Fun Home at the 5Th Avenue Theatre Encore Arts Seattle
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THE NATION’S LEADING MUSICAL THEATER OCT 13 - NOV 5, 2017 October 2017 My wealth. My priorities. My partner. You’ve spent your life accumulating wealth. And, no doubt, that wealth now takes many forms, sits in many places, and is managed by many advisors. Unfortunately, that kind of fragmentation creates gaps that can hold your wealth back from its full potential. The Private Bank can help. The Private Bank uses a proprietary approach called the LIFE Wealth Cycle SM to ind those gaps—and help you achieve what is important to you. To learn more, please visit unionbank.com/theprivatebank or contact: Lisa Roberts Managing Director, Private Wealth Management [email protected] 4157057159 Wills, trusts, foundations, and wealth planning strategies have legal, tax, accounting, and other implications. Clients should consult a legal or tax advisor. ©2017 MUFG Union Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. Member FDIC. Union Bank is a registered trademark and brand name of MUFG Union Bank, N.A. EAP full-page template.indd 1 7/17/17 3:08 PM October 2017 Volume 15, No. 2 Paul Heppner Publisher Susan Peterson Design & Production Director Ana Alvira, Robin Kessler, Shaun Swick, Stevie VanBronkhorst Production Artists and Graphic Design Mike Hathaway Sales Director Brieanna Bright, Joey Chapman, Ann Manning Seattle Area Account Executives Amelia Heppner, Marilyn Kallins, Terri Reed San Francisco/Bay Area Account Executives Carol Yip Sales Coordinator Leah Baltus Editor-in-Chief Andy Fife Publisher Dan Paulus Art Director Gemma Wilson, Jonathan Zwickel Senior Editors Amanda Manitach Visual Arts Editor Barry Johnson Associate Digital Editor Paul Heppner President Sassy Mike Hathaway Vice President Genay Genereux Accounting & Office Manager Sara Keats HOLIDAY Marketing Manager Ciara Caya Customer Service Representative & Administrative Assistant Fabulously FESTIVE! Corporate Office 425 North 85th Street Seattle, WA 98103 p 206.443.0445 f 206.443.1246 DECEMBER 10-23 [email protected] BENAROYA HALL 800.308.2898 x105 www.encoremediagroup.com SEATTLECHORUSES.ORG Encore Arts Programs is published monthly by Encore Media Group to serve musical and theatrical events in the Puget Sound and San Franc isco Bay Areas. All rights reserved. ©2017 Encore Media Group. Reproduction without written permission is prohibited. encoremediagroup.com/programs 3 BOARD OF DIRECTORS ABOUT Stephen P. Reynolds Chairman Sterling Wilson THE TH Treasurer 5 Margaret C. Inouye AVENUE THEATRE Secretary • The non-profit 5th Avenue Theatre is one of the country’s leading musical Wanda J. Herndon theater companies. Our mission is to “nurture, advance and preserve all aspects Immediate Past Chairman of America’s great indigenous art form: The Musical. We achieve this by creating Kenny Alhadeff extraordinary theatrical experiences that enrich, entertain and inspire current and Ann Ardizzone future audiences everywhere.” Clodagh Ash Les Biller • The 5th is committed to achieving the highest standards of artistic excellence Sharon Gantz Bloome by employing world-class performers and creative artists, utilizing full live Robert R. Braun, Jr. orchestras, and staging exceptional and imaginative productions. The 5th places Debbie Brown Margaret Clapp a special emphasis on employing our amazing community of Puget Sound-based Barbara L. Crowe artists and technicians. Larry Estrada Cyrus Habib • We are nationally renowned for our production and development of new Randy Hodgins musicals. Since 2001, The 5th has premiered 18 new works, nine of which have Mike Katz Disney’s Aladdin, First Date, A Patrick F. Kennedy subsequently opened on Broadway. They include SaSa Kirkpatrick Christmas Story, Scandalous, Shrek, Catch Me If You Can, The Wedding Singer ® Elizabeth Lund and Best Musical Tony Award -winners, Hairspray and Memphis. Heather Sullivan McKay Richard Meadows • We are equally acclaimed for our vibrant new productions of musicals from the John Oppenheimer “Golden Age of Broadway” and contemporary classics. These signature revivals David Quinn Ann Ramsay-Jenkins enthrall fans of these enduring works and introduce these great shows to new Anthony Repanich generations of musical theater lovers. Norman B. Rice Emory Thomas, Jr. • Our celebrated educational programs served nearly 75,000 young people last Bonnie Towne season through a host of projects including our Adventure Musical Theater Eric Trott Touring Company, The 5th Avenue Awards and the unique Rising Star Project. Marka Waechter Tom Walsh For adults, we offer free-to-the-public events such as the popular Spotlight Night Tracy Wellens series and pre-performance Show Talks with Albert Evans. Eileen Glasser Wesley Kenneth Willman • We are the largest arts employer in the Pacific Northwest with more than 800 actors, singers, dancers, musicians, creative artists, theatrical technicians and arts PAST CHAIRMEN professionals working for us each season. OF THE BOARD Wanda J. Herndon (2013-2015) • As a non-profit theater company supported by the community, we enjoy the Barbara