Theater News

Kathleen Marshall to Direct Sweet Charity in Los Angeles

”Victor/Victoria” and ”Grand Hotel” will also be part of the inaugural season of Reprise 2.0.

Kathleen Marshall will direct Sweet Charity in Los Angeles as part of Reprise 2.0's inaugural season.
Kathleen Marshall will direct Sweet Charity in Los Angeles as part of Reprise 2.0's inaugural season.
(© David Gordon)

The Los Angeles company Reprise 2.0 has announced an inaugural season of three classic American musicals at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse, part of a partnership with the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television’s Department of Theater. Marcia Seligson serves as producing artistic director.

The season will open with Sweet Charity, directed and choreographed by three-time Tony winner Kathleen Marshall (June 20-July 1). Based on Federico Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria, Sweet Charity follows Charity’s life as a dance hall hostess "with a heart of gold," determined to break out of the Fan-Dango Ballroom. The show features a book by Neil Simon, music by Cy Coleman, and lyrics by Dorothy Fields.

Victor/Victoria will follow, directed by Richard Israel and choreographed by Peggy Hickey (September 5-16). A musical version of Blake Edwards’s 1982 film (with a book by Edwards), the story follows Victoria, a penniless out-of-work soprano, whose life is changed when she meets a struggling gay impresario and, with his help, becomes "Victor," an overnight singing sensation in the nightclubs of Paris. The production includes music by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, and additional musical and lyrics by Frank Wildhorn.

The final production will be Grand Hotel, directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman and choreographed by Kay Cole (October 24- November 4). Based on the 1929 Vicki Baum novel and the subsequent 1932 MGM feature, Grand Hotel premiered in 1989, earning 12 Tony Award nominations. The show focuses on events taking place over the course of a weekend in Berlin’s elegant Grand Hotel, with a score by Robert Wright and George Forrest, a book by Luther Davis, and additional and revised music by Maury Yeston.

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