Barrington Stage Has Pool Boy, Art, Absurd Person, Crucible, Whipping Man and More for 2010

By Kenneth Jones
18 Dec 2009

Jeff McCarthy
Jeff McCarthy
Photo by Aubrey Reuben

Barrington Stage Company's 2010 season in Pittsfield, MA, will include the world-premiere musical, Pool Boy, as part of the Musical Theatre Lab, plus mainstage productions of Art, Sweeney Todd, Absurd Person Singular and The Crucible.

The coming season was announced on Dec. 18 by artistic director Julianne Boyd and producing director Richard M. Parison, Jr.

The Off-Broadway-style BSC Stage 2 will present Matthew Lopez's The Whipping Man plus a William Finn-curated collection of songs by writers you may not know.

As previously reported, Broadway's Jeff McCarthy (Urinetown, The Pirate Queen) will play the title role in Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which will open BSC's 16th season June 17-July 17, 2010. Boyd will direct, with musical direction by Darren R. Cohen.

The new musical on the slate, Pool Boy, by Nikos Tsakalakos (music and lyrics) and Janet Allard (book and lyrics), will play July 13-Aug. 8.

The musical "tells the story of a pool boy whose summer turns upside down when he's seduced by L.A. glitz and glam and a sexy older woman," according to BSC notes. "The story is based on the composer's real-life experience as a pool boy at the Hotel Bel-Air."

A second MTL musical, TBA, will run Aug. 18-29, 2010.

Back for its fifth edition is the popular Songs by Ridiculously Talented Composers and Lyricists You Probably Don't Know But Should, hosted by William Finn, for two performances on Labor Day weekend Sept. 3-4 at 8 PM on the Mainstage.

Here's the rest of the BSC season at a glance:

BSC MAINSTAGE

Art, Yasmina Reza's international award-winning comedy about friends who bicker over a painting, will run July 22-Aug. 7.

Absurd Person Singular, Alan Ayckbourn's comedy set on three successive Christmas eves, will play Aug. 12-29. Jesse Berger directs.

Complete Mainstage casting and designers will be announced in April.

BSC STAGE 2

Receiving its New England premiere May 27-June 13 will be Matthew Lopez's The Whipping Man, directed by Broadway and BSC veteran Christopher Innvar. According to BSC, "At the end of the Civil War, a Jewish Confederate soldier returns home to Richmond to be greeted by his two black servants, reared Jewish and now free men."

BSC YOUTH THEATRE

Barrington Stage Company's Youth Theatre will present Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Into the Woods with performances July 14-Aug. 15 at St. Joseph's High School, 22 Maplewood Avenue, Pittsfield.

BSC FALL MAINSTAGE

Arthur Miller's The Crucible, a parable of Communist witch hunts of the 1950s, set in 1692 Massachusetts, will play Oct. 6-24.

BSC HOLIDAY MAINSTAGE

A Christmas Story, Philip Grecian's adaptation of the beloved Christmas movie (and stories by Jean Shepherd), will play December 2010.

For more information on shows, subscriptions, tickets and special events, call (413) 236-8888 or visit www.barringtonstageco.org.