Manatee Players Theater

We are thrilled to announce the Manatee Players' schedule of main stage shows for the 2008-09 season! The season will feature shows for the whole family ranging from a new musical version of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" to four classic musicals, two showcase revues and a beloved comedy. This spectacular season is sure to thrill the theatre goers who have flocked to the Manatee Players for over six decades!

 

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2008

THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES
August 21 – September 7
The Will Rogers Follies, a Tony Award-winning musical with a book by Peter Stone, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and music by Cy Coleman, returns to our stage by popular demand.
It focuses on the life and career of famed humorist and performer Will Rogers, using as a backdrop the Ziegfeld Follies, which he often headlined, and describes every episode in his life in the form of a big production number. The revue contains snippets of Rogers' famous homespun style of wisdom and common sense and tries to convey the personality of this quintessentially American figure whose most famous quote was "I never met a man I didn't like."

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STEEL MAGNOLIAS
September 25 - October 12
A first play which met with immediate critical and popular acceptance in its premier production by New York's WPA Theatre. Concerned with a group of gossipy southern ladies in a small-town beauty parlor, the play is alternately hilarious and touching—and, in the end, deeply revealing of the strength and purposefulness which underlies the antic banter of its characters.
"Harling has given his women sharp, funny dialogue…The play builds to a conclusion that is deeply moving." —NY Daily News.

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HANK WILLIAMS:
LOST HIGHWAY
October 30 - November 16
A spectacular musical biography of the rise and fall of the brash, forever young, always legendary singer-songwriter who stands among the greatest innovators of American popular music. Follow Williams through his often lonely journey from backwoods Alabama to super-stardom at the Grand Ole Opry. This unforgettable tribute highlights his unique magic as a performer and the simple spell of his yearning songs, and features over 20 hits, including "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," "Jambalaya" and "Hey, Good Lookin'."

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WILLY WONKA
AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
December 4 - 21
All of your favorite characters and songs (including "The Candy Man" and "Pure Imagination") are featured in this show that overflows with music, comedy and heart. The memorable score by Leslie Bricusse (Jekyll & Hyde, Doctor Dolittle) and Anthony Newley, augmented by several new songs, has been neatly fitted into a new script adapted under the auspices of the Roald Dahl Estate. Willy Wonka is a wonderful family show, perfect for the holiday season !

2009

THE MUSIC MAN
January 8 - February 1
An affectionate paean to Smalltown, U.S.A. of a bygone era, Meredith Willson's "The Music Man" follows fast-talking traveling salesman Harold Hill as he cons the people of River City, Iowa into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys' band he vows to organize – this despite the fact he doesn't know a trombone from a treble clef. His plans to skip town with the cash are foiled when he falls for Marian the librarian, who transforms him into a respectable citizen by curtain's fall.

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DAMN YANKEES
February 19 - March 15
Damn Yankees is a musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League Baseball. The musical is based on Wallop's novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant.

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SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE
April 9 - 26
Leiber and Stoller, as much as anyone, virtually invented rock 'n' roll and now their songs provide the basis for an electrifying entertainment that illuminates a golden age of American culture. In an idealized '50's setting, the classic themes of love won, lost and imagined blend with hilarious set-pieces and slice-of-life emotions. Featuring nearly 40 of the greatest songs ever recorded, Smokey Joe's Cafe isn't just great pop music - it's compelling musical theatre.

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LA CAGE AUX FOLLES
May 14 - 31
Winner of the 1984 Tony Award, La Cage Aux Folles returns to our stage in a glittering, toe-tapping new production. One of the all time biggest Broadway hits, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES adds new dimensions to the boulevard comedy about two men whose twenty years of domestic tranquility are shattered when a son, fathered during a one night fling, decides to marry the daughter of a bigoted politician. Albin and Georges run a transvestite nightclub in St. Tropez, where Albin is the featured performer Zaza. Georges agrees to masquerade as "normal" when he meets the father of the bride to be, with hilarious results.
"This is Jerry Herman's best musical yet-- happier, more assertive, more buoyant than Hello Dolly! or Mame."-- N.Y. Post.
"Carry your maiden aunt off to La Cage aux Folles.... It's a family show, ... a glittering, fast stepping extravaganza."-- N.Y. Daily News.
Produced by Jay Biel

THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES
August 21 – September 7
The Will Rogers Follies, a Tony Award-winning musical with a book by Peter Stone, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and music by Cy Coleman, returns to our stage by popular demand.
It focuses on the life and career of famed humorist and performer Will Rogers, using as a backdrop the Ziegfeld Follies, which he often headlined, and describes every episode in his life in the form of a big production number. The revue contains snippets of Rogers' famous homespun style of wisdom and common sense and tries to convey the personality of this quintessentially American figure whose most famous quote was "I never met a man I didn't like."

STEEL MAGNOLIAS
September 25 - October 12
A first play which met with immediate critical and popular acceptance in its premier production by New York's WPA Theatre. Concerned with a group of gossipy southern ladies in a small-town beauty parlor, the play is alternately hilarious and touching—and, in the end, deeply revealing of the strength and purposefulness which underlies the antic banter of its characters.
"Harling has given his women sharp, funny dialogue…The play builds to a conclusion that is deeply moving." —NY Daily News.

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