FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (11/00)
Contact: Marjorie Lyons Playhouse, 318-869-5242 or
Lynn Stewart or Abbey Broussard, Centenary News Service, 318-869-5120

Centenary Theatre Department Offers Romantic Notions, a Broadway Musical Revue, Dec. 7-10

SHREVEPORT, LA -- The Theatre Department at Centenary College will present the Broadway musical revue Romantic Notions at the Marjorie Lyons Playhouse in  performances on Dec. 7, 8, 9, at 10.  All will be at 8 p.m. except for Sunday, Dec. 10, when the revue will start at 2 p.m.

Romantic Notions is co-directed by Patric McWilliams and Robert Buseick and was conceived by McWilliams and Brian Bradley of New York City, with Joy Ratcliff as musical director and accompanist.

Marjorie Lyons Playhouse follows up its enthusiastically received Tony Tunes from last season with the premiere of the musical cabaret, which is described as "a joyous and tuneful celebration of romance and love."  Romantic Notions chronicles the romantic relationships of three couples, from the first blush of love to marriage and beyond, through a song cycle culled from many of the greatest Broadway love songs.  

The revue features 36 musical numbers from 24 Broadway musicals, including selections from Wonderful Town, Follies, Aspects of Love, Baby, Ballroom, Parade, Ragtime and Annie Get Your Gun.  Some of the musical numbers are I Won't Send Roses, If I Have to Live Alone, I Do! I Do! and They Say It's Wonderful.
 
The Romantic Notions company is comprised of six Shreveport Times Drama Award winners.  They are Ruth Doreck, Ruth Rath, Katie Hall, Jim Montgomery, Patric McWilliams and Steve Baker.

Doreck won her TDA for her performance in A Perfect Ganesh and has previously received six Times Drama nominations.  She has played everything from a hilarious Gooch in Mame to a determined Mother Superior in Nunsense and Nunsense II, The Second Coming. Her other roles at Marjorie Lyons include: Golda in Fiddler on the Roof, Marion the Librarian in The Music Man, Letita Primrose in On the 20th Century, Dorthea the loving grandmother in Eleemosynary, Jack's Mother in Into the Woods, Mama Maddelena in Nine, a member of the ensemble in Sweeney Todd, and numerous musical numbers in the salute to Jerry Herman, Jerry's Girl's.

Rath won her TDA for her performance of Carrie Pepperidge in the MLP production of Carousel.  She has created roles in Blood Brothers, Lil Abner, Guys and Dolls, Peter Pan, Pajama Game, Mikado and Camelot.  She played Luisa Contini in this past summer production Nine at MLP.

Hall was last seen at MLP as Alexa Vere De Vere in As Bees in Honey Drown.  Katie is the winner of two TDA's for Lips Together, Teeth Apart and Grand Hotel.  Last summer she was Claudia Nardi in Nine and was Peggy Sawyer in 42nd Street. Some of her other roles at MLP were in productions of Angels in America, Merrily We Roll Along, The House of Bernarda Alba, Big River, Sweet Charity, Smile, Hamlet and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.

Montgomery played Queensbury, Gill, and Lockwood in MLP's season opening of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde.  Last season he played Julian Marsh in 42nd Street, and Captain Hook in Peter Pan.  He has received four TDA's for The Diary of Anne Frank, The Heiress, A Little Night Music and Peter Pan.  He has also appeared in MLP productions of The Tempest, All the Way Home, The Devils, Camelot, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and 1776.  Montgomery has more than 50 roles to his credit in Shreveport Little Theatre.

McWilliams was last seen at MLP as Oscar Wilde in Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and directed the recent production of As Bees in Honey Drown. Last season, McWilliams was awarded the Times Drama Award for Best Actor in a Play for Lonely Planet.  This was his ninth acting TDA having previously won for Bent, The Visit, Grand Hotel, I Hate Hamlet, Applause, Angels in America, On the 20th Century and How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.  This past summer he appeared as Guido in the musical Nine.

Baker won his Times Drama Award for his performance in Funny Girl at MLP.  A theatre graduate of Centenary, he now resides in New York where he recently appeared in the Off-Broadway production of Cowboys. Baker has appeared in Angels in America, God's Country, Lost In Yonkers, Dracula, Grand Hotel, 42nd Street, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, The Tempest, Period of Adjustment, Assassins, Merrily We Roll Along and Bent.

Joy Ratcliff is the music director and accompanist for Romantic Notions and served in this same position for last season's Tony Tunes.  She teaches piano at Centenary College and has been the accompanist for many musicals at MLP.  

The box office is open daily from noon until 4 p.m. and during those hours reservations can be made by calling 869-5242. Tickets for Romantic Notions are $18 and all seats are reserved.  For further information, contact Bob Busieck, chairman of the Department of Theatre/Speech/Dance, at 869-5075.

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