Arts & Entertainment

Doo-Wop, a Haunted House and Fur Thieves Will be on Stage at Meadow Brook

Here's a look at the just-announced lineup for the next season at Meadow Brook Theatre.

has announced its next season of performances, and there are four Michigan premieres among the lineup.

“This is going to be an exciting season,” said Cheryl Marshall, managing director for the theater, in a news release. “We’ve got an American classic, an outrageous comedy, a Pulitzer Prize and three-time Tony Award-winning musical, an exquisite comedy of manners and a Doo-Wopper’s dream."

There's even a musical comedy by the creators of Chicago and Cabaret, Marshall said.

Meadow Brook Theatre is a nonprofit cultural institution on the campus of Oakland University.

Find out what's happening in Rochester-Rochester Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Here's a look at the upcoming season of performances:

The Haunting of Hill House

  • Author: Shirley Jackson and adapted by F. Andrew Leslie
  • Runs: Oct. 3 – 28
  • Plot summary: Hill House has remained empty and silent for many years. Its isolation is broken by the arrival of Dr. Montague, an investigator of supernatural phenomena, and three others. As they examine new eerie events, the question remains is the house evil itself?
  • To note: This is the Michigan premiere of this play.

A Christmas Carol

  • Author: Charles Dickens, adapted by Charles Nolte
  • Runs: Nov. 16-Dec. 23
  • Plot summary: The ghosts of Christmases past, present and future converge in this timeless tale of giving and holiday cheer.
  • To note: This year's performance includes a special low price for the first weekend as well as discounted family performances on Thanksgiving weekend.

White’s Lies 

  • Author: Ben Andron
  • Runs: Jan. 9 - Feb. 3, 2013
  • Plot summary: Some guys are scared stiff at the prospect of settling down, getting married and having kids. Joe White is no exception. So when his mother desperately wants him to start a family, he does the next best thing: he makes one up. What could go wrong?
  • To note: White’s Lies is a Michigan premiere.

Next to Normal

  • Author: Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey.
  • Runs: Feb. 13 - March 10, 2013
  • Plot summary: It's an award-winning contemporary musical that explores how one suburban household copes with crisis, showing how far two parents will go to keep themselves sane and their family’s world intact.
  • To note: Next to Normal is a Michigan premiere. It's also the 2010 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and winner of three Tony Awards.

The Constant Wife

  • Author: W. Somerset Maugham
  • Runs: March 20 – April 14, 2013
  • Plot summary: In this comedy of manners, Constance Middleton is a calm, intelligent and self-possessed wife of a successful London doctor. Knowing full well of her husband's infidelity with her best friend Marie-Louise, Constance purposefully maintains the fiction held by her other friends, mother and sister that she has no idea of the affair … because she has some surprises of her own!
  • To note: This is the Michigan professional premiere of the show.

Life Could Be a Dream

  • Author: Roger Bean
  • Runs: April 24 - May 19, 2013.
  • Plot summary: SH-BOOM! Featuring hits of the 1960s it's a musical that features such songs as “Earth Angel,” “Unchained Melody,” “Get a Job” and “Easier Said Than Done." Life Could Be a Dream will leave you laughing, singing and cheering!
  • To note: This is the Michigan premiere of the show.

70, Girls, 70

  • Author: Book by David Thompson and Norman L. Martin, Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb.
  • Runs: May 29 - June 23, 2013
  • Plot summary: This musical from the creators of Chicago and Cabaret is based on the 1958 play Breath of Spring by Peter Coke. 70, Girls, 70 concerns a group of larcenous old folks who steal furs from various New York City stores with the intent of using the proceeds from their resale to buy their Upper West Side retirement hotel.
  • To note: In the press release from Meadow Brook about this play, we are told that "This Michigan professional premiere will remind you to 'go visit your grandmother!' "

Single tickets go on sale Monday, Sept. 10 at 10 a.m. Tickets range from $24 - $39 for individual plays.

Find out what's happening in Rochester-Rochester Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Season tickets available by calling the Meadow Brook Theatre box office at 248-377-3300. They range from $126 to $199 per seat for the six-play season (A Christmas Carol excluded). When you purchase tickets for the 2012-13 season, you also have the ability to get tickets for A Christmas Carol at a 20 percent discount before they go on sale to the general public.


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