Press Contacts: Rebecca Brighenti, (413) 448-8084 x11 [email protected] www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org Christina Riley, (413) 448-8084 x15 [email protected] www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org For Immediate Release, Please: Thursday, June 12, 2014 Berkshire Theatre Group Presents Kate Baldwin, Gregg Edelman, Penny Fuller, Maureen O’Flynn, and Graham Rowat in A Little Night Music at the Fitzpatrick Main Stage Pittsfield, MA– Berkshire Theatre Group presents Stephen Sondheim’s beloved and award-winning musical, A Little Night Music at The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. Opening Night is July 5 at 8pm. Preview performances begin on June 30 at 8pm and the production closes July 19 at 8pm. Tickets to A Little Night Music are $25-$65, all preview tickets are $50. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Colonial Ticket Office at 111 South Street, Pittsfield; at the Fitzpatrick Main Stage Ticket Office at 83 East Main Street, Stockbridge; by calling (413) 997-4444 or online at www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org. All plays, schedules, casting and prices are subject to change. “The people in A Little Night Music swell and swoon with love,” director Ethan Heard said. “They yearn to be desired, and they act like fools in a midsummer night’s dream, falling over themselves in pursuit of their romantic goals. Sondheim and Wheeler capture these passionate exploits with wit, humor, and heartbreaking humanity. This is a romantic comedy with bite, or, as Harold Prince described it, ‘whipped cream with knives.’” A Little Night Music offers an amusing and farcical tale of unexpected liaisons, relentless desire, and ill-fated heartbreak in the life of acclaimed actress, Desiree Armfeldt, played by renowned actress, vocalist and Berkshire native, Maureen O’Flynn with a career spanning more than 28 years in singing lead soprano roles at major opera houses including: The Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, and Vienna Staatsoper. She is also a returning actress to BTG having last performed in the much acclaimed, My Fair Lady in 2001. "I am thrilled to be working again with Berkshire Theatre Group, most especially in this fabulous role in one of the best musical theatre pieces ever written,” Maureen O’Flynn said. “The only thing I love more than being on stage, is being on stage at home, so I am doubly blessed." One eventful weekend, Desiree, her former beau and his wife, and Desiree’s current lover and his wife all arrive at a Swedish country estate. Long-held passions are soon rekindled in this classic waltz of a musical directed by Ethan Heard (who also directed BTG’s 2013 hit murder mystery, The Cat and The Canary) and also features Tony Award Nominated Kate Baldwin, Gregg Edelman, Penny Fuller and Broadway and television actor, Graham Rowat. Featuring Sondheim’s notable show tune, “Send in the Clowns,” A Little Night Music celebrates love and all the foolhardy particulars it entails. “Our production explores the ecstasy and agony of being in love at all ages,” Ethan Heard explains. “Whether you are 70, 40, 18, or 13, romantic and erotic love holds sway over us. Although our story is set in turn-of-the- century Sweden, it might as well be taking place in twenty-first century Massachusetts. The trysts, jealousies, doubts, regrets, conquests, and cravings are all delightfully and devastatingly familiar to us here and now.” A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim book by Hugh Wheeler orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick suggested by a film by Ingmar Bergman originally produced and directed on Broadway by Harold Prince directed by Ethan Heard music direction by Nathan Dame choreography by Alex Sanchez featuring Kate Baldwin, Gregg Edelman, Penny Fuller, Maureen O’Flynn, and Graham Rowat at The Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield Previews June 30-July 4 Press Opening/Opening Night: July 5 at 8pm Talkback: July 7 Closing: July 19 Tickets: Preview: $50 Tickets: A: $65 B: $45 C: $25 Sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union and Greylock Insurance Agency Performance Dates Monday, June 30 at 8pm (Preview) Tuesday, July 1 at 8pm (Preview) Thursday, July 3 at 8pm (Preview) Friday, July 4 at 8pm (Preview) Saturday, July 5 at 8pm (Opening Night) Sunday, July 6 at 2pm Monday, July 7 at 8pm (Talk Back) Tuesday, July 8 at 8pm Thursday, July 10 at 8pm Friday, July 11 at 8pm Saturday, July 12 at 2pm & 8pm Sunday, July 13 at 2pm Monday, July 14 at 8pm Tuesday, July 15 at 8pm Thursday, July 17 at 2pm & 8pm Friday, July 18 at 8pm Saturday, July 19 at 2pm & 8pm (Closing) Artistic Bios Ethan Heard (Director, A Little Night Music) is thrilled to return to Berkshire Theatre Group after directing John Willard's The Cat and the Canary at the Unicorn last summer. Recent directing includes: The Producers and The Coronation of Poppea (Princeton University); Fit For A King (Fordham/Primary Stages); Blogologues: Fame (Lively Productions); Sunday in the Park with George, Julius Caesar, Lottie in the Late Afternoon, Rodeo, and Eligible Receivers (Yale School of Drama); Pierrot Lunaire, All This Noise, Basement Hades, and Trannequin!