L. Crowe (2011-2013) patronage of more than 20,000 season subscribers (one of the largest theater Robert A. Sexton (2009-2011) Norman B. Rice (2007-2009) subscriptions in America). Each year, approximately 300,000 audience members Kenny Alhadeff (2004-2007) attend our performances. William W. Krippaehne Jr. (2002-2004) Bruce M. Pym (2000-2002) John F. Behnke (1998-2000) OUR HISTORIC THEATER Faye Sarkowsky (1996-98) Donald J. Covey (1994-96) The 5th Avenue Theatre’s breathtaking design was inspired by ancient Imperial China’s Kenneth L. Hatch (1992-94) most stunning architectural achievements, including the magnificent Forbidden City. John D. Mangels (1990-92) Built in 1926 for vaudeville and silent pictures, The 5th Avenue Theatre reigned for Robert F. Buck (1988-90) Stanley M. Little, Jr. (1986-88) decades as Seattle’s favorite movie palace. In 1979, 43 companies and community R. Milton Trafton (1983-86) leaders formed the non-profit 5th Avenue Theatre Association and restored the theater W.J. Pennington (1981-83) to its original splendor. The 5th Avenue Theatre re-opened in 1980 as Seattle’s premier D.E. (Ned) Skinner (1979-81) home for musical theater. Founding Managing Director The 5th Avenue Theatre gratefully acknowledges our 43 original founders and sponsors. Marilynn Sheldon Please visit www.5thavenue.org for specific information on these important companies and individuals. WELCOME TO THE WELCOME TO 5TH FROM THE DESK OF DAVID ARMSTRONG EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR CHANGING THE WORLD ONE MUSICAL AT A TIME Is it possible for the arts to change society? Can a book, film, opera, ballet, painting, play or musical have so great an impact that it can transform the way people think and feel? I believe it is highly unlikely that any work of art can create such a strong and instant epiphany. However, I do know that the arts have an innate ability to open our hearts, get under our skin, invade our psyches and subtly but irrevocably change us and our world. Many great artists have deliberately sought to change society through their work. The playwrights Ibsen, Shaw and Kushner; many 1960s singer/songwriters; some rap Mary Lennox, Elphaba and Tracy Turnblad, to name only and reggae artists; and Picasso and his monumental anti- a few. It’s actually difficult to think of any leading female war painting Guernica would all fall into this category. character who does not crusade for her own liberation. I am most interested, however, in the amazing writers, Ragtime embraces both of these great themes with results composers and lyricists that have transformed our world both tragic and inspiring. It tells the story of three social and culture through their mastery of one of our most groups in early 20th century America: White Anglo- popular and populist of art forms: The Musical. Saxon Protestants who are represented by the character Because musicals are able to deliver sheer joy better of Mother, the matriarch of a leading New York family; than any other medium they are often stereotyped as African Americans, especially the first generation born after merely high-spirited song-and-dance machines. The the abolition of slavery, represented by Coalhouse Walker, truth, however, is that musicals have always possessed Jr.; and those huddled masses of Eastern European Jewish the unique ability to reflect on and explore our society Immigrants yearning to breathe free in an unfamiliar new and human experience in deep and meaningful ways. world, represented by the character of Tateh. Much of the This may be best illustrated by looking at the two major struggle, conflict and turmoil that epitomize this momentous themes, the two principal subject matters, that overwhelmingly period in American history are reflected in Ragtime’s Tony dominate the canon of the American Musical. Award®-winning book and score. Many actual historic figures The first theme concerns racial prejudice and cultural also appear including Houdini, Booker T. Washington, conflict. Show Boat stunned audiences in 1927 with its Henry Ford, Admiral Peary and Emma Goldman. moving portrayal of racial issues. Over the next 100 years, As Shakespeare said, the purpose of theater is to “hold the it would be followed by Porgy and Bess, South Pacific, mirror up to nature.” Musicals like Ragtime allow us to see The King and ,I West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, ourselves, our friends and neighbors, and even our enemies HAIR, Cabaret, Dreamgirls, Miss Saigon, Rent, Wicked more clearly. Musicals help us to understand our commonality, and dozens of others including two great musicals that and appreciate our differences. Most importantly they increase began their life on our stage – Memphis and Hairspray. our capacity for empathy, and reinforce our humanity. The second major theme involves transgressive women who That is why The Musical is America’s great contribution to dare to step outside the limits imposed on them by society world culture. There is nothing else like it; nothing else so and in the process liberate themselves and the world around entertaining, and at the same time, so full of meaning.