Regional NewsNorm Lewis, Solea Pfeiffer, Conrad Ricamora, Emily Skinner, More Set for Signature's Simply Sondheim, Part of 2021 SeasonThe Virginia venue's cinematic season will also include Daniel J. Watts' The Jam: Only Child, Dominique Morisseau's Detroit ’67, and more.
By
Andrew Gans
December 02, 2020
Norm Lewis, Solea Pfeiffer, Conrad Ricamora, and Emily Skinner
A new production of Simply Sondheim, directed and choreographed by Matthew Gardiner, will be part of Signature Theatre's 2021 SignatureFeatures season, five fully staged plays and musicals made exclusively for the screen and professionally filmed in HD on set (with safety protocols).
Heading the cast of Simply Sondheim, which includes over 30 of the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer's songs, are Tony nominee Norm Lewis (The Phantom of the Opera, The Gershwins' Porgy & Bess), Solea Pfeiffer (Hamilton, Gun & Powder), Conrad Ricamora (How to Get Away with Murder, Here Lies Love), and Tony nominee Emily Skinner (The Cher Show, SideShow), who will be joined by D.C. artists Awa Sal Secka (Gun & Powder), Bobby Smith (Assassins), Tracy Lynn Olivera (Assassins), and Donna Migliaccio (Sunday in the Park with George). The actors will be backed by a 16-piece orchestra, led by Jon Kalbfleisch, playingnew orchestrations by longtime Sondheim collaborator Jonathan Tunick.
Daniel J. Watts
Valerie Terranova
Following will be The Jam: Only Child, in which 2020 Tony nominee Daniel J. Watts (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) recounts his life as the only child of a single mother. Obie winner Lileana Blain-Cruz (The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World AKA The Negro Book of the Dead) directs, with sound design by DJ Duggz.
Signature Theatre Associate Artistic Director Gardiner will also direct Mark Sonnenblick's Off-Broadway hit Midnight at The Never Get, chronicling New York cabaret crooner Trevor Copeland’s love affair with songwriting partner Arthur during the social turbulence and upheaval of the 1960s. Sam Bolen, Max Friedman, and Sonnenblick conceived the production; Angie Benson is the music director.
In the spring, Signature will present After Midnight: Celebrating the Duke Ellington Years. Directed and choreographed by Jared Grimes (After Midnight) with music direction by Mark G. Meadows (Signature Vinyl), the production features the sounds of Duke Ellington, Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields, and Harold Arlen, framed by the poems of Langston Hughes. Nova Y. Payton will star in the song-and-dance revue. After Midnight, seen on Broadway in 2013, was conceived by Jack Viertel. Streaming for After Midnight will be provided by Broadway on Demand.
The season will conclude with Dominique Morisseau's Detroit ’67, which follows two siblings whose lives are overturned by a stranger with a secret during a tumultuous summer amidst the 1967 race riots. It is the second play in Morisseau’s The Detroit Project, a trilogy of plays examining the sociopolitical history of the Motor City.
Shows will be released on an ongoing basis throughout the winter and spring with specific dates to be announced. Marquee TV is the global streaming partner for the series.
“We're thrilled to bring a Signature season to our audience and the world,” says Managing Director Maggie Boland. “These five shows exemplify a talented mixture of Signature's favorite artists and new faces. We are so grateful to our staff, Board, and community for all their work to make this possible while upholding total commitment to everyone's health and safety.”
30 Times Stephen Sondheim Shows Played the Signature Theatre
30 Times Stephen Sondheim Shows Played the Signature Theatre
30 PHOTOS
“In 1991, we presented our first Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd in an 80 seat theater with a 16 person cast and 18 person orchestra. People still talk about the production to this day,” says artistic director Eric Schaeffer.
“Signature was one of the first theatres to present Assassins after its premiere at Playwright’s Horizons,” says Schaeffer. “We set it in an art gallery and used over 300 images projected throughout the show.”
“Company was the opening show in our new space—a converted auto bumper shop. I remember Marta made her entrance down a firepole from the ceiling and that there was a lot of polyester,” says Schaeffer.
“We converted the entire theatre into a forest for Into the Woods,” says Schaeffer. “We transformed the theatre into this environmental experience that was scary and beautiful.”
“Our production of Passion was such an intimate experience for the audience,” says Schaeffer. “We created an old Italian villa and let the audience become immersed in the story with the original full orchestration. It was a haunting experience.”
