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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