AUBURN, N.Y.: The Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival has announced its 2016 season, which will include the U.S. premiere of a new musical by Tim Rice.
The Rodgers and Hammerstein classic Oklahoma! (June 1–22) will open the season. The U.S. premiere of Tim Rice’s From Here to Eternity (June 29–July 20) will be next. Based on the 1951 novel and subsequent film, the musical is set during World War II just after Pearl Harbor and depicts how the bombing affected two forbidden love affairs.
Austen’s Pride: A New Musical of Pride and Prejudice (July 13–July 24), by Lindsay Warren Baker and Amanda Jacobs, will follow. In the musical, Jane Austen re-imagines her classic novel.
Next will be George and Ira Gershwin’s Crazy For You (July 27–Aug. 17). Brett Smock, Carla Vitale, and Corinne Aquilina’s modern musical adaptation of Treasure Island (Aug. 24–Sept. 10) will follow.
Jukebox tuner Million Dollar Quartet (Sept. 15–Oct. 1) will be onstage next. Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux’s musical envisions what happened during a 1956 jam session between Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical (Oct. 5–19), a new musical based on the life of the late performer, will follow. Smokey Joe’s Café (Nov. 2–Nov. 19), featuring the music of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, will be next.
Also part of the season will be The PiTCH (June 16–July 30). Each week a new writing team will pitch a new musical to an audience, and after the presentation, audience members can ask questions and speak with the writers about the show and their process.
The Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival is an annual summer festival that produces classic, contemporary, and new musicals.
