JANIE GOULD
Riverside Theatre’s 41st season, which opens Oct. 28 with “The Bikinis: A Musical Beach Party,” is shaping up to offer just as much excitement as last year’s milestone 40th season, which was launched with the irving Berlin tribute, “I love a Piano.”
“Piano” became Riverside’s most popular October show ever, said Oscar Sales, Riverside director of marketing and sales. Roy Roderick, the show’s co-creator, also helped bring about “Bikinis.”
Sales describes “Bikinis” as a fun show about four bikini-clad girls who enter a talent contest on the New Jersey shore in 1964. After winning the contest, they form a group that belts out the tunes of the day. They disband after a few years, but reunite 20 years later. The songs they sing, “Under the Boardwalk,” “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” “When Will I Be Loved?” and many more hits from two decades, are sure to have audience members humming along and snapping their fingers and, maybe, catching a mental glimpse of the Drifters, Marvin Gaye or Linda Ronstadt.
The show, a new musical, will be presented on the Stark Stage through Nov. 16.
“Crazy for You,” the Gershwin musical opening at Riverside in January, has delighted audiences since it hit Broadway in 1992. It’s the story of a Broadway hopeful who heads to Deadrock, Arizona, to get away from his fiancée and to foreclose on an abandoned theatre. While there, he discovers love, life and tap dancing in the desert. The show received three Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Its songs, by George and Ira Gershwin, have become American songbook classics: “I Got Rhythm,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Embraceable You,” and others. Many of the songs came from the 1930 Gershwin musical, “Girl Crazy.”
Sales was living in New York in the early 1990s when he saw “Crazy for You” on Broadway.
“I just fell in love with the positive energy and the positive message, and of course, the dancing,” he said. “The tap dancing is just phenomenal. People love tap dancing! It’s an art form that isn’t done anywhere except on stage.”
Allen Cornell, Riverside’s CEO and artistic director, decided to stage large-scale musicals when he was promoted to CEO a few years ago. The first was “42nd Street,” a Gershwin musical that, like “Crazy for You,” features lots of high-energy dancing. It enjoyed a five-week run at Riverside, and “really put the theatre on the map,” Sales said.
“Crazy for You” is set to run from Jan. 13 – Feb. 1.
Riverside’s Stark Stage and the smaller Waxlax Stage present distinctly different types of shows.
“The Stark Stage would be for the Broadway experience,” Sales said. “The Waxlax Stage is the off-Broadway experience. The pieces that play in the Waxlax are a little more intimate, a little more thought-provoking. The beauty of the Waxlax is the intimacy of the room. You can really tell if the audience is involved with what’s going on on stage. We have a great many people who experience both stages, but there’s always room for growth. We would encourage people who have not gone to the second stage, for whatever reason, to try it out.”
Coming to the Waxlax Stage Jan. 27 is a one-man play, “Underneath the Lintel: An Adventure that Navigates Through Time, Geography and Metaphysical Realms.” It’s about a library book tht’s way overdue, to the tune of 113 years. The librarian is determined to find the scofflaw and make him pay the fine that’s accrued over 11 decades. He travels the globe, from London to China, and Australia to New York, discovering some interesting truths about himself.
“It’s funny, but it’s also full of a lot of cool introspection that we as humans can relate to,” Sales said.
The play will run through Feb. 8.
“West Side Story,” the musical coming to Riverside Feb. 17 – March 8, almost needs no introduction. The story of Maria and Tony, doomed lovers from different worlds, made its Broadway debut in the late 1950s. It dealt with social problems in New York at the time, but it has never seemed dated. Its songs, ”Tonight,” “I Feel Pretty” “America” and others, are beloved by generations of fans. It was made into a movie starring Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer in 1961. Sales has seen the movie but not a stage production.
“I’m really excited to see it,” he said. “The music is classic, and the people who put the show together are theatre icons: Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. They are giants of the theatre, and the show is timeless. It’s a show that’s not done very often. Single tickets are on sale already and that is the top show that people are clamoring to see.”
Sondheim fans won’t want to miss the next show on the Waxlax Stage, “Side by Side by Sondheim.” Four actors and two musicians will perform pieces from Sondheim’s songbook, some written solely by the composer and others done in collaboration with Bernstein, Richard and Mary Rodgers and Julie Styne. Some of the songs come from such musicals as “Company,” “A Little Night Music“ and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”
“Side by Side” will run March 10 – 22.
The final offering of the season is “Memphis,” a new musical set in the Tennessee city in the 1950s. It revolves around the town’s nightclubs, radio stations and recording studios. It tells the fictional story of a forbidden love affair between a good ol’ boy disc jockey and an up-and-coming singer from the clubs.
“It’s a time of separation in the country,” Sales said “He’s white and she’s not and there is difficulty in the relationship. The show is not well known, at least not in this area, but it’s a great show and it won the 2010 Tony Award for best musical. The music and dance numbers in this are exciting.”
“Memphis” will play April 7 – 26.
Riverside started selling season tickets for the upcoming season in January and has met its goal of attracting more than 5,600 subscribers. Single tickets went on sale in July, and “West Side Story” has been the biggest draw so far.
Sales said Riveside, with its comedy club and children’s theatre, in addition to the stage productions, offers entertainment for all tastes.
“People have been supporting Riverside from the very beginning,” he said. “We are appreciative of that and our goal is for everyone to have a great time when they come here.”
In ancient Greece, theatre functioned like social media or a village square. Sales would like to see Riverside and other arts organizations serve the same function.
“I think everyone can come here and be entertained and enlightened,” he said.
For ticket information, go to RiversideTheatre.com or call (772) 231-6990.
Indian River Guardian 