Photo: Maureen Anderman will star in “The Year of Magical Thinking” next June.
The Westport Country Playhouse‘s 2012 season will feature five productions — a musical, a comedy, a world premiere and two dramas — playing from May through November.
“The five extraordinary plays that we have chosen for 2012 constitute as thrilling and ambitious a season as has tackled in some time,” said artistic director Mark Lamos in a just-released press statement. “We’re creating a season of theater worth talking about.”
Lamos said 2012 — the historic Connecticut theater’s 82nd season — will be “one of our biggest seasons yet, with a wide range of offerings, from truly classic entertainment to the gorgeous music of Stephen Sondheim, to moving drama and a brand new world-premiere comedy — concluding with one of a handful of the greatest American dramatic masterpieces of the 20th century. We’re both proud and excited to share these works with our growing audience.”
As previously announced, Lamos, at right, will direct the season opener, a 25th anniversary revival of the musical “Into the Woods,” with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine, running May 1-19. It’s a co-production with Baltimore’s Centerstage.
“The Year of Magical Thinking,” based on the National Book Award-winning memoir by acclaimed author Joan Didion, will play June 12 through 30. The intimate drama chronicles the author’s grief and ultimate renewal after the sudden and unexpected death of her husband and the illness of her only child.
A biting social satire, “Tartuffe,” written by Molière, translated by Richard Wilbur and directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, will play July 17-Aug. 4. Orgon has fallen under Tartuffe’s spell, the most saintly man he’s ever known. But Orgon’s family believes Tartuffe a fraud, out to steal his wealth, bed his wife and wed his daughter. Will Orgon come to his senses before it’s too late?
A world-premiere comedy, “Harbor,” written by Tony Award-nominated Chad Beguelin and directed by Lamos, will run Aug. 28 through Sept. 15. When 15-year-old Lottie and her ne’er-do-well mother Donna drop in unannounced on the beautiful Sag Harbor home of Donna’s brother Kevin and his new husband, Ted, all the usual tensions quickly bubble to the surface. Then Donna reveals she’s pregnant, does not know the father, and would like her brother to raise the child—and all hell breaks loose.
The powerful classic, “A Raisin in the Sun,” by Lorraine Hansberry, will play Oct. 9-Nov. 3. It tells the story of the Youngers, a black family in 1950s Southside Chicago and their quest for a piece of the American Dream.
For information or tickets, call 203-227-4177, 888-927-7529, or visit the Playhouse online.
Long Wharf Theatre is hosting the Irish Repertory Theatre production of “Molly Sweeney,” by Brian Friel, directed by Charlotte Moore.
