Bogart, Butler, Hicks, Spencer Join Chalfant, Fisher, Houdyshell, et al. in Arena Stage Season

Jersey Boys star J. Robert Spencer will star in the Arena Stage production of
Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s musical Next to Normal, November 21-January 18. Directed by Michael Greif, the show focuses on an almost average suburban family who must come to grips with a long buried secret.

The company’s 2008-2009 season, billed as a two-year festival entitled “Arena Restaged,” will kick off with Daniel Beaty’s Resurrection, featuring music by Daniel Bernard Roumain and direction by Oz Scott. This co-production with Hartford Stage will be presented August 29-October 5 in Crystal City. The work blends music, poetry, and dance, in a story of African American men who collide one evening in a look at identity, relationships and, human connections.

Carrie Fisher’s autobiographical solo, Wishful Drinking will perform at the Lincoln Theatre, September 5-28. Directed by Tony Taccone, the show chronicles her unusual childhood as the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, her rise to movie icon status as Star Wars‘ Princess Leia, her marriage to Paul Simon, and more.

Irving Berlin’s I Love a Piano, will play Lincoln Theatre January 30- February 15. This enchanting musical journey spans seven decades of American history as seen through the perceptive and hopeful eyes of Irving Berlin, and includes such tunes as “White Christmas,” “God Bless America,” “Puttin’ on the Ritz” and “There’s No Business like Show Business.”

From February 6-March 15, Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance will play Crystal City, under the direction of Pam MacKinnon. This look at a dysfunctional American family won the playwright his first Pulitzer Prize. Kathleen Chalfant, Jayne Houdyshell, and Ellen McLaughlin will star.

Regina Taylor’s musical Crowns, adapted from the book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry, will return to Arena March 27-April 26, performing at the Lincoln Theatre, with a cast headed by E. Faye Butler, Harriett D. Foy, Marva Hicks, and Natasha Yvette Williams.

The world premiere Karen Zacarías Legacy of Light will play Crystal City, May 8-June 14, directed by Molly Smith and starring Mtt Bogart. The play concerns 18th century physicist Emilie du Châtelet, who falls in love with the renowned writer and philosopher Voltaire, as well as a present-day physicist named Olivia, who is in remission from cancer.

The season will conclude with Tennessee Williams’ classic play Sweet Bird of Youth, to be directed by Tazewell Thompson at The Lincoln Theatre, May 28- June 27.

Separate from the subscription season, Arena will also present Josh Kornbluth’s solo show Citizen Josh in Crystal City, October 8-26 and Maureen McGovern’s cabaret, A Long and Winding Road, March 31-April 12.