyond (September 24-26), adapted by Steve Lawson from the 1945-1957 correspondences of Tennessee Williams.

Next up will be Broadway: Three Generations (October 2-5), featuring in one program abridged versions of Girl Crazy, Fiddler on the Roof, and Side Show, each representing one of the three generations of Broadway composers. Eric Schaeffer will direct a cast that will include Randy Graff, Mark Jacoby, and Max von Essen.

Barbara Cook’s Spotlight, the Center’s cabaret series, will feature Betty Buckley (October 3-4), Rebecca Luker (November 8), Victoria Clark (December 6), Liz Callaway (January 9), and husband-and-wife team Jason Danieley and Marin Mazzie (February 14).

From October 22-25, Ireland’s acclaimed Druid company will present DruidSynge, a celebration of the life and work of one of Ireland’s greatest writers, John Millington Synge. Garry Hynes will direct this program of Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World and The Shadow of the Glen.

The national tour of Frost/Nixon will come to the Kennedy Center November 11-30, starring Stacy Keach. The play details how David Frost, the British talk-show host with a playboy reputation, elicited the apology that the rest of the world was waiting to hear from Richard Nixon in one of the most monumental television interviews of all time. Michael Grandage directs.

Based on the popular movie, Legally Blonde The Musical will play December 16-January 11. The show features music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin and book by Heather Hach.

On January 31, the Kennedy Center will present a free concert, hosted by Stephen Schwartz, and featuring composers and lyricists Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (Ragtime, Once on This Island), Scott Frankel (Grey Gardens), and Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, Or Change). Original stars from some of their musicals will perform with the composers at the piano.

From April 18-May 10, The Kennedy Center will present a new production of Ragtime, to be directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge. Based on a 1975 novel by E.L. Doctorow with music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and book by Terrence McNally, the musical won four Tony Awards, including Best Score.

Running April 28-May 31, the Kennedy Center and Arlington’s Signature Theatre will co-produce the new musical version of Giant with music and lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa and book by Sybille Pearson, based on the novel by Edna Ferber. To be performed in The MAX at Signature Theatre, the musical tells the story of a Texas rancher and his Virginia-born wife as they face increasing challenges in their marriage and family in an ever-changing American landscape.

Next up will be The Color Purple (July 1-August 2), based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Alice Walker and the Steven Spielberg film. The musical is directed by Gary Griffin, and adapted for the stage by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Marsha Norman, with music and lyrics by Grammy Award winners Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray and choreography by Donald Byrd.

The Tony-winning musical Spring Awakening will play July 7-August 2.
Based on the controversial 1891 Frank Wedekind play, the show features music by Duncan Sheik, with book and lyrics by Steven Sater.

In addition, The Kennedy Center’s Performances for Young Audiences season will include Mermaids, Monsters, and the World Painted Purple (October 11-26), written by Marco Ramirez and directed by Gregg Henry; The Trumpet of the Swan (December 4-6), a new Kennedy Center commission based on the book by E.B. White, featuring a book by Marsha Norman, music by Jason Robert Brown, and direction by Bob Balaban; a new play co-commissioned and co-produced with the White House Historical Association, to run January 31-February 22; and Dancing on the Sands of Time, choreographed by Debbie Allen, March 12-14.

Family-oriented presented works will include Native Pride Dancers (November 22-23);
Jason and the Argonauts (December 12-14); Goodnight, Moon and The Runaway Bunny (December 26-January 4); Circus INcognitus (March 27-29); and Parachutists (or, On the Art of Falling) (May 12-17).

For more information, visit www.kennedy-center.org.