Everything's going to be Ducky at Southern California's La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. The San Francisco musical hit will take its bows Nov. 24-Dec. 10.
Everything's Ducky is the story of Serena, a young duckling whose appearance is mocked by the barnyard folk. She leaves to find love and success in the big city and ends up in an underground club called Poultry in Motion, where young ducks fall prey to wolves. She escapes and meets a fashion photographer and a fashion exec who turn her into a supermodel.
Playwright Jeffrey Hatcher (Scotland Road, Three Viewings) co scripted with lyricist-librettist Bill Russell. Henry Krieger wrote the music.
An extension of Krieger and Russell's beauty-and-freak themes in Side Show, about conjoined twins who play vaudeville, Everything's Ducky has a serious core underneath its bright shell, the authors say.
"It's about acquiring self-esteem, taking each day with a plucky attitude, and not letting anyone make you feel like you aren't good enough," Krieger, who also wrote tunes to Dreamgirls, said in production notes. Also in the season at La Mirada will be two other Southern California premieres, Tom Dudzick's Over the Tavern and Smoke on the Mountain. Both religiously themed, Tavern looks at the life of a young Polish Catholic boy named Rudy who finds growing up in 1959's Church a challenge, while the musical Smoke is set in a rural down home meeting house where Reverand Oglethorpe has invited the Sanders family to give an evening of hymn-singing and testifying.
Over the Tavern runs Oct. 6-22; Smoke on the Mountain runs Jan. 26-Feb. 11.
Finishing off the five play season are Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice's Evita (March 23-April 8) and Neil Simon's comedy, I Ought to be in Pictures (June 1-17).
Tickets to single performances are $35 with a subscription price of $130. La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts is located at 14900 La Mirada Boulevard. For reservations, call (562) 944-9801 or (714) 994-6310.
The season at La Mirada is produced by McCoy Rigby Entertainment, headed by Cathy Rigby. Rigby has recently settled back down after traveling the U.S. for two years (including a stop on Broadway) as the lead in Peter Pan.
-- By Christine Ehren
and Kenneth Jones
