Hale Centre Theatre in Gilbert has announced their 2016 / 2017 Season:
The Drowsy Chaperone
August 26 - October 8, 2016
First on the bill is
The Drowsy Chaperone, the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical that’s a side-splitting satire on 1920s musicals. Called “A Musical Within a Comedy,”
The Drowsy Chaperone has all the comical elements including mistaken identities, bumbling ‘20s gangsters, a puffed-up Broadway producer, a stiff-lipped butler, a ditzy dowager and a tipsy chaperone. The fun starts Aug. 26 and runs through Oct. 8.
You Can’t Take It With You
September 13 - November 15, 2016
The Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy
You Can’t Take It With You appears next on the Hale stage. Written by the famous Broadway team of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, the fun features a more than slightly off-center big-city family. One member concocts fireworks in the basement while another wants to be a ballerina but is a laughably wobbly dancer. The family patriarch never pays his taxes and another offspring prints and hands out anti-government leaflets. Hilarity ensues when the entire family is arrested by federal agents.
You Can’t Take It With You runs at Hale from Sept. 13 through Nov. 15.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
October 13 - November 26, 2016
The musical comedy
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers will be seen Oct. 13 through Nov. 26. Nominated for Broadway’s Tony Award, it’s set in an old-west town in the mid-1800s where seven rough-hewn brothers are seeking brides. They find them but the girls are not always pleased, and good-natured rivalry erupts during the laugh-filled performance. The movie version of
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers won an Academy Award for best Music.
A Christmas Carol
December 1 - 24, 2016
A Hale holiday tradition,
A Christmas Carol, will delight the entire family again this season. The show is an enchanting musical version of Charles Dickens’ classic tale of three Christmas spirits who visit the miserly taskmaster Ebenezer Scrooge. They show him the error of his tyrannical ways, transforming Scrooge’s life. It’s a message of hope and renewal that holds a special place in our hearts each holiday season.
A Christmas Carol begins Dec. 1 and concludes on Christmas Eve.
Is He Dead?
December 31, 2016 - February 11, 2017
Ring in the New Year in grand style at the Hale with a performance of Mark Twain’s hilarious farce
Is He Dead? Twain’s 1898 manuscript wasn’t discovered until well after his death and wasn’t published until 2003. The action involves a struggling French artist who has trouble selling his paintings, so he fakes his death to make them more valuable. False identities, romantic intrigue and social satire all combine to comically ponder the issues of fame, greed and the intrinsic value of art.
Is He Dead? plays from New Year’s Eve through Feb. 11, 2017.
The Marvelous Wonderettes
January 17 - April 18, 2017
Following sold-out performances of the current season’s
The Andrews Brothers, Hale will stage another of Roger Bean’s riotous jukebox musicals,
The Marvelous Wonderettes. Set in a 1960s high school, four girl singers step up to save the day at the senior prom when the scheduled act suddenly can’t make it. Enjoy and hum along to such ‘50s and ‘60s hits as “Mr. Sandman,” “Sincerely,” “It's My Party,” “Son of a Preacher Man,” and “Respect.” The fun starts Jan. 17 and continues through Apr. 18, 2017.
Thoroughly Modern Millie
February 16 - April 1, 2017
The thoroughly funny musical
Thoroughly Modern Millie then takes center stage with its send-up of 1920s flappers, newly independent women, speakeasies, police raids and wine spilled on the famous New York columnist-humorist Dorothy Parker’s dress. The winner of six Tony Awards on Broadway including Best Musical, the movie version of
Millie also won an Oscar for best music. T
horoughly Modern Millie dances onstage at the Hale between Feb. 16 and Apr. 1, 2017.
No Time for Sergeants
April 6 - May 13, 2017
The hilarious military comedy
No Time for Sergeants appears next on the Hale stage. The action centers around a group of extremely diverse World War II draftees who manage to rock the Army Air Corps boat, getting everyone into hot water from lowly recruits to the commanding general. The play by Ira Levin is based on the best-selling book by Mac Hyman, who was inspired by his own experiences in the Army Air Corps to write the novel. The Tony Award-winning play ran for nearly two years on Broadway and launched the career of the popular comic actor Andy Griffith, who was nominated for a Tony Award.
No Time for Sergeants runs from Apr. 6 until May 13, 2017.
Aida
May 18 - July 1, 2017
Sir Elton John’s and Sir Tim Rice’s spectacular Broadway hit
Aida is to be the penultimate performance of the Hale’s new season. The musical garnered four Tony Awards and played on Broadway for more than five years. It’s based on a storybook version of Verdi’s
Aida by the internationally acclaimed opera soprano Leontyne Price. In the show, the principals, Amneris, Radames and Aida, are entangled in conflicted loyalties and emotions. Heartfelt and soaring songs magically transport the audience back to ancient Egypt, including “Every Story is a Love Story,” “The Past is Another Land,” as well as Elton John’s top-40 hit “Written in the Stars.”
Aida plays at Hale from May 18 through July 1, 2017.
Disney’s The Little Mermaid
July 7 - August 19, 2017
The Hale Centre Theatre’s new season concludes with the thoroughly entertaining Disney musical
The Little Mermaid. It’s a touching reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s book of the same name. The young mermaid Ariel becomes bored with undersea life and pines to be part of the wide world above the ocean’s surface, even though that’s forbidden in her culture. She disregards underwater convention and saves the life of the handsome Prince Eric, who falls overboard from his ship during a raging storm. The two fall in love, are married on a beautiful beach and sail off into the sunset to live happily ever after.
Disney’s The Little Mermaid appears at the Hale from July 7 through Aug. 19, 2017.
CLICK HERE for more information, Season Subscription tickets and single tickets, when available.
