The lineup for Syracuse University’s Department of Drama’s 2017-18 season was announced Friday, unveiling new collaborations and bringing classics like “The Wizard of Oz” back to the stage.

The season runs from Oct. 6 through May 12, 2018. The season opens with the songs of George and Ira Gershwin and a romantic musical comedy, “Crazy for You,” written by Ken Ludwig. It has been performed more than 1,600 times on Broadway and it won the 1992 Tony Award for Best Musical, according to an SU news release.

“We are fortunate to have such talented faculty and students, all of whom want to engage with so many different kinds of theatrical experiences,” said Ralph Zito, department chair, in a press release. “As in recent seasons, we look forward to meeting the artistic challenges presented by these musicals and plays, and we are equally excited about sharing them with our audience.”

The season openers continue with a performance of Isabel Allende’s critically-acclaimed “The House of the Spirits,” which showcases three generations of women in an unnamed South American country and their relationships with the family patriarch. It won the 2011 American Theatre Critics Association’s Francesca Primus Prize.

The annual Department of Drama and Syracuse Stage co-production “The Wizard of Oz” returns to the stage, this time with a choreography routine by 2 Ring Circus, a New-York based company specializing in cirque-like acrobatics, according to the press release.

The lineup will ring in 2018 with a performance of “The Seagull,” which explores unrequited love and artistic aspiration. The penultimate performance is “The Baltimore Waltz,” about a brother-sister pair’s European adventure that turns into a quest for a cure to a fictional disease.

The season will close with a performance of “The Little Shop of Horrors.” The play ran for five years off-Broadway before turning into a Broadway hit and a major motion picture, according to the release. The music for the play was composed by Alan Menken, who has composed for “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King.”

Season subscriptions cost $99 and flexible 4Packs are $60. They are available through the Syracuse Stage Box Office or the Syracuse Stage website.

SCHEDULE:

“Crazy for You” — Oct.6 – 15
“The House of the Spirits”— Nov.10 – 18
“The Wizard of Oz”— Nov.29 – Dec.31
“The Seagull”— Feb. 23 – Mar. 4
“The Baltimore Waltz”— Mar. 30 – Apr. 8
“The Little Shop of Horrors”— May 4 – 12

Published on May 5, 2017 at 10:41 pm

Contact: dmurthy@syr.edu