Borrowing famous themes from opera, playwright and KTC artistic director Rachel Lampert (who devised KTC's Precious Nonsense, which borrowed from Gilbert & Sullivan) is writing the new work, set to play the 73-seat theatre Jan. 12-Feb. 11, 2006, as part of the KTC Main Stage series.
"Tony's life is one dead end after another," according to the KTC season announcement. "He's 35 and still living in his mother's Brooklyn brownstone. But when the attic apartment is rented to a Julliard music student, his life begins to change. Opera wafting down from the top floor starts everyone singing their own lyrics to the classic melodies of Verdi, Mozart, Rossini and more."
The musical is billed as a "delightful new musical tale of changing lives and finding love attests that music is the food of love."
There are four performance series in KTC's year-round season: Main Stage, Kitchen Counter Culture (featuring works by writer-performers), Family Fare and Kitchen Sink (a community-based series).
The 2005-06 Main Stage season also includes Arthur Miller's The Price (starting Aug. 25), Lee Blessing's Two Rooms (starting Oct. 27), David Sedaris' The SantaLand Diaries with Karl Gregory (starting Dec. 1), Edward Albee's Three Tall Women (staring March 16, 2006), playwright-performer Kathryn Blume's The Accidental Activist (starting April 20, 2006) and a world premiere musical to be announced (starting July 6, 2006). The diverse 2005-06 season also includes the African-American themed two-actor show Black Stuff (Sept. 29-Oct. 9), written and performed by LeVan D. Hawkins & Alexander Thomas; the family show The Odyssey, an epic musical (Oct. 1-16) by Lesley Greene, Rachel Lampert and Joey Steinhagen; the family show Winter Tales, a seasonal musical, (Dec. 3-18) by Lesley Greene and Rachel Lampert; the family show I Have a Song to Sing O! (Jan. 21-Feb. 11, 2006) by Lesley Greene and Rachel Lampert; the solo show My Life in the Trenches (Feb. 16-18, 2006), written and performed by Jill Dalton; the solo show Wonder Woman the musical (Feb. 23-25, 2006), written and performed by Elizabeth Whitney; the solo show The Parrot (March 4-5, 2006), written and performed by Alice Eve Cohen; the solo show Labor (May 19-20 & June 16-17, 2006) written and performed by Michelle Courtney Berry; and a New Play Festival featuring local playwrights May 25-June 11, 2006.
Kitchen Theatre Company is located in the historic Clinton House, a renovated hotel in Downtown Ithaca. For more information about Kitchen Theatre Company, visit www.kitchentheatre.org.
