Last chance to catch Make Someone Happy, a revue of songs by Betty Comden & Adolph Green that opened the Bay Street Theatre season in Sag Harbor, Long Island, May 21. The show, eyeing a New York commercial staging, concludes its brief run June 14.
Make Someone Happy contains an original book by Green's wife, Phyllis Newman, collaborating with David Ives (Mere Mortals, All In The Timing). Newman also directs, with Sarah Miles (Forum) choreographing.
Among the Comden & Green shows represented are On The Town, Bells Are Ringing, Do Re Mi and Will Rogers Follies. Composers featured in the revue include Leonard Bernstein, Cy Coleman, Roger Edens, Larry Grossman and Julie Styne.
Appearing in Make Someone Happy are Melissa Ericco (One Touch Of Venus, My Fair Lady, Off-Broadway's Importance Of Being Earnest); Dee Hoty (Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public, Will Rogers Follies); Jim Bracchitta (Gypsy); Paula Newsome (< i>Violet); Adam Grupper (Into The Woods) and Max Perlman (Joseph... tour).
Tony Walton, who directed and designed the Errico Earnest, has designed the Happy set. Costumes are by Sharon Sprague, lighting by Kirk Bookman, sound by Randy Freed. Music direction & orchestrations are by Andrew Lippa. Violet's Jeannine Tesori is the musical supervisor. Upcoming in Bay Street's summer season are new plays by Arthur Laurents, My Good Name, and Joe Pintauro, Heaven And Earth. According to spokesperson Liza Rand, the Laurents play "touches on greed and honor and religious identity." David Saint will direct. Laurents' previous works include The Radical Mystique, staged in 1995 at NY's Manhattan Theatre Club second stage, and Jolson Sings Again done the same year at Seattle Rep. Heaven And Earth, commissioned by the theatre, is based on a book by Steve Wick concerning the plight of farmers on Long Island's North Fork. Jack Hofsiss (The Shadow Box Broadway revival; Off-Broadway's Splendora) directs. Pintauro's Raft Of The Medusa played Off-Broadway in 1992.
Sybil Christopher and Emma Walton are co-artistic directors of the Bay Street Theatre, now in its sixth season. For tickets and information on the Bay Street season call (516) 725-9500.
--By David Lefkowitz