“We co-produced Sunday in the Park with George with Arena Stage to bring this amazing musical to Washington for its first professional production. It was magical when the white floor split apart to reveal the La Grande Jatte,” says Schaeffer.
“A Stephen Sondheim Evening was first a one night concert at the Shubert Theatre in 1973. We presented the same show in our intimate theatre as we reinvented some Sondheim classics and introduced lesser-known songs,” says Schaeffer.
“A Little Night Music featured a new orchestration by John Owen Edwards made up of three string quartets, with the orchestra featured on the environmental set of the classic show,” says Schaeffer.
“As part of our 10th anniversary we brought back our first big Sondheim hit Sweeney Todd that featured Norm Lewis along with Signature co-founder Donna Lilliard Migliaccio,” says Schaeffer.
“Baayork Lee directed Gypsy featuring Donna Migliaccio as Mamma Rose and frequent choreographer Karma Camp as Mazeppa playing the famous trumpet,” says Schaeffer.
“Having just directed Putting it Together on Broadway with Carol Burnett, I brought the show to Signature for its Washington debut featuring a company of Signature actors,” says Schaeffer.
“Follies probably pushed more boundaries than any Sondheim musical,” says Schaeffer. “We had 136 seats, a cast over 35 and an orchestra of 16—over a third of the audience was either on stage or off. We created dressing rooms to fit the massive cast in any free space we could find in order to bring D.C. it’s first professional production of the masterpiece. It was pure magic, with the cast featuring Florence Lacey and Judy McLane.”
“With A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum we payed homage to the garage with the opening number, containing tires rolling across the stage, and featured the Shakespeare comic Floyd King directed by Gary Griffin,” says Schaeffer.
“Pacific Overtures was presented in a chamber version featuring ten actors on an all-natural wood setting to evoke modern Japanese design,” says Schaeffer.
“Assassins was presented in a special production where the audience mirrored the set,” says Schaeffer. “A huge American flag dropped and you instantly felt that you were watching yourself.”
“Into the Woods opened Signature’s new theatre in Shirlington that featured the voice of Angela Lansbury as the Giant,” says Schaeffer. “The show featured the original orchestration, and leaves and debris fell over the audience as things came apart in Act 2 to create a truly immersive experience.”
“Signature produced Merrily We Roll Along in a stylish design and onstage orchestra that featured Will Gartshore, Tracy Olivera, Erik Liberman, and Tory Ross,” says Schaeffer.
“We hosted a special concert presentation of Anyone Can Whistle, featuring the full original orchestrations at Schlessinger Hall,” says Schaeffer.
“For our 20th anniversary season, audiences attended the tale Sweeney Todd once more in a production that featured bodies dropping from body bags over the audience,” says Schaeffer. “Ed Gero and Sherri Edelen starred in the production.”
“The revue Side by Side by Sondheim made its debut featuring Nancy Anderson and countless sheets of Sondheim’s sheet music that made up the set design,” says Schaeffer.
A special concert presentation of Saturday Night was held in 2012 in the Max Theatre starring Geoff Packard and Susan Derry.
“Matthew Scott starred in the new presentation of Company that featured all contemporary video throughout the production,” says Schaeffer.
“Gypsy starring Sherri Edelen and Maria Rizzo brought down the house every night in this sold-out run,” says Schaeffer.
“Claybourne Elder and Brynn O’Malley starred in this new production of Sunday directed by Signature Theatre Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner that took place in Seurat’s studio and proved to be an audience favorite,” says Schaeffer.
“Simply Sondheim was a special evening that we got special permission from Sondheim to create and celebrate our 25-year anniversary with an evening of his songs with special vocal arrangements by David Loud,” says Schaeffer.
“West Side Story featured an orchestra of 17 along with a cast of 24 where the audience was five rows deep from all the action and dancing in this thrilling experience directed by Matthew Gardiner,” says Schaeffer.
“Gray Griffin recreated his brilliant staging of Road Show for Washington, D.C., audiences featuring Josh Lamon and Noah Racey,” says Schaeffer.
“A Little Night Music featured Holly Twyford, Bobby Smith and Florence Lacey in this magical sold-out musical comedy,” says Schaeffer.
“Passion, starring Claybourne Elder, Natacia Diaz and Steffiane Leigh, featured an entire ceiling of flowers cascading over the audience to create the world of northern Italy,” says Schaeffer.
“I’m now in the middle of directing our third production of Assassins and our 30th Sondheim production overall featuring a cast of Signature favorites,” says Schaeffer.
