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The Broward Stage Door Theatre presents BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE

15 Tuesday Jul 2014

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Broward Stage Door Theatre
presents
Butterflies Are Free
Butterflies - ck1
“I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold Skimpole what it concedes to the butterflies.” Charles Dickens (Harold Skimpole – Bleak House)

July 15, 2014
Coral Springs, Florida

The reviews for Leonard Gershe’s Butterflies Are Free were unanimously raves when it opened on Broadway in 1969, and the play ended up winning a number of awards that season. The play focuses on Don Baker, blind since birth, whose over-protective mother is forced to come to terms with her son’s bid for independence when he sets up in a Manhattan apartment on his own. He soon makes the acquaintance of his off-the-wall, liberated, actress neighbor Jill. Don learns the kind of things from Jill that his mother would never have taught him! And Jill learns from Don what growing up and being free is really all about.

Michael Leeds will direct Butterflies Are Free at the Broward Stage Door Theatre. The production will run from August 1st through September 14th.

Leeds head shot

Michael Leeds

“What drew me to Butterflies Are Free, aside from it being extremely charming and very funny, was the way it highlights how deceptive our perception of people with disabilities can be,” Leeds explains.  “While the young man in the play is blind, his problem is not how he sees the world but rather how the world sees him.  Gershe deftly makes the point that in their way, the young man is far less handicapped than his mother, who is deaf to what her son really needs, and the young woman who starts out emotionally crippled but blossoms through their relationship.”

Leeds and Broward Stage Door Theatre Artistic Director Derelle Bunn have assembled a talented cast of local and New York actors to inhabit Gershe’s characters. “Aside from earning numerous Tony and Oscar nominations, the play was responsible for introducing Blythe Danner to Broadway audiences

Gina Marie Jamieson

Gina Marie Jamieson

and the inimitable Goldie Hawn in the film,” Leeds says.   “And I’m lucky to have an equally talented young actress, Gina Marie Jamieson to play the lead opposite Britt Michael Gordon.

“Eileen Heckert won an Oscar for her portrayal of the acerbic mother,” he continues. “And Brook Packard has the same gift of delivering the biting humor while somehow remaining extremely likeable.  Andy Quiroga, whom I’ve worked with twice before, rounds out our ensemble as a self-absorbed theatre director.  (Personally, I don’t believe they exist but there you have it!)”

“And by the way,” Leeds adds, “The young man in Butterflies Are Free is a struggling song-writer, and the song he sings in the play was written by a young up-and-comer – named Stephen Schwartz!”

Britt Michael Gordon

Britt Michael Gordon

Actor Britt Michael Gordon continues to discover unexpected depths in his role as Don Baker as he works through the production’s rehearsal process. “I’ve fallen in love with this play,” he says.  “I’m finding there’s a lot more to it than people might assume. I don’t believe that Butterflies Are Free is only about blindness as a physical disability.  I think the play is about our ability as human beings to see past the surface of any individual, which, regardless of whether you’re sighted or not, is a difficult, yet essential part of life. Butterflies Are Free is teaching me how to see past the surface of those around me.  It’s teaching me to how to have faith in myself and
others.  And finally, Butterflies is teaching me to trust, even when I have no reason to.”

Butterflies Are Free will run from August 1st – September 14th at The Broward Stage Door Theatre in Coral Springs. The theatre is located at 8036 Sample Road, in Coral Springs.

Tickets for Butterflies Are Free are $38 – $42; $16 student tickets are also available. Tickets may be purchased at the Broward Stage Door Theatre box office at 954-344-7765 or on line at www.stagedoorfl.org.

