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New Syracuse Stage Season has Classics, Musicals, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Drama

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The upcoming season at Syracuse Stage will be the last chosen by outgoing artistic director Tim Bond.  It reflects his ideas of diversity – in style, tone, and culture.

  

  There will be plays and authors familiar to people…and others with compelling, relevant content, to appeal to a broad audience.  Charles Dickens' Great Expectations opens in the fall.  Syracuse Stage Dramaturg Kyle Bass says the play captures elements of the story – and Dickens’ craft.

“It’s about finding what is best and most theatrical in Dickens’ words.  It’s the most theatrical aspects, and perhaps the most memorable, made theatrical.  The language is there; the precision with which Dickens crafted character, and ultimately what comes alive in the stage of the mind when you read the book,  will come alive on stage in the theater.” 

Stage always wants to give families something to do during the holiday season.  Bass says the popularity of Mary Poppins might draw audiences in for the first time.

“It’s recognizable.  It’s got a built in nostalgia.  People with children bring their kids to experience what they had experienced, perhaps in seeing the classic Disney film on which this musical is based.  The audience we really think about in the holiday slot is the family.” 

And Bass assures us that most of the familiar songs are there…along with some new ones. 

Another musical, "Aint Misbehavin: The Fats Waller Musical Tour" is also on the schedule.

  Bass says they also want the season to get people thinking, presenting the 2013 Pulitzer Prize winning “Disgraced” by author Ayad Akhtar. 

“It really speaks to what’s happening now in this country, this idea of Islamaphobia.  It addresses that in a very challenging sort of way.  The drama is very sharp; the drama is very compelling; it’s very contemporary.”

The Mystery “Deathtrap” is also later in the season. 

SEASON DETAILS

Great Expectations: Based on the novel by Charles Dickens
Directed by Michael Bloom
October 19 – November 6

Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins: A musical based on the stories of M.L. Travers and the Walt Disney film
Directed by Peter Amster; Choreography by Anthony Salatino; Musical Direction by Brian Cimmet Co-produced with the Syracuse University Department of Drama
November 26 – December 31

Disgraced: By Ayad Akhtar
Directed by May Adrales
January 25 – February 12

Ain’t Misbehavin’ The Fats Waller Musical Show
Directed and Choreographed by Patdro Harris
March 1 – 26

How I Learned to Drive: By Paula Vogel
Directed by Laura Kepley
April 5 – 23

Deathtrap: By Ira Levin
Directed by Paul Barnes
May 10 – 28

It’s the last schedule for outgoing artistic director Tim Bond.

“It’s really about offering a wide range of theatrical experiences.  But always keeping in mind that there are communities and people who long to see themselves and their cultures presented on stage," said Bass.  “I think that’s been consistent in his tenure at Syracuse Stage.”

syr_stage_bass_web.mp3
Kyle Bass on choosing the new season...and welcoming new Artistic Director Robert Hupp.

Information about the full season, tickets and dates is at SyracuseStage.org.  

Chris Bolt, Ed.D. has proudly been covering the Central New York community and mentoring students for more than 30 years. His career in public media started as a student volunteer, then as a reporter/producer. He has been the news director for WAER since 1995. Dedicated to keeping local news coverage alive, Chris also has a passion for education, having trained, mentored and provided a platform for growth to more than a thousand students. Career highlights include having work appear on NPR, CBS, ABC and other news networks, winning numerous local and state journalism awards.