Big shows headline next Broadway Live season

By Rich Copley RCOPLEY@HERALD-LEADER.COM

Subscribers to the Lexington Opera House's Broadway Live series will see some big shows and marquee names next season -- and they'll get to watch it all from new seats.

On Monday night, the Opera House announced its 2008-09 Broadway Live series, which includes six shows. Season tickets go on sale Tuesday.

One show, Mamma Mia!, will have its technical rehearsals at the Opera House and give the Lexington audience a first look before it hits the road. Twelve Angry Men had a similar arrangement last season.

Opera House general manager Luanne Franklin said the company of Mamma Mia!, a Broadway musical based on the music of ABBA, will be in the Opera House 10 days. The production is "a hugely expensive show we would not be able to present" without hosting the technical rehearsals, she said.

Also on the schedule is a production of the Fats Waller musical Ain't Misbehavin' featuring American Idol season No. 2 champ Ruben Studdard and fellow contestant Frenchie Davis.

Here's the complete lineup:

Oct. 31-Nov. 2: The Pajama Game: This show won the 1954 Tony Award for best musical and scored another Tony in 2006 for best revival. The story is about a factory supervisor and employee whose tense contract talks turn into a steamy affair.

Nov. 21-23: Sweeney Todd: Franklin promises this rendition won't be as bloody as the Tim Burton movie. In 2006, John Doyle won the Tony for best direction of a musical for this version of the show in which the actors also play the instruments.

Jan. 23-25: Ain't Misbehavin': This 1978 Tony Award winner for best musical is widely revered as one of the great musical revues. Nell Carter won a Tony for best featured actress in her breakthrough role.

Feb. 27-March 1: Mamma Mia!: On the verge of her wedding, a young woman invites three of her mom's former suitors to the Greek island where she lives, to determine which is her father. All the music is by ABBA. The show comes to the big screen this summer with Meryl Streep playing the mom.

April 3-5: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee: This Broadway hit is part of the recent spelling bee revival that's swept the nation and it gives audience members a chance to participate.

May 15-17: To Kill a Mockingbird: Montana Repertory Theatre Company is making Lexington a regular stop with this production of Harper Lee's classic. The past two seasons, the company brought Lost in Yonkers and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof to Lexington.

This season, the series is expanding to five performances for every show: 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays.

There will be a price change. Matinee tickets will increase by $10 at each price level. Evening tickets will stay the same.

One other change: All seats in the Opera House will be new after it closes for the summer for a $1.5 million renovation that will replace all seating and give the theater a state-of-the-art sound system. The work will also improve the backstage area, lighting and the third-floor art gallery. With the renovation, Franklin says, the Opera House will lose about 60 seats. That, she says, contributed to the decision to add a performance to each Broadway Live engagement.

This will be the second major renovation Franklin has overseen since coming to the Opera House in 2000. That year, the 122-year-old facility chiefly modernized its bathroom facilities. With this renovation, Franklin says, "we will have done everything we can to improve what's there."