Jeff Calhoun Will Stage Shenandoah Revival for D.C. Ford's Theatre in Spring 2006
By Kenneth Jones
10 May 2005
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Jeff Calhoun
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| photo by Joan Marcus | Jeff Calhoun, who staged the popular DeafWest production of Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, will direct and choreograph a major regional theatre revival of the musical Shenandoah at Ford's Theatre in 2005-06.
Ford's Theatre producing director Paul R. Tetreault announced the theatre's 2005-2006 season, which includes the Tony Award-winning Virigina-set 1975 musical about a man's family slowly splintering during the Civil War.
The show with music by Gary Geld, lyrics by Peter Udell and a Tony-winning book by James Lee Barrett, Peter Udell and Philip Rose, plays the historic venue March 17-May 21, 2006. John Cullum originally played a steely patriarch who attempts to stay neutral during the Civil War. He took home the Best Actor (Musical) Tony in 1975. It's based on the motion picture of the same name and includes such songs as "Raise the Flag," "Why Am I Me?," "Violets and Silverbells," "The Pickers Are Comin'," "Papa's Gonna Make It Alright," "Next to Lovin' (I Like Fightin')," "It's a Boy," "Over the Hill," "Freedom," "Pass the Cross," "We Make a Beautiful Pair," "Meditation (This Land Don't Belong to Virginia)," and the powerful anti-war soliloquy "I've Heard It All Before."
Tony-nominated Broadway director-choreographer Jeff Calhoun's Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn played Ford's Theatre, Broadway and regional engagements. His credits also include Grease! and Brooklyn.
The 2005-06 Ford's season opens Sept. 23-Oct. 23 with the Washington, D.C., premiere of Beltway playwright Ken Ludwig's comedy, Leading Ladies, about two third-rate actors masquerading as (female) heirs to a fortune. Mark Rucker directs.
Veteran actor James Whitmore returns to Ford's to headline Joanna McClelland Glass' Trying, the Off-Broadway and regional play about the relationship between aged liberal attorney general Francis Biddle and his Canadian assistant (based on Glass' own experience with Biddle in the late 1960s), plays Jan. 20-Feb. 19, 2006, directed by Gus Kaikkonen.
Matt August directs Michael Wilson's adaptation of A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas, with Martin Rayner reprising the role of Ebenezer Scrooge. The "unique production…is set in historic Ford's Theatre at a time when Dickens actually visited the United States." Performances play Nov. 16-Jan. 1, 2006.
For the second season in a row, the "Friends of Ford's Theatre" program is being offered. The $50 membership (for two) "affords all the benefits and privileges of a subscription without the limitations."
Throughout the season, members take advantage of exclusive pre-sale, advance ticket purchases, discounted tickets and quarterly e-newsletters. Additional benefits include "members only" exclusive invitations to events such as "An Evening with the Producer," "Behind-the-Scenes View" and "Conversations with the Artists," as well as historical tours and more. As an extra bonus, members receive discounted coupons to area restaurants and retailers as they support the work of Ford's Theatre.
For more information on Ford's Theatre, call (202) 347-4833 or visit www.fordstheatre.org.
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Ford's Theatre Society is a not-for-profit corporation created to produce live entertainment on Ford's historic stage. Paul R. Tetreault is producing director. "In tribute to President Abraham Lincoln's love of the performing arts, Ford's Theatre produces plays and musicals that underscore our country's multiculturalism and illuminate the eclectic character of American life. Ford's has produced more than two dozen world premieres."
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