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Ain't Misbehavin'
The Glass Menagerie Review from The Washington Post
The Glass Menagerie Review from The Washington Examiner
The Glass Menagerie-EXTENDED TO JULY 12!
The Millionaire$$ -EXTENDED TO JULY 19!
 OLNEY SET TO SWING WITH AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’
JULY 8 – AUGUST 2
Step back in time for a visit to Harlem’s Golden Age…The Cotton Club, The Savoy, and the new beat called Swing with National Players’ summer musical, Ain’t Misbehavin’.
Ain’t Misbehavin’ plays the Historic Stage July 8 through August 2. Tickets are $26, with discounts available to groups. Call the Box Office at 301.924.3400 or visit olneytheatre.org for tickets.
Sometimes sassy, sometimes sultry, Ain’t Misbehavin’ brings to life the work of legendary pianist and composer Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller. The show’s exuberance, musical wit, pure energy, and 30 show-stopping numbers recreate Waller’s magic and the unforgettable atmosphere of 1930s Harlem.
Called “a struttin’, stompin’, high-hattin’ smash” by Time Magazine, and “a funny, devastating…heart-stopping show” by The New York Times, Ain’t Misbehavin’ is still considered one of Broadway’s most well-crafted revues. It features such hits as “Honeysuckle Rose,” “This Joint Is Jumpin’,” “Black and Blue,” and “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.”
Ain’t Misbehavin’ originally opened in the Manhattan Theatre Club’s East 73rd Street Cabaret on February 8, 1978, with featured singer Irene Cara. The show was an instant hit among theatergoers, and was quickly developed into a full-scale Broadway production. After 14 previews, the production opened on May 9, 1978, at the Longacre Theatre, later moving to the Plymouth Theatre and then to the Belasco Theatre before finally completing its 1604-performance run. The show launched the career of the late Nell Carter, and won the 1978 Tony® Awards for Best Musical and Best Performance by a Featured Actress for Ms. Carter. In 1988, Ain’t Misbehavin’ was revived on Broadway with Ms. Carter as its star.
Spearheading this production are Director Devron T. Young, Choreographer Yvette W. Shipley-Perkins, and Musical Director Aaron Broderick. This is the third summer musical for National Players, and marks the first time an alumnus is directing. Devron, a member of National Players Tour 49, is making his directorial debut at Olney.
The ensemble for Ain’t Misbehavin’ consists of Curtis Bannister (André De Shields role), Kelli Blackwell (Armelia McQueen role), Jesaira Glover (Nell Carter role), Leanto E. Jones (Ken Page role), and Shaunté Corrina Tabb (Charlaine Woodard role). All are making their Olney Theatre Center debuts.
The creative team for Ain’t Misbehavin’ is made up of Hannah Crowell (Scenic Designer), Jeanne Bland and Pei Lee (Costume Designers), Brian Engel (Lighting Designer), Brendon Vierra (Sound Designer), and Becky Reed (Stage Manager).
 WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIR(ESS)?
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW’S COMEDY
ABOUT LOVE AND MONEY
JUNE 17 – JULY 12 EXTENDED TO JULY19
How do you find love and happiness when you’re the richest woman in the world? That is the dilemma at the heart of George Bernard Shaw’s rousing comedy, The Millionairess.
The Millionairess plays the Mainstage June 17 through July 12. Tickets are $26 - $49, with discounts available to groups, seniors, military, and students. Call the Box Office at 301.924.3400 or click here for tickets. In addition, Olney offers several special performances that include sign interpretation, audio description, and post-show discussions.
The Millionairess is an irresistibly seductive play about wealthy, glamorous Epifania Ognisanti di Parerga and her search for happiness. Epifania has honored the vow she made to her late father: not to marry until she finds a man with a talent for making money. Unfortunately, her professional athlete husband, Alastair Fitzfassenden, turns out to be less than Prince Charming.
While Alastair canoodles with his girlfriend Patricia, Epifania passes the time with Adrian Blenderbland until he insults her late father. She meets an Egyptian doctor with whom she falls madly in love. He challenges her to live for six months on a starting sum of 35 shillings. Is she up to the task?
The Millionairess ran in London and in New York in 1952; Katherine Hepburn played the title role. Twelve years earlier, when Hepburn was starring in The Philadelphia Story, Shaw himself had suggested that she was just the sort of actress to play his millionairess. In 1960, a film version was made featuring Sophia Loren as Epifania and Peter Sellers as the doctor. Other actresses who have portrayed the eccentric Epifania include Maggie Smith, Tyne Daly, and Raquel Welch.
The Millionairess is in the capable hands of Associate Artistic Director John Going. Going has staged more than 30 productions at Olney, including The Mousetrap; Doubt; 13 Rue de L’Amour; I Am My Own Wife; and The Constant Wife. A four-time Helen Hayes Award nominee, Going received the award for Outstanding Direction for his work on The Miser at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre. He won the Kevin Kline Award for Best Director for I Am My Own Wife at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.
