Up next at FL's Coconut Grove Playhouse, through Mar. 1, is No Way To Treat A Lady, the Douglas J. Cohen musical based on the William Goldman novel (and 1968 film) about a killer, a cop, his Jewish mother, and an attractive coed. First staged at the Hudson Guild Theatre in 1987, the show had a well-received staging in 1996 at Off-Broadway's York Theatre.
At Coconut Grove, the cast will feature Lenny Wolpe (Mayor, Into The Light) as the detective and Ruth Williamson as the mother and various victims. Williamson is a veteran of such Off-Broadway Charles Busch shows as Queen Amarantha and The Green Heart. Also in Lady are Maureen Silliman (Shenandoah and Is There Life After High School?) and Corell Stahl (Off-Broadway's Hysterical Blindness).
Opening Feb. 6, No Way To Treat A Lady is directed by Jeff Moss (choreographer of the aforementioned Mayor) and choreographed by Barbara Siman. Designing the show are James Morgan (set), Ellis Tillman (costumes), Stuart Duke (lighting) and Steve Shapiro (sound).
The season opener for Miami's Coconut Grove Theatre, Berlin To Broadway with Kurt Weill, was such a hit, they're bringing it back in mid-winter for a three-week run. Previews begin Dec. 30 for an opening Jan. 2 and a run through Jan. 25 (at which point No Way To Treat A Lady is set to go up at the venue).
Conceived in 1986, the revue features songs Weill composed with such lyricists as Ogden Nash, Maxwell Anderson, Alan Jay Lerner, Ira Gershwin, Langston Hughes and, of course, Bertolt Brecht. Among the revue's 37 classics are "Mack The Knife" and "September Song." Starring in the show's reprise are four Broadway veterans, only one of whom was in Berlin's initial Coconut run: Martin Vidnovic (Olympus On My Mind, the recent Guys & Dolls revival). Also in the cast are Mike Burstyn, who played the lead in Ain't Broadway Grand; Joy Franz (Into The Woods, A Little Night Music), Marilyn Caskey (Sunset Boulevard, The American Clock at NY's Signature Theatre), and Michael Babin (the national tour of Falsettos.
Directed by Jack Allison, Berlin To Broadway features lighting, sets and costumes by co-adaptor Fred Kolo, a three-time Carbonnel Award winner.
* March 10-Apr. 5, After Play, Anne Meara's bittersweet comedy of a pair of couples who meet for an evening of Broadway and dinner.
* April 14-May 3, 1998 An Evening With Jerry Herman. A career overview with the composer of such Broadway shows as Hello, Dolly!, The Grand Tour and Mack And Mabel. Lee Roy Reams and Florence Lacey will join Herman in the revue, which replaces the previously announced, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. (By the way, Herman recently underwent triple bypass surgery but is recovering nicely.)
* May 8-31, 1998 To Kill A Mockingbird, adapted by Christopher Sergel from Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning book about a young girl named Scout, her attorney father, and the black man he defends in a Southern hamlet, circa 1930.
* Nov. 11-Jan.18, 1998, Coconut Grove's Encore Room Theatre will present Goodbye, My Friduchita, a one-woman remembrance of the life of artist Frida Kahlo, by Dolores Sender. Judith Delgado stars; Barbara Lowery directs.
* Feb-May, 1998: Late Nite Catechism, also in the Encore Room space. It's the Chicago and Off-Broadway hit, by Vicki Quade and Maripat Donovan. Catechism is structured like a religion class, with "Sister" discussing the saints and answering questions about Catholicism.
For information on subscriptions or single ticket options at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, call (305) 446-3857.
-- By David Lefkowitz and Ellis Nassour
