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Also this issue: Curtain Call Poetry Commotion Visitors from Other Worlds Going, Going ! War Is Hell Novel Concept Trouble in Camelot |
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April 17-23, 2003
artpicks
I last wrote about the Media Theatre in October 2001. A year before it had looked as if the theater would close permanently. But a tenant group -- the Society for the Performing Arts -- and their artistic director Jesse Cline negotiated a reprieve and became the theater"s producing organization.
The new regime was launched with productions of South Pacific, Nunsense and Jekyll & Hyde.
On Feb. 15, Media Theatre had another improvement in its fortunes. Ownership of the building transferred to the Borough of Media. Mayor Robert McMahon also became the theatre"s new board chairman.
New fundraising campaigns are underway, and a new season is booked. Cline remains the artistic director; in his view, programming will now ³reflect shows people love, but will also include more cutting-edge work that"s less familiar.² True to his word, next year"s shows will include not only La Cage Aux Folles and Sweet Charity, but also Andrew Lippa"s Wild Party, a recent off-Broadway sensation.
Also illustrating Cline"s point is that Media"s next production will be a revival of that oddest of all legendary musicals, Hair.
Life brings many sobering realizations. Surely this is one: Hair -- the American tribal love rock musical -- is now more than 35 years old. Yet the counterculture landmark retains its sense of experimentation, in large part because the piece is famously fluid. The book is minimal. Like a jam session, it"s different every night.
Cline notes that Hair also needs a different kind of cast -- ³a mix of personalities that are like live wires. You need a series of little explosions on the stage, and that means putting together the right actors to create the right sparks. Ultimately the show depends on who these performers are.² Four days of auditions have yielded what Cline calls ³an astonishing group of performers -- their risk-taking was tremendous.²
Hair, April 23-May 18, $20-$32.50, Media Theatre, 104 E. State St., Media, 610-566-4020.
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