In 2003-04, the famed Washington, DC, theatre will stage the Tony Award-winning Frank Galati adaptation of John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Grapes of Wrath"; the Stephen Schwartz Biblical musical, Children of Eden; director-playwright James Still's Looking Over the President's Shoulder; Hershey Felder's George Gershwin Alone and Ford's annual A Christmas Carol. As a tribute to its founder and former producing artistic director, the late Frankie Hewitt, Ford's begins the season with The Grapes of Wrath (Oct. 1-Nov. 15), which chronicles an American family's struggle to survive the Oklahoma dust bowl and migrant labor camps in California, both of which Hewitt experienced firsthand as a child during the Great Depression, according the Ford's Theatre season announcement.

The season will also see the Washington premiere of Looking Over the President's Shoulder (Jan. 30-March 7, 2004), "the story of Alonzo Fields, an African-American who dreamed of becoming an opera star but, instead, became chief butler at the White House, where he spent 21 years 'looking over the shoulders' of four presidents," starring John Henry Redwood; the David H. Bell-directed Children of Eden (March 25-June 6, 2004), "a spectacular musical based on the Book of Genesis," by John Caird and Stephen Schwartz, songwriter of Godspell, Pippin and the upcoming Wicked; a reprise of George Gershwin Alone (Jan. 6-25, 2004), last season's critical and box office success starring pianist-actor Hershey Felder; plus A Christmas Carol (Nov. 22-Dec. 31).

Subscription range $90-167. For subscription information, call (202) 434-9545 or e-mail [email protected]. For Ford's Theatre information, call (202) 347-4833 or visit www.fordstheatre.org.