Julie-Ann Elliott takes on the title role of Epifania. She was last seen on Olney’s stage as Madame Bathilde and The Sultan of Turkey in Is He Dead?. Other recent Olney Theatre Center credits include Molly in The Mousetrap and Constance Middleton in The Constant Wife. Playing her foil, the doctor, is Paul Morella. Paul recently appeared in Olney’s critically acclaimed production of Rabbit Hole, as well as in Brooklyn Boy, and Sight Unseen. This is the first of three productions this season in which Morella will perform; the others are A Passion for Justice: An Encounter with Clarence Darrow and Night Must Fall.
James Denvil plays Epifania’s philandering husband, Alastair Fitzfassenden; Tonya B. Ross plays his girlfriend Patricia. James made his debut at Olney last season in Doubt. Locally he has appeared at Shakespeare Theatre Company, Folger Theatre, Everyman Theatre, Signature Theatre, Rep Stage, Source Theatre, and Rorschach Theatre. Tonya is making her Olney Theatre Center debut. Regionally, she has performed at Shakespeare Theatre Company; Studio Theatre; Round House Theatre; Folger Theatre; and the Kennedy Center.
Playing Epifania’s limited-time boyfriend, Adrian Blenderbland, is Michael McKenzie. He performed in Olney’s The Constant Wife, and has appeared on Broadway in The Man Who Came to Dinner (with Lauren Bacall) and Waiting in the Wings (with Nathan Lane). Nick DePinto returns to Olney in the role of the unscrupulous lawyer, Julius Sagamore. Olney audiences saw Nick most recently in Is He Dead?; prior to that he performed in Democracy and 13 Rue de L’Amour.
Rounding out the cast are John Dow (Is He Dead?), Cherie Weinert (King of the Jews), and David Frankenberger, Jr. (Is He Dead?).
In addition to Going, the creative team includes James Wolk (Scenic Designer), Liz Covey (Costume Designer), Dennis Parichy (Lighting Designer), Jarett C. Pisani (Sound Engineer), and Nicole Paul (Wig Designer).
 -EXTENDED TO JULY 12!
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR JIM PETOSA DIRECTS INTIMATE PRODUCTION OF
THE GLASS MENAGERIE: MAY 29 - JULY 5
Loneliness and isolation. Dreams and regrets. Hope and love. Tennessee Williams’ classic memory play, The Glass Menagerie, exposes all of these and more in a powerful look at an American family.
The Glass Menagerie plays in the Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab May 29 through July 5. Tickets are $26 - $49, with discounts available to groups, seniors, military, and students. Click here for tickets or call 301.924.3400.
Williams' spare, poetic story based on his own family life etches a striking portrait of four unforgettable characters: the haunted Tom Wingfield; his vivacious, indomitable mother Amanda; his shy sister Laura, who spends hours in the world of her fragile glass animal collection; and the charming Gentleman Caller who just might change all their fortunes.
Written in 1944, The Glass Menagerie was based on reworked material from one of Williams’ short stories, Portrait of a Girl in a Glass, and his screenplay, The Gentleman Caller. Like Eugene O’Neill, he wanted to challenge some of the conventions of naturalistic theater. The Glass Menagerie uses music, screen projections, and lighting effects to create the haunting and dream-like atmosphere appropriate for a memory play.
Olney’s Artistic Director Jim Petosa directs this theater classic in the intimate and appropriate setting of the Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab. This is his first directorial venture at the venue after a year’s hiatus. He recently directed the production at Boston University, where he is Director of the School of Theatre at the university’s College of Fine Arts.
“The Glass Menagerie is the play that launched Tennessee Williams’ career as a perceived American great,” says Petosa. “It still speaks to us in our time today.
“I think this is a play that many people know the title of and are aware that it is a significant play,” he continues. “To come in and actually have an experience of the play, and to find its richness not through its pedigree and not through the how the words exist on the page, but how it actually works on you is thrilling.”
From a directorial perspective, “the challenges are always in mining the depth of the experience and going into the emotional places that the play requires you to go with a sense of fearlessness,” Petosa explains. “Despite that, the play yields itself. As you reward the play, the play rewards you.”
The cast features Paula Langton (Amanda Wingfield) Michael Kaye (Tom Wingfield), Briel Banks plays (Laura Wingfield), and Jeffries Thaiss (gentleman caller).
The creative team includes Jeremy Foil and James Kronzer (Scenic Designers), Nikki Moody (Costume Designer), Brian Engel and Daniel Wagner (Lighting Designers), Matthew Nielson (Sound Designer), and Jarett C. Pisani (Associate Sound Designer).
Click here for more season information
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