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Theatre Calgary has secured the world premiere of a brand new musical model of Iris Rainer Dart’s beloved 1985 novel and hit 1988 movie, Seashores to shut its 2023/24 season subsequent Might.
“We’ve been ready for months to share this glorious information with the world as we labored to assemble an unimaginable group to convey it to the stage proper right here in Calgary,” says TC’s inventive director Stafford Arima.
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The highest expertise consists of Dart herself who started adapting her novel and screenplay with the late Thom Thomas shortly earlier than he died in 2015. Dart additionally wrote the lyrics for the songs with legendary composer Mike Stoller who co-wrote such iconic songs as Hound Canine, Yakety Yak, Jailhouse Rock, Stand By Me and Spanish Harlem. The musical might be directed by Lonny Value and Matt Cowart who co-directed the world premiere of The Louder We Get for Theatre Calgary in January 2020.
Dart says it was Arima who initially advised she flip her story right into a musical. When she got here to Calgary to see The Louder We Get along with her producers Jennifer Maloney-Prezioso and Douglas McJannet, she fell in love with the theatre and that group’s dedication and knew Calgary was the place she needed her reworked model of Seashores to premiere.
An earlier musical model of Seashores, which Dart labored on with composer David Austin, had tryouts in Washington and Chicago in 2014 and 2015.
“We have been all enthusiastic in 2020 about engaged on a brand new model of Seashores however the pandemic derailed these plans till all of us began speaking once more final 12 months,” says Arima, who remembers seeing the movie when he was 18 and “feeling, even then, that it could make a fantastic musical.
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“It’s a timeless story of friendship, and tales of friendships are so common. Everyone knows what it’s prefer to have particular mates and to have them be part of our lives by the perfect of occasions, and thru the worst of occasions.
“After I noticed the film, I felt it sang with out it truly being a musical. Even at an early age, I may envision it as a musical.”
The total artistic group will arrive in Calgary in September to start holding auditions for the musical which Arima foresees as that includes “prime expertise from Calgary, Canada and America. Hopefully, we can announce the complete solid earlier than the tip of the 12 months.”
Arima says as a result of this can be a world premiere, “we might be giving Lonny longer rehearsal and tech intervals, and an extended preview interval. The previews will start Might 18 with the official opening on Might 24. The present is scheduled to run till June 16 however there are provisions to increase the run if ticket gross sales warrant.”
Seashores will shut TC’s forty sixth season which incorporates productions of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, Farren Timoteo’s Made in Italy, Geoffrey Simon Brown’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Steve Marin’s Meteor Bathe, Shakespeare’s As You Like It that includes music of The Beatles and the world premiere of Selma Burke by Calgarians Caroline Russell-King and Maria Crooks.
Tickets for all performs within the season start at $39 for main-level seating and are on sale now at theatrecalgary.com