As summer winds down… The fun hasn’t quite ended for 16-17. Super Summer Theater hasn’t finished their current season. You can still enjoy Poor Richard’s Players’ production of Mel Brooks’ hilarious “Young Frankenstein” this September.
Companies are getting ready to fire up the bbq grills on the 2017-18 season. As usual, there will be the typical fare in musicals as Signature Theatre kicks things off with “Oliver” and their very own “A Signature Christmas,” Las Vegas Little Theatre (LVLT) adds “Company” to the mix in January, and Nevada Conservatory (NCT) rounds it out next spring with “Pippin.”
But, never fear, the familiar comedies and dramas will be there, too. Majestic Repertory Theatre will offer a second take on “Cat of a Hot Tin Roof” after Speeding Theatre: Over 55 has taken its stab at it in October. LVLT will bring Joe Orton’s “What the Butler Saw” as part of its 40th anniversary season, and NCT will serve up another helping of plum pudding with its annual production of “A Christmas Carol.”
Theatre in the Valley jumps into the recently repeated mix with “The Odd Couple” as their season opener, a production of “Squabbles,” and jumps into musicals with “A Grand Night for Singing,” a Rodgers and Hammerstein revue of “greatest hits.”
Pulitzer Prize for Drama is a note you’ll see attached to a number of productions this season.
A Public Fit, Las Vegas’ second professional company will continue with their successful mixture of full productions and staged readings. They kick off with a production of “Wit,” the 1999 one-act Pulitzer Prize winner by Margaret Edson, and finish off by a reading of “August: Osage County,” the recipient of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and winner of six Tony Awards (though, this critic and columnist would’ve relished the thought of a full production).
Not to be outdone, NCT fills out with some Shakespeare, bringing our community a rare production of “Julius Caesar,” and the 1987 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning “Fences” by August Wilson.
Majestic Rep goes for the Ian Wooldridge adaptation of “Animal Farm,” and “An Octoroon,” Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ radical response comparing attitudes to race of the past and now in what’s described as “the funniest and least comfortable theatre experience in years.”
Putting their two stages to good use, LVLT kicks off with “One Man, Two Guvnors,” the hilarious English adaptation of the Italian commedia dell’arte “Servant of Two Masters;” adding Arthur Miller’s “A View From the Bridge,” and an adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s story “The Birds,” on the main stage. In the Fischer Black Box, we get “The Motherf**cker With the Hat,” the comedy which allowed Chris Rock to make his Broadway debut, Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies’ new drama “Time Stands Still,” and, of course, they’ll polish it all off with the winner of their Annual New Works competition.
Cockroach Theatre also digs into the horror genre with Nick Dear’s “Frankenstein” based on the Mary Shelley novel, then brings on “The Wolves” a dramatic comedy and 2017 Pulitzer Prize finalist by Sarah Delappe. “The Father,” by Florian Zeller delves into the slipping world of a man facing dementia.
If I missed any company, my sincere apologies. There’s a ton of theatre happening, and I didn’t even mention all of the plays listed on season schedules. Rest assured, whatever tickles your taste buds, you’re sure to find something to please your palate.
For complete lists of season pickings, appropriate dates and times, check each theatre website. And make sure you make reservations if you want to ensure your seat at the table. But, you can keep abreast throughout the season by checking the calendar right here at Eat More Art! Vegas.