Port Huron Civic Theatre at McMorran Theatre

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2008-2009 Season

September 26th, 2008 at 8:00pm
September 27th, 2008 at 8:00pm
September 28th, 2008 at 3:00pm

Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a Tony Award-winning musical with a book by Hugh Wheeler and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The musical is based on the 19th century legend of Sweeney Todd and specifically upon the 1973 play The String of Pearls, by Christopher Bond.

Sweeney Todd opened on Broadway at the Uris Theatre on March 1, 1979. It was directed by Harold Prince with musical staging by Larry Fuller, and starred Len Cariou as Sweeney Todd and Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett. The musical played for 557 performances. The story centers on the character of Sweeney Todd, formerly known as Benjamin Barker, who returns from the penal colonies in Australia, where he has spent fifteen years on false charges. When he learns from Mrs. Lovett, whose meat pies are the worst in London, that his wife poisoned herself after being raped by Judge Turpin (the man who wrongly imprisoned him), and that his daughter is the ward of the same Judge Turpin, he vows revenge. The two become conspirators in a dark plot that results in mass murder, booming business for Lovett's shop, and ultimately tragedy.

December 5th, 2008 at 8:00pm
December 6th, 2008 at 8:00pm
December 7th, 2008 at 3:00pm

This is a tale that we want to believe in, that creates a world we seem to desperately desire, free of the blatant commercialism that surrounds us, where love and decency and generosity of spirit are their own rewards. What we want Christmas to be all about, really." So writes the Santa Cruz Sentinel of this most heartwarming holiday story. By chance, Kris Kringle, an old man in a retirement home, gets a job working as Santa for Macy's. Kris unleashes waves of good will with Macy's customers and the commercial world of New York City by referring parents to other stores to find exactly the toy their child has asked for. Seen as deluded and dangerous by Macy's vocational counselor, who plots to have Kris shanghaied to Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital, Kris ends up in a court competency hearing. Especially at stake is one little girl's belief in Santa. In a dramatic decision, the court confirms Kris as the true Santa, allowing Susan and countless other children to experience the joy of childhood fantasy.

March 6th, 2009 at 8:00pm
March 7th, 2009 at 8:00pm
March 8th, 2009 at 3:00pm

The jungle is jumpin’ with jazz is this exciting Disney classic! Join Mowgli, Baloo, King Louie and the gang as they swing their way through madcap adventures and thwart the ferocious tiger, Shere Khan. Specially adapted from the beloved film, this musical includes all your favorite Disney tunes, like “The Bare Necessities,” and “I Wan’na Be Like You.” With colorful characters and that toe-tapping jungle rhythm, The Jungle Book KIDS is sure to be a crowd-pleaser for audiences of all ages.

May 8th, 2009 at 8:00pm
May 9th, 2009 at 8:00pm
May 10th, 2009 at 3:00pm

A musical based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee was a project of producer David Merrick and actress Ethel Merman. Merrick had read a chapter of Lee's memoirs in Harper's Magazine and approached Lee to obtain the rights. Jerome Robbins was interested, and wanted Leland Hayward as co-producer; Merman also wanted Hayward to produce her next show. Merrick and Hayward approached Arthur Laurents to write the book. As he relates, Laurents initially was not interested until he saw that the story was one of parents living their children's lives. Composers Irving Berlin and Cole Porter turned the show down. Finally, Robbins asked Stephen Sondheim, who agreed to do it. Sondheim had worked with Robbins and Laurents on the musical West Side Story. However, Merman did not want an unknown composer, and wanted Jule Styne to write the music. Although Sondheim initially refused to write only the lyrics, he was persuaded by Oscar Hammerstein to accept the job. The creative team was in place.

The musical contains many songs that became popular standards, including "Small World," "Everything's Coming up Roses", "You'll Never Get Away from Me," and "Let Me Entertain You." It is frequently considered one of the crowning achievements of the mid-20th century's conventional musical theatre art form, often called the "book musical."

Gypsy has been referred to as the greatest American musical by numerous critics and writers, among them Ben Brantley and Frank Rich; Rich even goes so far as to call it the American musical theatre's answer to King Lear. Theater critic Clive Barnes wrote that "Gypsy is one of the best of musicals..."

The character of Rose was described by Barnes as "one of the few truly complex characters in the American musical...bossy, demanding, horrific..." Rose was described by Rich as "a monster". Critic Walter Kerr points out that though Rose is a monster, she must be liked and understood.

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