AUBURN, N.Y.: The Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival has announced its 2017 summer season, which will include five musicals.
“Each year, the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival strives to create a season that offers something for everyone,” said producing artistic director Brett Smock in a statement. “As we look to 2017, we are excited by a lineup with diversity and wide appeal that will continue the festival’s reputation as a regional destination event.”
The season will launch with Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling, and Abe Burrows’s Guys and Dolls (June 7-28, 2017). It was last performed at the Playhouse 22 years ago.
The second musical will be Parade (July 5-26, 2017), by Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown. The musical is set in Atlanta in 1913 and is the true story of Leo Frank, a Jewish-American factory superintendent who is accused of murder.
Next will be the musical comedy The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Aug. 2-23, 2017), by Larry L. King, Peter Masterson, and Carol Hall. The Playhouse last produced the show 30 years ago.
The fourth show of the season will be Ghost (Aug. 30-Sept 16, 2017), by Bruce Joel Rubin, Dave Stewart, and Glen Ballard. It is based on the 1990 movie starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg, about a man who haunts his girlfriend after his death.
The season will close with Always, Patsy Cline (Sept. 21-Oct. 7, 2017), the jukebox work that features more than 30 of the singer’s songs.
In addition to the productions, the festival will also host its sixth annual edition of “The PiTCH” (July 12-Aug. 11, 2017), featuring new musicals in development .
The Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival has been developing and producing musicals for more than 40 years. The festival is also the home of the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, a youth theatre that reaches more than 100,000 students across the state.
