 Route 20, P.O. Box 283 Wayland, MA    |
Vokes Players' 2009-2010 Season (Click on each title for more information & photos!) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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#291
Music & Lyrics
by
Stephen SondheimSweeney Todd Book by Hugh Wheeler Stage Direction by Donnie Baillargeon Musical Direction by Don Boroson Choreography by Jennifer Condon |
October
29-November 21, 2009 You can be sure we’re unveiling a very special season of theater when we start off with Sweeney Todd. Sondheim and Wheeler’s multiple-award-winning musical thriller created a sensation for audiences when it first burst onto Broadway, and it’ll still grab you and hold you from the first chord to the last gasp. This tale of a 19th century barber with a massive chip on his shoulder is a genre-busting, tradition-smashing, brilliant work of theater – sophisticated, macabre, visceral and uncompromising. Sweeney Todd brandishes a razor-sharp sense of humor, drips with suspense and slashes with scintillating wordplay. The aching beauty of its music will pull you inescapably into the pain and desperation that pervades this dark portrait of Industrial Revolutionary London. For masterworks such as this, the accolades of “unparalleled” and “blockbuster” are no exaggeration. |
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#292 Book of Days by Lanford Wilson Directed by Bill Doscher |
February 25-March 13, 2010 There’s no denying that a playwright has an advantage when writing about the artistic process. And when a play is crafted around the actual creation of one’s art, as in Lanford Wilson’s Book of Days, it can provide a special perspective on how art reflects, intersects with, and affects the surrounding community. In Dublin, Missouri’s local theater production of Shaw’s Saint Joan, the leading lady, Ruth, takes on that great character in all her complicated, paranoiac intensity. Ruth’s own creative process parallels and intertwines with events both internal and external – and both she and her small hometown are forever changed. Wilson adeptly twists roles and relationships to fashion this compelling fable of faith, customs, social norms, greed … and possibly murder. |
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#293 Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen Directed by Doug Sanders |
May 6-22, 2010 Ibsen’s classic gets a breathtaking update with Andrew Upton’s adaptation, a recent worldwide success that starred his wife, Cate Blanchett. All the elements of the "traditional" Hedda Gabler are still present: newlywed Hedda and her dry, academic husband have just returned from their honeymoon; Judge Brack and Aunt Julle are still circling around the couple, pursuing their own ends; and into this constrained sphere comes timid Thea, along with Lovborg, the wildly exciting modern intellectual. But in this rewritten Hedda, the inexorable drama of this famous scenario is made newly fresh and immediate, crackling with energy and pulsing with contemporary rhythms. The resulting impact is both emotionally and intellectually jarring, revitalizing a problem play we thought we’d figured out long ago. |
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#294 On the Razzle by Tom Stoppard Directed by John Barrett |
July
15-31, 2010 On the Razzle sparkles. On the Razzle shines. In fact, On the Razzle dazzles. There is perhaps no script in the English language more chock-full of puns, double-entendres, silliness and jokes. Playwright Tom Stoppard once again illuminates the stage with the brilliant dialogue that has become his hallmark. The story of two country mice off "on the razzle" to the big city is merely the framework around which Stoppard spins a dizzying verbal whirlwind. Disguises, impersonations, confusions, tricks and counter-tricks abound as skylarking clerks, elegant ladies, eloping lovers, amorous merchants, clever servants, and bawdy coachmen tumble all over each other through the rich tapestry of Vienna in the 1850s. The entrances and exits come so fast and furious that the actors need to be careful that they don’t overtake themselves. Leave your troubles behind and join us On the Razzle. |
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