(Yale Cabaret); Proof and Iphigenia and Other Daughters (Santa Fe Theatre Festival);The Gay Ivy (Dixon Place); ArdoArdo: Monteverdi in Motion and L'Orfeo (Yale Baroque Opera Project); Pullman WA and in a word (Williamstown Workshop); In BoccaAllaLupa (Grotto Theatre). He was Artistic Director of Yale Cabaret's 45th season and founding Co-Artistic Director of Umbrella Hat Productions. He has also assisted directors Nicholas Martin, Thomas Kail, Mark Brokaw, Gilbert Blin, and Annette Jolles, and this spring, he taught Acting and Directing in Musical Theater at Princeton University with John Rando. He was named Resident Director of the chamber music group Cantata Profana and recently became a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Alex Sanchez (Choreographer) is thrilled to be making his debut at BTG. New York choreography: Far From Heaven, New York Playwrights Horizon. Fiorello, New York City Center Encores!, Giant, The Public Theater, Where’s Charley? New York City Center Encores! Regional: Follies, Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Far From Heaven, Williamstown Theater Festival. Roman Holiday, Guthrie Theater. 42nd Street, Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Giant, Dallas Theater Center. Camelot, Glimmerglass Opera. Mary Poppins, Aladdin & The Little Mermaid, St. Louis Muny. Stage Directors & Choreograhers Dancebreak 2010 Alumni. Alex was a soloist with Ballet Chicago and Ruth Page Ballet. In New York he performed in over 10 Broadway shows. Thanks Ethan & BTG staff. Special thanks to Lainie Sakakura, Avelina and Isabela Sanchez, my inspiration, love and support. Nathan Dame (Music Director) is originally from Ogden, Utah and makes his home in Brooklyn, New York. Some recent credits: Music Supervisor: Mr. Burns by Anne Washburn, music by Michael Friedman (Playwrights Horizons). Music Director: Adam Lives by Rob Baumgartner (Goodspeed NMF); Pump Boys and Dinettes (Geva Theatre); The Lightning Thief (Theatreworks USA); Assoc. Music Director: What's It All About? (New York Theatre Workshop); Fly By Night (Dallas Theater Center); Triassic Parq: The Musical (Amas Musical Theatre); Himself and Nora (NYMF, Tritone Productions); 40 Naked Women, a Monkey, and Me (O'Neill Cabaret Conf.); Nightmare Alley (NYMF, Tritone Productions); Music Assistant: First National Tour of The Addams Family. Performers’ Bios Kate Baldwin (Countess Charlotte Malcolm) Broadway: Big Fish, Finian's Rainbow (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle noms.), Wonderful Town, Thoroughly Modern Millie,The Full Monty. NY: Fiorello! (Encores!), Giant (Public Theatre, Drama Desk Award nom.), Opening Doors (Zankel Hall, Encores!). Tour: Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. Regional: Giant, The Women at San Diego’s Old Globe, The Music Man and South Pacific at Arena Stage, She Loves Me (IRNE nom.) at Huntington Theatre and Williamstown Theatre Festival, Henry V at Shakespeare Theatre of NJ. Concerts: Chicago Humanities Festival, NSO, PSO and the American Songbook Series. TV: Law & Order: SVU (guest star). PBS: Live From Lincoln Center: Stephen Sondheim’s Passion. Recording: Let’s See What Happens (PS Classics). Graduate: Northwestern University. Monique Barbee(Petra) has worked with the wonderfully talented Ethan Heard on seven productions! She's originally from Southern Oregon and recent graduate of the Yale School of Drama, '13. Credits include understudying at The Metropolitan Opera, Dot & Marie in Sunday in the Park with George (Yale School of Drama), The Music Man and Servant of Two Masters (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Matt Dengler(Henrick Egerman) has performed on Broadway in the revival of A Little Night Music (Henrik u.s.). He has appeared Off-Broadway in Avenue Q (Princeton/Rod u.s.), The Fantasticks (The Mute/Matt), and Harold & Maude (Harold) with The York Theatre Company's Mufti Series. His regional credits include Next to Normal (Gabe) with Pioneer Theatre in Salt Lake City, The Monster in the Hall (Lawrence) with The City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh, Drop Dead Perfect (The Ingenue) with Penguin Rep, and, most recently, as Laurie in Theatre Works Palo Alto's Little Women. He is featured as Charlie in the new webseries, Wallflowers, which can be found at wallflowers.tv. Matt hails from Syracuse, NY and is a graduate of NYU and CAP21. Gabriel Douglas (Frid) is a recent graduate from the School of Drama Class of 2014 at the UNC School of the Arts. Gabriel was raised in High Point, North Carolina, so he was always close to home during his stay at UNCSA. Gabriel has hit the ground running right out school with his first professional debut of Frid in A Little Night Music. After A Little Night Music closes he will be working with Cirque Du Soleil back in Winston-Salem, NC where he will be directing a movement piece entitled The Sun and the Moon. Gabriel will be moving to NYC at the end of the summer where he will become a full time actor.