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Wheaton Native Elizabeth Lanza Performs in "Lucky Stiff" at The Music Theatre Company

Wheaton Native Elizabeth Lanza Performs in The Music Theatre Company's Lucky Stiff, directed by James Beaudry, Friday, Nov. - Sunday, Dec. 9th.

THE MUSICALS IN CONCERT SERIES CONTINUES NOVEMBER 30 – DECEMBER 9 AT THE MUSIC THEATRE COMPANY WITH LUCKY STIFF

Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens’ Musical Farce is Directed by James Beaudry with Music Direction by Kory Danielson.

HIGHLAND PARK –The Music Theatre Company (TMTC), Highland Park’s Equity theatre, 1850 Green Bay Road, continues its 2012-2013 Musicals in Concert Series with Lucky Stiff, directed by James Beaudry and music direction by Kory Danielson, Friday, Nov. 30 – Sunday, Dec. 9, and its final performance in the series, The Baker’s Wife, Friday, Feb. 1 – Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. Lucky Stiff runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $35 and may be purchased at The Music Theatre Company’s box office, 847.579.4900 or www.themusictheatrecompany.org. Subscriptions are also available.

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Lucky Stiff is a musical farce with book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty, the authors who brought you Ragtime, Once on This Island and Seussical the Musical. Based on the book The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo by Michael Butterworth, the musical is one of a man’s madcap journey to find an inherited fortune on the shores of Monte Carlo.

Lucky Stiff is the second production in the current season’s Musicals in Concert series, which presents musicals – rare, new or little seen titles — in a concert setting featuring live music and some of Chicago’s finest performers. The entire narrative of each musical is performed during the performance.

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 Cast members include Sophie Grimm*, Elizabeth Lanza, David Schlumpf, Matthew Keffer, Jill Sesso, Jessica Kingsdale, Adam Fane, Jeff Meyer, and Patrick Martin (*Denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association). Lighting design is by Brian Hoehne.

James Beaudry, director

Beaudry makes his Music Theatre Company debut directing Lucky Stiff in Concert. Beaudry serves as executive director and producer at Timber Lake Playhouse, where he directed and choreographed more than 30 productions, including Sunset Boulevard, Children of Eden, Chicago, Oklahoma!, CATS, West Side Story, Grease and Guys & Dolls. Other credits include the world premieres of Mark Twain’s Blues Off-Broadway, Jason & Ben at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and CUNY's 50th Anniversary Production of West Side Story. Beaudry will direct Aspects of Love for Theo Ubique later this year. Beaudry holds an MFA from Mills College and a BA from The College of Wooster.

Kory Danielson, music director

Danielson returns to The Music Theatre Company for Lucky Stiff in Concert, where he previously music directed the last two 48-Hour Musicals and the last two Young Artists' Programs including Zanna, Don't! Danielson studied Musical Theatre Performance at Columbia College Chicago where he worked on such shows as Bernarda Alba, Hello, Again, LaChiusa's Wild Party, The 25th Annual...Spelling Bee, Chicago, and others. Most recently, Danielson served as assistant music director under Roberta Duchak for Xanadu and Singin' in the Rain at Drury Lane Oakbrook. He also served as resident music director for Street Tempo Theatre's inaugural season, which included Little Shop of Horrors and Let My People Come. In  Chicago, he has worked with Chicago Children's Theatre, Bailiwick, National Pastime Theatre, and with Hell in a Handbag (Trogg, Poseidon, Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer).

ABOUT THE BAKER’S WIFE

The Baker's Wife in Concert
Book by Joseph Stein
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Directed by Dominic Missimi
Based on the film La Femme de Boulanger by Marcel Pagnol and Jean Giono

Friday, Feb. 1 – Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013
Schedule: Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Tickets $35

From the creator of Wicked, PIPPIN and Godspell, Stephen Schwartz’s The Baker’s Wife boasts a beautiful score featuring songs including “Meadowlark,” “Where is the Warmth?” and “Proud Lady.” TMTC welcomes Jeff Award-winning Director Dominic Missimi to direct this intimate musical in concert.

ABOUT THE MUSIC THEATRE COMPANY

The Music Theatre Company explores the musical in the interest of expanding the canon of musical theatre through fully staged productions, commissions of new works and musical experiments.

The Music Theatre Company production history includes: The Jeff-nominated production of Merrily We Roll Along, PIPPIN, The 9/11 Report: A Bipartisan Musical Fantasia by Michael Mahler & Jessica Redish, Erika's Wall by Sophie Jaff & Kathy Tagg, B.R.A.T.T. Camp by Bobby Cronin, The Last Five Years in Concert and a variety of readings of new musicals including new titles by Josh Schmidt, David Simpatico and Alan Schmuckler. The Company also annually presents its 48-Hour Musical project every August: four new fifteen-minute musicals written and rehearsed in 48 Hours.

Lucky Stiff runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. starting Friday, Nov. 30 and through Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased at The Music Theatre Company’s box office, 847.579.4900 or www.themusictheatrecompany.org.

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The 2012-2013 TMTC Season is supported by the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, BMO Harris Bank, YEA! Highland Park and the Highland Park Cultural Arts Commission.

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