Photo by Douglas C. Liebig
The 2019-2020 seasons at Proctors and Capital Repertory Theatre–announced in March–are underway. Over the next year, the Proctors and theRep stages will feature a wide array of classic and new theatrical offerings, including the popular Disney’s Frozen, Dear Evan Hansen at Proctors and Sister Act.
2019-2020 Proctors season
The Tony-Award winning The SpongeBob Musical opens the season in September with its renowned score and setting. It was the first of two consecutive musicals holding multi-week technical rehearsals at Proctors before starting national Broadway tours.
The highly anticipated Disney’s Frozen sweeps on to the MainStage Nov. 10-24 after six weeks of rehearsals in Schenectady. Proctors is fortunate to be the first stop on Frozen’s 10-city, 10-month tour.
Patrons will journey to Israel at the New Year (Dec. 31-Jan. 5) when The Band’s Visit comes to town. Tony-winning composer David Yazbek helps tell this love story through music and lyrics. Audience members may recognize Yazbek’s style, as he composed The Full Monty, which appeared on the theRep stage this summer.
Fiddler on the Roof returns to the MainStage at Proctors for the third time (it was there in 1995 and 2011). This wonderful cast and a lavish orchestra tell a heartwarming story of fathers and daughters, husbands and wives, and the timeless traditions that define faith and family. Tony-winning director Bartlett Sher and the team behind The King and I bring a fresh and authentic vision to this beloved theatrical masterpiece.
Spring will quickly change season when Summer: The Donna Summer Musical comes March 24-29 to Schenectady. The new musical chronicles the life of Donna Summer, from gospel choir to dance floor diva and how she shot through the stars to become the voice of a generation.
The next show will leave audience members in stitches when it rolls into Proctors April 7-12. The Play That Goes Wrong’s mix of mystery and hilarity has been described as if Sherlock Holmes and Monty Python had “an illegitimate Broadway baby.” HuffPost said the murder mystery, an award-winning smash comedy, is “The funniest play Broadway has ever seen!”
Broadway fans will have a chance to rediscover the classic show CATS! April 28-May 3. Webber’s music enchanted Proctors audiences when The Phantom of the Opera and School of Rock called the MainStage home earlier this year. The show features new sound design, direction and choreography.
Just days after the curtain closes on the final performance of CATS!, another classic, Hello, Dolly, the winner of four Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival, arrives May 5-10 on the MainStage. These performances will hit close to home for show lead Carolee Carmello (Dolly Levi), literally. Proctors’ crowds will cheer a little louder than usual for the Albany native.
The Proctors season will come to an end with the arrival of Dear Evan Hansen. The winner of six 2017 Tonys including Best Musical—and the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album— will be a treat for patrons lucky enough to get a ticket. The score by Grammy, Tony and Academy Award winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul tells a deeply personal and profoundly contemporary story about life and the way we live it.
theREP season
Lobby Hero, on Broadway this spring with Chris Evans and Michael Cera, was penned by Academy Award®-winner (Manchester By the Sea) Kenneth Lonergan. It runs Sept. 27-Oct. 20.
The timeless winter classic It’s a Wonderful Life: Live From WVL Radio Theater runs Nov. 22-Dec. 22.
The season will be in full swing when the Your Best One (Jan. 17-Feb. 9) and The Irish and How They Got That Way (March 6-April 5) arrive at theRep. An East Coast premiere, Your Best One is Meridith Friedman’s warm, funny, and touching play that gets to the heart of what family is all about. The Irish and How they Got That Way, set in McCourt’s Pub, features a blend of traditional songs, show tunes and pop from sources as diverse as “Danny Boy” and early 20thcentury playwright/composer George M. Cohan to Irish rock stars U2.
The season will wrap up with Sister Act, which will christen the stage at the new Albany home of theRep for nearly six weeks, running July 10-Aug. 16. The original music is by Tony and eight-time Oscar winner Alan Menken, who composed a number of scores, including Newsies, which teched at Proctors in 2014, and A Bronx Tale, which appeared at Proctors in 2018.
For more information, visit capitalrep.org and proctors.org. By Tiarnan Barrett
The Collaborative is published by Proctors
