Arlington’s Signature Theatre has announced its 2016-17 season. The slate will include a world-premiere play by Tony-winning playwright and director James Lapine starring Tony winner Debra Monk (Grey’s Anatomy), as well as two additional world-premiere musicals: Silver Bells by Matt Conner, Allyson Currin and Stephen Gregory Smith; and Midwestern Gothic by Royce Vavrek and Joshua Schmidt. They join the previously announced debut of the musical comedy Freaky Friday.
The slate will also include a new immersive staging of Jelly’s Last Jam, about notorious jazz entertainer Jelly Roll Morton, directed by Matthew Gardiner with choreography by Jared Grimes; the world premiere of The Gulf, a new play by D.C. playwright Audrey Cefaly; a new staging of Maury Yeston’s Tony-winning musical Titanic, directed by artistic director Eric Schaeffer; and Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Tony-winning rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, directed by Joe Calarco.
As previously announced, Signature will partner with Disney Theatricals in October for the world premiere of Freaky Friday, based on the celebrated Mary Rodgers novel and popular Disney films. The new musical is by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, the Pulitzer Prize-winning team behind Next to Normal and If/Then, with a book by Bridget Carpenter. Two-time Tony nominee Christopher Ashley will direct the production with choreography by Sergio Trujillo. Performances are scheduled to run October 4-November 20.
In November, Schaeffer will helm the world premiere of Silver Bells, a new musical billed as a “raucous send up of small town Christmas pageantry” starring Donna Migliaccio, Nova Y. Payton, Naomi Jacobson, Sandy Bainum and Ilona Dulaski.
In the spring of 2017, Signature will present Lapine’s Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing, based on the real-life story of Elva Miller. Monk will star in the title role for performances scheduled to run February 28-March 26.
Also in March, the theatre will present Midwestern Gothic, a new musical commissioned by Signature’s American Musical Voices Project, about a young woman who uses her imagination to escape her desolate reality.
To purchase subscription packages, call Signature’s box office at (703) 820-9771 or visit SigTheatre.org.
