OCT presents Season 33
OCT is a proud member of
Proof
directed by Nathan H. Bell
October 12-13-14
Could I Have This Dance?
directed by Minna Badanes
May 11-12-13, 2012
Guys and Dolls
directed by Minna Badanes
February 17-18-19, 2012
Woodie Guthrie had it. It’s usually hereditary, but not always passed on to every offspring. The symptoms do not normally appear until a person reaches their mid- forties. Referred to as “The Dance of Death,” Huntington’s Disease is a complete degeneration of the nervous system and is incurable. A blood test is available to determine if the disease is present in young people. Would you want to know? That is the dilemma faced by two sisters whose mother, Jeanette, has Huntington’s. It has affected every aspect of their romantic lives, and has also affected the life of their father who accepts and loves Jeanette just as she is.
The girls and their father never lose their sense of humor, but the sisters are both repelled by the test and attracted to it, one desperate for the answer and one living in morbid fear of it. Could I Have This Dance? is ultimately about love and cherishing what life we are given. It is about difficult choices and a remaining question: Are we better off not looking at what the future holds? Proof, by playwright David Auburn, won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Tony Award for Best Play. The drama centers on the daughter of a brilliant but mentally disturbed mathematician, recently deceased, who tries to come to grips with her possible inheritance: his insanity. David Auburn’s writing is at its most heartfelt when father and daughter express their love (and sometimes despair) for math.
Complicating matters are one of her father’s ex- students who wants to search through his papers and her estranged sister who shows up to help settle his affairs. During its run on Broadway, it starred such actors as Mary-Lousie Parker, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Anne Heche, and Neil Patrick Harris. A film version was later released in 2005 with Gwyneth Paltrow in the leading role and Sir Anthony Hopkins as her father. Strong, well-rounded characters who struggle with multiple conflicts mark this gripping drama. Set in Damon Runyon’s mythical New York City, this oddball romantic comedy - considered by many to be the perfect musical comedy – soars with the spirit of Broadway as it introduces us to a cast of vivid characters who have become legends: Sarah Brown, the upright but uptight “mission doll,” out to reform the evildoers of Time Square; Sky Masterson, the slick, high-rolling gambler who woos her on a bet and ends up falling in love; Adelaide, the chronically ill nightclub performer whose condition is brought on by the fact she’s been engaged to the same man for 14 years; and Nathan Detroit, her devoted fiancé, desperate as always to find a spot for his infamous floating crap game.
Everything works out in the end, thanks to the hilarious, fast-paced book and bright, brassy, immortal score, which takes us from the heart of Times Square to the cafes of Havana, Cuba, and even into the sewers of New York City. Funny and romantic, Guys and Dolls is ideal for audiences of any age. You’ll leave the theater humming and tapping your feet to musical hits like: "A Bushel and a Peck," "Guys and Dolls," "If I Were a Bell," "Luck be a Lady" and "Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat."
