BRUNSWICK
Maine State Music Theatre has announced the main state titles headlining its 60th season in Brunswick — “Million Dollar Quartet,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Saturday Night Fever” and “Singin’ in the Rain.”
The first show of the 2018 season will run June 6-23. Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins — a quartet brought together by a twist of fate on a December evening in 1956. Their meeting at Sun Records inspired the Tony Award-winning musical “Million Dollar Quartet.” Relive the era through the genres of rock ‘n’ roll, gospel, R&B and country with a score that features numbers like “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Fever,” “Walk the Line,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Hound Dog,” and more.
The second show of the season was last seen on the Pickard stage in 2006 — Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.” Running from June 27 to July 14, this story aims to inspire audiences to look beyond the exterior and find the beauty within. Characters such as a talking clock (the butler), an adorable tea cup (a young boy), and a candelabra (maître d’), are trapped in their spellbound forms until the beast — who is actually a young prince — can learn to love and have his love returned. “Beauty and the Beast” is based on the Academy Award-winning animated feature, with classic songs such as “Be Our Guest,” “Gaston,” and — of course — “Beauty and the Beast.”
Positioned in the third slot of the season and running July 18 to Aug. 4, is “Saturday Night Fever.” Based on the 1977 film, “Saturday Night Fever” is set in the 1970s where open shirts, bell-bottoms and disco were all the rage. Tony Manero, a talented street-wise kid from Brooklyn, yearns to escape his dead end job and become a “disco king” at the local club. He meets a young lady who can help him achieve his dance dreams, but will she accept his advances and help him change his world? Packed with hits from the Bee Gees including “Stayin’ Alive,” “You Should Be Dancing,” “How Deep Is Your Love,” and more, “Saturday Night Fever” is one of the most successful movie albums of all time, are each song is included in the stage musical.
Closing the 60th anniversary season on the Pickard Stage from Aug. 8-25 is “Singin’ in the Rain” — adapted by Betty Comden and Adolph Green from their original award-winning screenplay for the stage. In “Singin’ in the Rain,” Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont are a hot item in silent films, but behind the scenes things aren’t always as they appear. Meanwhile, Lina’s squeaky voice might be the end of her career in “talking pictures” without the help of a young actress to do the talking and singing for her.
In addition to its main stage shows, MSMT will offer three Monday Concerts. First up on June 18 is “I Love a Piano,” the celebration of the music and lyrics of Irving Berlin. On July 30 is a loving send-up of the 1960s, small town America: “Bye Bye Birdie.” Ending the season’s Concert Series on August 13 is a celebration of MSMT’s last 60 years as we welcome audiences favorite Maine State Music Theatre performers — past and present — in a tribute to the past six decades of bringing “Broadway to Brunswick.”
Theatre for Young Audiences shows for 2018 include “Cinderella” on June 13 and 16 and “Pinocchio” on Aug. 20.
MSMT will once again end the summer with a co-production with Portland Stage. “Nunsense,” running Aug. 14- 26, follows the crazy antics of five nuns from the Little Sisters of Hoboken convent. When their cook accidentally serves up some tainted soup, 52 of the sisters are poisoned and die, leaving only five living nuns who were not at home the day of the toxic meal. When the convent’s first in charge, Reverend Mother Regina, splurges on a plasma TV, the sisters find themselves strapped for cash, as they still have four dead nuns to bury (whose bodies are being stored in the kitchen freezer). The nuns decide to put on a benefit performance of the musical “Grease” in order to raise the rest of the money before the health department discovers their secret.
Subscriptions are available over the phone by calling (207) 725-8769, or in person by visiting the box office at 22 Elm St., Brunswick. Single tickets for the 2018 season will go on sale in April. Visit msmt.org for more information.
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