Butterflies Are Free
By: Leonard Gershe
Dates: August 1 – September 14
Tickets: $38 – $42 (Students $16)
For Tickets:954-344-7765 / www.stagedoortheatre.com
Showtimes:
Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2:00 pm,
Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm
Sunday at 7:00 pm
The Broward Stage Door Theatre
8036 W Sample Rd
Coral Springs, Fl 33065

The Broward Stage Door Theatre presents Allan Sherman’s HELLO MUDDAH, HELLO FADDAH! May 30 – July 6

15 Thursday May 2014

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openingpage-2-1hello muddah1The Broward Stage Door Theatre
presents
Allan Sherman’s
Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah!
May 30 – July 6

Hello Muddah,
Hello Fadduh.
Here I am at
Camp Grenada.
Camp is very
entertaining.
And they say we’ll have some fun if it stops raining.
Listen here:  http://tinyurl.com/pqsu8mn

It’s that time of year again. School’s almost out and summer is closing in. What better time to celebrate the season than with a musical comedy based on Allan Sherman’s clever parodies of classic and classical music. Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah will open at the Broward Stage Door Theatre on May 30th, and run through July 6th.

Sherman’s song parodies have been woven into a musical comedy tracing the trajectory of the lives of Barry Bockman and his true love, Sarah Jackman. From birth, to early education, to the infamous Camp Granada; from marriage and suburbia (and the shopping mall), to retirement in Florida, each musical number in Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah displays Sherman’s gift for capturing character and culture, and his unique take on – and understanding of – human nature. Songs include “Harvey and Sheila” (sung to the tune of “Hava Nagila”), “Glory, Glory Harry Lewis” (“The Battle Hymn of the Republic”) “Sarah Jackman” (“Frere Jacques”), and of course, the title song, set to the music of the 1876 opera, Dance of the Hours.

Producer Derelle Bunn and director Dan Kelley have cast Shane Tanner, James Parks, Ryan Halsaver, Eva Marie Mastrangelo, and Sarah Sirota in the production.

dankelley2

Dan Kelley

“Hello Muddah is a huge show,” says Kelley. “Our five actors play over 40 characters. And when they are not on stage singing one of Alan Sherman’s iconic songs they are in the wings executing over 60 costume and wig changes. Even the live onstage band gets into the act during the act one finale – becoming Noah and the Noodniks. I’m excited to be working with musical director Dave Nagy and costume designer Colleen O’Connell and a talented cast of five fearless musical comedy chameleons.”

Picture 15

Allan Sherman

Allan Sherman’s first album My Son, The Folk Singer, released in 1962 became the fastest-selling record album up to the time. He released eight albums in total. “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah” was his biggest hit single. Sherman was the co-creator of the hit television program I’ve Got a Secret, as well as several other short-lived game shows. He died in November 1973 at the age of 49.

Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah! will run from May 30 – July 6 at The Broward Stage Door Theatre in Coral Springs. The theatre is located at 8036 Sample Road, in Coral Springs.

Tickets for Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah! are $38; $16 student tickets are also available. Tickets may be purchased at the Broward Stage Door Theatre box office at 954-344-7765 or on line at www.stagedoorfl.org.

Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah!
Music and Lyrics by: Allan Sherman
Conceived and written by Douglas Bernstein and Rob Krausz
May 30 – July 6
Tickets: $38 (Students $16)
Phone: 954-344-7765
Showtimes:
Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2:00 pm,
Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm
The Broward Stage Door Theatre
8036 W Sample Rd
Coral Springs, Fl 33065
www.stagedoortheatre.com

Critical Praise for Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah:

“Breathlessly paced … live wire comic exuberance that crackles across the stage.” – New York Times

“Parodies brilliantly built into a show…. One of the Year’s Ten Best.” – New York Post

“A party, nutty as a Viennese table and splashy as a fruit punch fountain…. Daffy and divine!” – Newsday

“It’s a hoot.” – A.P.

 

The Broward Stage Door Theatre Announces its 2014-2015 Season

18 Tuesday Feb 2014

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A Florida premiere is the centerpiece of a well rounded theatrical season at the popular Coral Springs Theatre

 openingpage-2-1

Coral Springs, FL, February 18th, 2014:

The Broward Stage Door Theatre has announced its line-up of productions for 2014-2015.  For its 21st season the company, headed by Derelle Bunn and Dave Torres has planned an exciting mix of comedies, musicals, and straight plays that will appeal to their broad base of theatre patrons.

Stage Door’s season begins in August with Leonard Gershe’s award-winningButterflies-are-Free ck play Butterflies are Free (August 1st – September 14th, Theatre 1). The play’s plot revolves around a Manhattan blind man whose controlling mother disapproves of his relationship with a free-spirited hippie. The title was inspired by a passage in Charles Dickens’ Bleak House: “I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold Skimpole what it concedes to the butterflies.”

