The Old Globe opens its 2015-2016 Season with IN YOUR ARMS, a World Premiere dance-theatre musical featuring direction and choreography by Tony Award winner Christopher Gattelli (Newsies, Godspell, Lincoln Center Theater’s The King and I and South Pacific) and original music by Tony Award winner Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Once on This Island; two-time Oscar nominee for Anastasia). The production opens tonight, September 24, and runs through October 25, 2015.
Among the full company, the stars can claim 18 Tony Awards, 4 Pulitzer Prizes, 6 Pulitzer finalist distinctions, 3 Emmy Awards, and 2 Academy Awards — to list all their honors would take several pages.
Co-conceived by Gattelli and Jennifer Manocherian, with lyrics by Flaherty’s longtime collaborator, Tony and Emmy Award winner Lynn Ahrens, on the title song, IN YOUR ARMS features 10 dance vignettes written by an incredible and diverse lineup of theatre powerhouses, including Douglas Carter Beane, Nilo Cruz, Christopher Durang, Carrie Fisher, David Henry Hwang, Rajiv Joseph, Terrence McNally, Marsha Norman, Lynn Nottage, and Alfred Uhry.
The cast features Marija Juliette Abney (Broadway’s After Midnight, The Lion King), Stephen Bienskie (Silence! The Musical, The Fix), Henry Byalikov (“So You Think You Can Dance Australia,” Broadway’s Burn the Floor), Claire Camp (Super Fly, Flashdance The Musical),George Chakiris (Academy Award for playing Bernardo in West Side Story film), Spencer Clark(The Winter’s Tale at The Public Theater), Jeremy Davis (South Pacific, Billy Elliot), Jenn Harris (Silence! The Musical, Lucille Lortel and Theatre World Awards for Modern Orthodox Off Broadway), Glenda Sol Koeraus (known internationally as “La Argentinita”), Jess LeProtto (“So You Think You Can Dance,” Broadway’s Newsies, On the Town), Donna McKechnie (Tony Award for playing Cassie in original Broadway A Chorus Line), Adesola Osakalumi (Fela!, Equus), Karine Plantadit (Tony nomination for Broadway’s Come Fly Away, Astaire Award for After Midnight), Hayley Podschun (Broadway’s Chaplin, Anything Goes, Pal Joey), Jonathan Sharp (Fiddler on the Roof, The Red Shoes), Ryan Steele (Astaire Award nominee for Newsies, Matilda The Musical, Billy Elliot: The Musical), Brendon Stimson (Newsies, Honeymoon in Vegas, West Side Story), Alex Michael Stoll (West Side Story, Evita), Samantha Sturm (original Broadway casts of Matilda The Musical, The Addams Family, Nice Work If You Can Get It), Oscar Valero (Fuerza, El Swing del Flamenco, Met Opera’s Carmen, La Traviata), Erica Wong (company member of Ballet Theatre of Maryland and Milwaukee Ballet), and Lyrica Woodruff (Susan Stroman’s Little Dancer, two seasons on “Boston Public”).
The creative team includes Derek McLane (Scenic Design), Jess Goldstein (Costume Design), Donald Holder (Lighting Design), Peter Hylenski (Sound Design), Olivia Sebesky (Projection Design), Michael Starobin (Orchestrator), Steven Malone (Music Director), Larry Reed/ShadowLight (Shadow Sequence Design), Telsey + Company, Abbie Brady-Dalton, CSA (Casting), Mark Myars (Associate Choreographer), and Michael Domue (Production Stage Manager).
IN YOUR ARMS is a sweeping and romantic evening of theatre created by an unprecedented constellation of America’s preeminent writers for the stage. Ten dance vignettes tell wordless stories of love, yearning, and romance, and constitute a magical evening of movement and music performed by a cast of 22 talented dancers. Each vignette takes place in a different place and time, and the 10 dances range from duets to large ensemble numbers. Thrilling styles of dance from classical ballet to swing, tap to tango, rock ‘n’ roll to Charleston, modern to jazz are celebrated with verve and nuance. The emotional canvas of the stories is vast: some are funny, some are sad, and some are enchanting, but all delve deep into that most essential of human emotions: love.
A workshop production of IN YOUR ARMS was presented by New York Stage and Film & Vassar at the Powerhouse Theater, Summer 2014. It is produced by arrangement with Jennifer Manocherian, Scott Landis, and Harriet Newman Leve.
Part of The Old Globe’s yearlong celebration of its own 80th Anniversary and the Centennial of Balboa Park’s Panama-California Exposition, IN YOUR ARMS will run through October 25, 2015 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run September 16 – September 23. Opening night is tonight, September 24. Subscription tickets to the Globe’s 2015-2016 Season range from $110 to $647. Single tickets are on sale now and start at $36. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.
All photos by Carol Rosegg
George Chakiris and Donna McKechnie (center) with the cast in Terrence McNally’s vignette SAND DANCING.
George Chakiris and Donna McKechnie in Terrence McNally’s vignette SAND DANCING.
Donna McKechnie and the cast perform the title number of the world premiere musical IN YOUR ARMS.
Samantha Sturm (center) with the cast in Carrie Fisher’s vignette LOWDOWN MESSY SHAME.
Samantha Sturm and Jess LeProtto in Carrie Fisher’s vignette LOWDOWN MESSY SHAME.
Jonathan Sharp (foreground) with the cast in Douglas Carter Beane’s vignette ARTISTS AND MODELS, 1929.
Ryan Steele and Jonathan Sharp in Douglas Carter Beane’s vignette ARTISTS AND MODELS, 1929.
Hayley Podschun and Brendon Stimson in Alfred Uhry’s vignette LOVE WITH THE TOP DOWN.
Hayley Podschun and Brendon Stimson in Alfred Uhry’s vignette LOVE WITH THE TOP DOWN.
Karine Plantadit and Henry Byalikov in Marsha Norman’s vignette LIFE LONG LOVE.
Stephen Bienskie and Jenn Harris (foreground) with the cast in Christopher Durang’s vignette THE DANCE CONTEST.
(foreground, from left) Stephen Bienskie, Jenn Harris, Henry Byalikov, and Hayley Podschun with the cast in Christopher Durang’s vignette THE DANCE CONTEST.
(foreground) Glenda Sol Koeraus and Oscar Valero with the cast in Nilo Cruz’s vignette THE LOVER’S JACKET.
Glenda Sol Koeraus and Henry Byalikov (foreground) with the cast in Nilo Cruz’s vignette THE LOVER’S JACKET.
(foreground) Henry Byalikov and Glenda Sol Koeraus with (background, from left) Ryan Steele and Oscar Valero inNilo Cruz’s THE LOVER’S JACKET.
Erica Wong and Alex Michael Stoll in David Henry Hwang’s vignette WHITE SNAKE.
Erica Wong and Alex Michael Stoll (center) with the cast in David Henry Hwang’s vignette WHITE SNAKE.
Spencer Clark and Lyrica Woodruff in PROLOGUE.
Adesola Osakalumi and Marija Juliette Abney in Lynn Nottage’s vignette A WEDDING DANCE.
Adesola Osakalumi and Marija Juliette Abney in Lynn Nottage’s vignette A WEDDING DANCE.
Jeremy Davis and Claire Camp in Rajiv Joseph’s vignette INTERGALACTIC PLANETARY.
Lia Chang
Lia Chang is an award-winning filmmaker, a Best Actress nominee, a photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and Hide and Seek. She is profiled in FebOne1960.com Blog, Jade Magazine and Playbill.com.
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