Next season we will offer a blend of great classics, a fresh new comedy, two scintillating musical revues, a hot drama fresh from Broadway and a celebrated, award-winning musical. It’s going to be a fantastic season, and we hope you’ll join us!
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Gutenberg! The Musical!
Written by Scott Brown & Anthony King
August 24 - October 14 ~ Stackner Cabaret
Three men, one piano, thirty baseball caps—and one massively misguided dream! In 1450, in Mainz, Germany, Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press; in 2011, in Nutley, New Jersey, Bud and Doug wrote a big, splashy musical about him, the evil monk trying to stop him, and the beautiful girl who loved him. They may not have a cast, an orchestra, or a clue, but with an unending supply of enthusiasm, they’re pitching their hilarious, sixteen-song epic to Broadway producers who just might fulfill their bright-eyed ambitions!
“A thoroughly winning dead-on musical comedy!”
– The New York Sun
Assassins
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by John Weidman
Based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr.
Directed by Mark Clements
September 4 - October 7 ~ Quadracci Powerhouse
This groundbreaking American musical kicks off the Quadracci Powerhouse season with a bang! Bold, original, surreal, thought-provoking, and alarmingly funny, this five-time Tony Award-winner investigates the personalities behind nine Presidential assassins and reveals uneasy truths about the American Dream. Hugely resonant in today’s celebrity-obsessed culture, Assassins is peopled with desperate, disillusioned characters who force us to wonder how everybody’s right to be happy can include killing a President.
“Brilliant...remarkable...[an] astonishing score”
– The New York Times
The Mountaintop
By Katori Hall
September 26- November 4 ~ Stiemke Studio
On the eve of his assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., cools down in a lonely Memphis hotel room after delivering the speech of a lifetime—when an unexpected visit from a feisty, young hotel maid pushes King into a confrontation with his doubts, fears, and haunting premonitions. A soul-stirring hit in London and on Broadway, The Mountaintop’s humorous, magical storytelling fuses theatricality with spirituality to reach a summit that will leave audiences breathless.
“An emotionally powerful and theatrically stunning moment of truth.”
– Variety
Blues in the Night
Written & Originally Directed by Sheldon Epps
Original Vocal Arrangements & Musical Direction by Chapman Roberts
Orchestrations & Additional Vocal Arrangements by Sy Johnson
October 19 - December 23 ~ Stackner Cabaret
The universal language of the blues speaks eloquently in this scorching, Tony-nominated musical! The twenty-six hot, torchy numbers that tell the sweet, sexy, and sorrowful stories of four colorful inhabitants of a 1930s Chicago saloon will leave you energized, inspired, and ready to wail. This dynamite revue features blues classics from Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Bessie Smith, and many more, packed into a larger-than-life score that’ll bring down the house!
“Marvelous... dynamic.” – Theatermania.com
The Diary of Anne Frank
Dramatized by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
October 23 - December 2 ~ Quadracci Powerhouse
Anne Frank’s remarkable diary has become an essential tool for understanding one of the darkest periods of our history—and one of the most beautiful, haunting stories in our shared experience. A testament to the human spirit and its young author’s “boundless desire for all that is beautiful and good,” the play illuminates Anne’s unwavering belief in justice and love during more than two years in hiding during World War II. This moving, true story is essential viewing for every generation.
“Tender, rueful, moving drama” – The New York Times
Sense and Sensibility
By Jane Austen
Adapted by Mark Healy
December 11- January 13 ~ Quadracci Powerhouse
From the author of Pride and Prejudice comes this heartwarming, humorous tale of two sisters struggling to move past a family disaster. Sensible, reserved Elinor and passionate, impulsive Marianne find the road to true love beset with dashing suitors and well-meaning relatives, devoted friends and devious rivals, and scandalous secrets and unexpected twists in a period-perfect adaptation that captures all of the deliciousness, flirtation, and folly of Austen’s well-loved novel.
“Hopeless romantics will devour every last scone and sigh in this heart-tugging Regency-era adventure”
– San Jose Mercury News
Mind Over Milwaukee
By Marc Salem
December 28- February 24 ~ Stackner Cabaret
Mentalist Marc Salem brings his interactive stage show to The Rep for an experience that will leave you astounded, dumbfounded, and believing the unbelievable! Using psychological techniques, a sharp eye for human nature, a quick wit, and more than 20 years of close study, Mr. Salem creates a mystifying, often hilarious show that explores the depths and true capabilities of the human mind.
“Brilliantly Entertaining!” – New York Post
How The World Began
By Catherine Trieschmann
January 16 through February 24, 2013 ~ Stiemke Studio
Religion and science collide in a visceral examination of the way in which we navigate interpersonal relationships involving seemingly irreconcilable beliefs—and just how hard it is to truly listen to one another in an increasingly polarized world. Looking to rebuild her fractured life, high school biology teacher Susan relocates from New York City to a small Kansas town reeling in the aftermath of a devastating tornado. Ready for more than a little culture shock, Susan finds herself unprepared for the firestorm that engulfs the town after she makes an off-hand comment about the origin of the universe.
"An intelligent new play…a thought-provoking look at the complexity of people who find it impossible to empathize with viewpoints not their own." – Associated Press
Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash
Created by Richard Maltby
Conceived by William Meade
Orchestrations by Steven Bishop and Jeff Lisenby
March 1 – May 5 ~ Stackner Cabaret
From the iconic songbook of Johnny Cash comes this unique musical about love and faith, struggle and success, rowdiness and redemption, and home and family. More than two dozen classic hits—including “I Walk The Line,” “A Boy Named Sue,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” and the title tune—performed by a multi-talented cast, paint a musical portrait of The Man in Black that promises to be a foot-stompin’, crowd-pleasin’ salute to a uniquely American legend!
“A fabulous piece of entertainment. A musical of grandeur and perfected style that offers endless delight. See it.”
– The Buffalo News
One Simple Chicago Home Inspired Two
Landmark Plays Written Nearly 50 Years Apart!
See them both at The Rep in 2013 and join the conversation about the social and political issues these pieces explore.
Clybourne Park
By Bruce Norris
Directed by Mark Clements
January 29 – February 24 ~ Quadracci Powerhouse
Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and London’s Olivier Award for Best Play, Clybourne Park is a wickedly funny and fiercely provocative new play about the volatile combination of race and real estate. Act One opens in 1959, as a white couple sells their home to a black family (the Younger family in A Raisin In the Sun), causing uproar in their middle-class neighborhood; Act Two finds the same house, in 2009, changing hands again. And, while the stakes have changed over the years, the debate remains strikingly similar as neighbors wage a hilarious and horrifying pitched battle over territory and legacy that reveals just how far our ideas about race and gentrification have evolved—or, have they?
“Dangerous and provocative, and pulverizing funny!” – Variety
A Raisin In the Sun
By Lorraine Hansberry
March 12 – April 14 ~ Quadracci Powerhouse
One of the most powerful and beloved American plays ever written, A Raisin In the Sun tells the story of the Younger family’s struggle for dignity and a better life—and the backlash that erupts when they try to move beyond their oppressive Chicago tenement home. Set just before the dawn of the Civil Rights and Women’s Movements, A Raisin In the Sun demonstrates how a single family’s dreams can change the world. Don’t miss the play that the New York Times said “changed American theatre forever.”
“One of the handful of great American dramas.”
– The Washington Post
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