The Last Romance (October 10th – November 23rd, Theatre 2) by New Last Romance 1Jersey born and raised Joe DiPietro, is set in Hoboken, New Jersey.  The play is a warm, tender, and very funny tale of late love between two senior citizens. “The play adroitly explores relationships between men and women in their golden years, as well as how the invisible ties of family often tie our hearts harder and faster than any love affair. A tale that mixes heartbreak with its humor and opera with the laughter…” (Naples News) DiPietro is also the author of I Love You You’re Perfect Now Change, Memphis (2010 Tony-award winner for Best Musical), All Shook Up, The Toxic Avenger and Over the River and Through the Woods, which will run this April 4th through May 11th as  part of Stage Door’s current season.

Five Guys Named Moe (December 10 to January 18, 2015, Theatre 2) is aMoe logo 1 musical with a book by Clarke Peters and lyrics and music by Louis Jordan. Nomax, whose girlfriend has left him and who is without money, finds Big Moe, Four-Eyed Moe, Eat Moe, No Moe, and Little Moe emerging from his 1930s-style radio to comfort him. They sing the hit songs of songwriter and saxophonist Jordan, whose new slant on jazz paved the way for rock and roll in the 1950s. Five Guys Named Moe is ‘an exhilarating, all-embracing theatrical experience, complete with some uproarious audience participation that’ll have spectators leaping out of their seats to join the celebration!’

Securing the rights to of Old Jews Telling Jokes was a real coup for StageOJTJ - Logo Door.  “We are delighted to get the Florida Premiere of Old Jews Telling Jokes,” says Bunn.  “It played in New York and Chicago and sold out for long runs.”  Old Jews Telling Jokes is scheduled to open November 1st, and run through January 4th (Theatre 1), “But we wouldn’t be surprised if audiences demand it stays longer!” says Bunn. Initially a popular website, this revue has been described as “a pickle-barrelful of giggles.” It celebrates the rich tradition of Jewish humor “and all the rabbis, complaining wives, fed-up husbands, patience-challenged physicians, gossiping ladies and competitive men” populating it.

I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (February 6 to March 7, 2015, ILYYPNC08-weblogoTheatre 2) In this clever two act musical, songwriters Joe DiPietro (book and lyrics) and Jimmy Roberts (music) offer a series of vignettes connected by the central theme of love and relationships. The play’s tagline is “Everything you have ever secretly thought about dating, romance, marriage, lovers, husbands, wives, and in-laws, but were afraid to admit.” I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change is the second longest running off-Broadway musical in history.

John Peterson will return to the Stage Door Theatre in George M. Cohen playbill_2269_23137839 copyTonight! (March 20 to April 26, 2015, Theatre 2) an upbeat one-man play about the beloved song and dance man George M. Cohan – capturing in 95 fast-moving minutes the essence of the man, his music, and the fabulous era of show business he came up in.  A dazzling showcase for a song-and-dance man with flair. Peterson, who has received rave reviews everywhere he has performed this show, channels a swift, colorful portrayal of this most fiercely American musical figure.  Peterson, played the Emcee in a recent Broadway revival of Cabaret, starred in Stage Door’s production of Song Man Dance Man two years ago.

Bell, Book, and Candle (May 15 to June 21, 2015, Theatre 2) In this fun bbc-logo4and sexy romantic comedy, we meet Gillian Holroyd, a beautiful and lively free spirit – who also happens to be a witch. Frustrated by a lack of romance in her life and smitten by her handsome neighbor, she “helps things along” by casting a spell. But will she give into the one thing that will take away her magical powers forever? One of John van Druten’s greatest comedy successes, Bell, Book, and Candle has been called “…completely enchanting—a wonderfully suave and impish fantasy.” (New York Times).

Tickets and subscriptions:

Tickets:  $38 – $44
Phone:  954-344-7765
   Showtimes:
Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2:00 pm,
Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm
The Broward Stage Door Theatre
8036 W Sample Rd
Coral Springs, Fl 33065
www.stagedoorfl.org