And for our final bow of 2009-2010: Steve Martin’s “The Underpants”

Tickets are on sale now for SLT’s final production of the Season:

“The Underpants “  - Comedian Steve Martin's hilarious farce!

 

In The Underpants, a housewife becomes an overnight celebrity when she accidentally loses her underpants in public, much to the dismay of her conservative bureaucrat husband. When potential boarders start showing up at the door with hopes of renting their spare room, chaos ensues in this witty comedy that explores ambition, desire, and the fleeting nature of fame.
SLT’s Executive Artistic Director Jay E. Coffman says, “Steve Martin is certainly one of the comic geniuses of our time. Many people don’t know that he’s also a talented author, screenwriter and playwright.”
A seriously funny adult comedy with some suggestive situations and mild language, The Underpants is not meant for those under high school age.
“This one’s definitely for the adults,” Coffman says. “But for those who like a furiously paced, flat out side-splittingly funny comedy, The Underpants is going to be the place to be.”
The Underpants is supported, in part, by the The Arkwright Foundation.

What they’re saying about “The Underpants”:

“A brilliant, hilarious, mad adaption of an old play.”—New York Post

“Martin’s words are sharp, funny and fast:  What’s not to love?....Bravo, Steve Martin!”—The Journal News

“Hilarious and bawdy!”—The Village Voice

“Bad funs, goofy pratfalls, intellectual name-dropping and an endless stream of hilariously daffy lines creates a momentum that rolls…”—Time Out New York

Directed by Rick Connor

Featuring:

Louise:  Alaina Steading

Theo:  Andy Croston

Versati:  Peyton Hray

Cohen:  Steven Shuler

Gertrude:  Elizabeth King

Klinglehoff:  Jim Harrison

Youth Theatre says “Fudge”

No.  It’s not what you’re thinking. 

The Spartanburg Youth Theatre just wrapped up their season with a hilarious and inventive production of the Judy Blume classic “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing”. 

Everybody remembers the antics of the little three year old terror known affectionately as FUDGE.  But getting a three year old to act can be just as terrifying….  So director Matt Giles cast the biggest high school kids as the three year olds.  Hilarious.  Even more hilarious is that someone actually thought the play dealt with a family’s struggle to raise a full grown autistic teenager.  They must have missed the part where they said he was three.

Photo courtesy of Mike Bonner  at The Spartanburg Herald Journal

Here’s a picture of the set—taken on my Blackberry:

And of course a shot of the audience—area elementary school students on their school field trip:

Congratulations Spartanburg Youth Theatre on a record breaking season!

 

Seussical: The Show that Ate Spartanburg

Every now and again, you put on a production that grows and grows and eventually eats and/or destroys everything in its path.  What starts out as a sweet little confection of a musical grows into a seething stomping behemoth intent on world domination. 

That production is called “Seussical”. 

Now, I’ll let you in on a little secret…..”Seussical” did not win a Pulitzer Prize.  It did not win any Tony’s.  It was on Broadway for like 5 minutes and then quickly disappeared onto the community theatre circuit, where it has achieved a great deal of success.  It’s a show that if done badly, can be really bad.  But if you put all your creative effort into it, assemble a great team and work every last artistic angle of every living breathing thing associated with the show, then it  can be really really good. 

So that’s what we decided to do.  And what came out of all the hard work, was something spectacular—an absolutely stunning visual treat, loaded with incomparable talent, designed beautifully and with a huge heart. 

What started out as just another show, became a community event of sorts.  It seems everyone knew someone who had seen “Seussical”.  Almost 3,000 audience members later, a library performance, a book drive, a poetry contest, story time with the characters in various elementary schools, a huge Dr. Seuss character party and a special performance for the South Carolina  School for the Deaf and the Blind, “Seussical” was finally one for the record  books.

And we loved every minute of it…Well almost every minute.

And one pic from the SCSDB show, with the Interpreter on the Left.