Straw Hat Opens Its 46th Summer Season with Five Musicals
MSUM’s Theatre presents its 46th season of its Straw Hat Summer Theatre Company featuring five—that’s right, five—musicals. All shows start at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays (except for an extra two performances of “Seussical The Musical”) beginning June 9 and running through July 31 in the Roland Dille Center for the Arts. For tickets, on sale now, call the MSUM box office at 477-2271. Ticket prices range from $10-$17. Please go online at http://www.mnstate.edu/strawhat/orderform2009.pdf for the ticket order form. Group rates and season subscriptions are available.
• “The Producers,” June 9-12, Center for the Arts Hansen Theatre. It’s 1959 in New York City. Max Bialystock, the once King of Broadway, is now an out-of-luck producer looking to make a buck. Winner of a record-breaking 12 Tony Awards in 2001, The Producers is filled with outrageous characters, show stopping musical numbers, and the comedy of Mel Brooks. Be the first audience in Moorhead-Fargo to see the regional premier of “The Producers.” (Rated PG-13)
• “Back to the 80s,” June 16-19 & June 23-26 on the Center for the Arts Gaede Stage. It was a decade when an actor became an American president, when Atari was cutting edge technology, and when songs like “Footloose,” “Material Girl” and “Total Eclipse of the Sun” topped the charts. “Back to the 80s” celebrates an era that brought the world The Rubik’s Cube, Max Headroom and The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. (Rated G)
• “The Full Monty,” July 7-10 on the Center for the Arts Hansen Theatre. Seeing how much their wives enjoyed watching male strippers during their girls’ night out, unemployed steelworkers in Buffalo, N.Y., come up with a bold way to make some quick cash. In the process they find renewed self-esteem, the importance of friendship and the ability to have fun. This Americanized musical version is adapted from the 1997 British film of the same name. (Rated PG-13)
• “Swing,” July 14-17 on the Center for the Arts Gaede Stage. “Two thirds rhythm and one third soul.” That’s how Fats Waller defined this uniquely American form of jazz known as swing, which developed in the early 1930s. “Swing” celebrates the upbeat sounds popularized by such bandleaders as Benny Goodman and Count Basie. But as this enthralling song-and-dance show makes abundantly clear, swing was never a time or place––it has always been a state of mind. (Rated G)
• “Seussical The Musical,” July 23 & 24 and July 28-31 in the Center for the Arts Hansen Theatre. Based on the books of Dr. Seuss that debuted on Broadway in 2000, the play is an amalgam of many of Seuss’s most famous books. This magical, musical extravaganza brings to life all of Dr. Seuss’s characters, including Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, Lazy Mayzie and all of the Whos of Whoville. A musical for the whole family. (Rated G)