Archive for the Category »Past Seasons «
In this adaption of the fairy tale by the same name, it’s princess Aurora’s sixteenth birthday, and Flora, Fauna and Merryweather,the princess’ fairy godmothers, must use their fairy magic to save her from the spell of evil sorceress Maleficent! This classic fairytale told Disney-style has many roles for a large chorus, from King Stefan and Queen Stefanie’s Loyal Subjects toMaleficent’s slimy goons. Songs from the beloved film, including “Once Upon ad Dream,” accompany fun new songs like “Maleficent!” and “A Little Magic Now” to bring a fresh telling of the story to a new generation of kids and families.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a play that premiered in 1963, one year after Ken Kesey’s bestselling novel of the same name was published. Dale Wasserman’s stage adaptation, with music by Teiji Ito, made its Broadway premiere, running through 1964. Since then, the play has had two revivals: first off-Broadway in 1971, then as a Broadway production in 2001 with Gary Sinise as McMurphy. A film version released in 1975 was based on the novel, but not on the play.
Dracula is a 1924 stage play adapted by Hamilton Deane from the novel of the same name by Bram Stoker, and substantially revised by John L. Balderston in 1927. It was the first adaptation of the novel authorized by Stoker’s widow, and has influenced many subsequent adaptations.
The original production starred Raymond Huntley as Dracula; Deane had originally intended to play the title role himself, but in the event opted for the role of Van Helsing. This production toured England for three years before settling in London. In 1927 the play was brought to Broadway by Horace Liveright, who hired John L. Balderston to revise the script for American audiences. The American production starred Béla Lugosi in his first major English-speaking role, with Edward Van Sloan as Van Helsing; both actors reprized their roles in the 1931 film version, which drew on the Deane-Balderston play.
In addition to radically compressing the plot, the play reduced the number of significant characters, combining Lucy Westenra and Mina Murray into a single character, making John Seward this Lucy’s father, and disposing of Quincey Morris and Arthur Holmwood.
Fifteen holiday stories from the international best-selling author of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten have been crafted into an engaging evening of storytelling and song. This charming show takes a funny, heartwarming and often poignant look at the struggle to find the spirit of the holidays amid the avalanche of commercialism, stress and chaos that crashes down every December. Among the many delightful stories is one about a small immigrant child who comes trick-or-treating in a cheap Santa mask a few days before Christmas, inadvertently delivering the true meaning of the season to a grownup with a serious case of “Scroogitis;” hilarious musings about a love/hate relationship with the vibrant poinsettia that arrives in most homes every December and hangs on and on and on, long after the holidays have ended; and a beautiful, deeply moving tribute to the winter solstice, celebrating nature’s precious annual gift of rebirth.
In 2008 the GCTC once again put on The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is based on a book written by Barbara Robinson in 1972. It tells the story of six delinquent children surnamed Herdman. They go to church for the first time after being told that the church offers snacks. Despite protests from other church members, the Herdmans are given roles in the Sunday school’s Christmas play, in which they tell the Christmas story in a nonconventional fashion.
In 2008, the GCTC produced Driving Miss Daisy as part of their Reader’s Theatre program.  A special thank you to Lyles Station Historic Preservation Corporation for allowing us to use their school for our performance. And thanks to Stanley and Mary Alice Madison for all their hard work.
The place is the Deep South, the time 1948, just prior to the civil rights upheaval in the United States. Having recently demolished another car, Daisy Wertham, a rich, crusty and sharp-tongued widow of 72, is informed by her businessman son, Boolie, that henceforth she must rely on the services of a chauffeur. The person he hires for the job is a thoughtful, unemployed black man, Hoke, whom Miss Daisy immediately regards with disdain and who, in turn, is not favorably impressed with his employer’s patronizing tone and, he believes, her latent prejudice. But, in a series of absorbing, revealing scenes, spanning 25 years and filled with warm humor and glinting insights, the two, despite their mutual differences, grow ever closer to and more dependent on each other, until, eventually, they become almost a couple. Slowly and steadily the dignified, good-natured Hoke breaks down the stern defenses of the ornery old lady, as she teaches him to read and write and, in a gesture of good will and shared concern invites him to join her at a banquet in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. — which her son declines to attend because it might be bad for business. As the play ends Hoke has a final visit with Miss Daisy, now 97 and confined to a nursing home, and while it is evident that a vestige of her fierce independence and sense of position still remain, it is also movingly clear that both of them have come to realize that they have more in common than they ever believed possible—and times and circumstances would ever allow them to publicly admit.
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The Odd Couple is a 1965 Broadway play by Neil Simon, followed by a successful film and television series, as well as other derivative works and spin offs, many featuring one or more of the same actors. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing but slovenly.
In 2008 the Gibson County Theatre Company once again put on a variety show at the Golden Heritage Days Festival.
The Alley Cats introduce Berlioz, Marie, Toulouse and their mother Duchess – the richest cats in all of Paris. When the Aristocats’ beloved owner Madame announces that she has left them all of her money, Edgar, the family butler, becomes very jealous. While the Aristocats practice singing Edgar warms some milk. After they fall asleep, Edgar takes the Aristocats out into the country and leaves them in a ditch.
As the Aristocats wake up, lost and alone, Napoleon and his pack of Country Dogs chase Edgar away. An Alley Cat named O’Malley discovers the Aristocats (Thomas O’Malley Cat), who are surprised to find him friendly. Despite the protests of the other Alley Cats, O’Malley agrees to help the Aristocats find their way home to Madame. Napoleon and the Dogs find the Cats and chase them. When Marie falls into a river, O’Malley dives in to save her, only to be saved himself by a pair of Geese, Abigail and Amelia (The Gabble Girls). The whole gang waddles back to the city. more…
Chicago is a Kander and Ebb musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice, and the concept of the “celebrity criminal”. The musical is based on a 1926 play of the same name by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins about actual criminals and crimes she had reported on.