MEDIA RELEASE: Sunday in the Park with George

Skylight Music Theatre presents

Sunday in the Park with George

 A landmark masterpiece by Stephen Sondheim.

 May 18 – June 10, 2012

Cabot Theatre at the Broadway Theatre Center

Milwaukee, WI – On May 18, 2012, Skylight Music Theatre will open its final production of the season, the critically acclaimed landmark masterpiece, Sunday in the Park with George. The Stephen Sondheim musical will be presented in the Cabot Theatre through June 10, 2012 at the Broadway Theatre Center located at 158 N. Broadway, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Sunday in the Park with George was inspired by Georges Seurat’s famous painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte and is one of the most critically acclaimed musicals of our time. Sunday is a dramatic visual and musical masterwork. It’s also a deeply moving love story that connects the past to the future through passionate and intensely personal struggles that are not unlike ones we all face at different times in our lives.

“White. A blank page or canvas. The challenge: bring order to the whole. Through design. Composition. Tension. Balance. Light. And harmony.”

“These intriguing yet curiously disjointed words are the first thing we here as the curtain rises. They are in fact George Seurat’s aesthetic creed and serve as a thematic framework both for the artist’s life and the structure of Sondheim’s musical. Just as the artist Seurat atomized blocks of color into dots, the artist Sondheim fragmented his lyrics and musical themes. Both artists juxtapose their primary units in varying combinations to achieve both aesthetic and emotional shade and intensity.”

“At heart, I think this show is about the amazing things that can happen when we pause in our work- take a breath, a sideways glance- and life suddenly appears as a blank canvas, filled with unlimited possibilities. And it is also about the challenging emotional work that goes into making ourselves available to these moments.” – Bill Theisen, Stage Director & Skylight Artistic Director

CREDITSMusic and Lyrics – Stephen Sondheim
Book  – James Lapine

PRODUCTION TEAM

Stage Director – Bill Theisen
Music Director – Richard Carsey
Conductor – Jamie Johns
Associate Music Director – Anne Van Deusen
Set Designer – Van Santvoord**
Lighting Designer – Jason Fassl**
Sound Designer – Gary Ellis
Costume Designer – Shima Orans
Production Stage Manager – Kimberly Ann McCann*

CAST

Georges/George – Sean Allan Krill*
Dot/Marie – Alison Mary Forbes
Old Lady/Blair Daniels – Marilyn White
Nurse/Mrs./Harriet Pawling – Rebecca Spice
Jules/Bob Greenberg – Bryce Lord
Yvonne/Naomi Eisen – Georgina McKee
Boatman/Charles Redmond – Robb Smith
Solider/Alex – Marty McNamee
Celeste #1/Waitress – Susan Wiedmeyer
Celeste #2/Elaine – Samantha Sostarich
Franz/Dennis – Rick Pendzich
Freida/Betty – Karen Estrada
Louis/Billy Webster – Tommy Hahn
Mr./Lee Randolph -  Jonathan Stewart
Louise – Mallorey Wallace

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.
**Member of the United Scenic Artists

MUSICAL NUMBERS

Act 1
“Sunday In The Park with George”
“No Life”
“Color and Light”
“Gossip”
“The Day Off”
“Everybody Loves Louis”
“Finishing The Hat”
“We Do Not Belong Together”
“Beautiful”
“Sunday”

Act 2
“It’s Hot up Here”
“Chromolume #7”
“Putting It Together”
“Children And Art”
“Lesson #8”
“Move-On”
“Sunday“

KEY BIOGRAPHIES

Bill Theisen (Stage Director) – Bill Theisen made his professional theatre debut as a performer at Skylight Music Theatre in 1981 and began his tenure as Artistic Director in 2004. He has directed over 100 productions for theatre and opera companies from coast to coast. Recent directing credits include The Pirates of Penzance for Santa Fe Opera, Showboat with Gateway Playhouse, H.M.S. Pinafore at Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Sweeney Todd with Cleveland Opera, The Fourth Wall at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, The Magic Flute for Virginia Opera, A Little Night Music with Seaside Music Theater, The Mikado with Opera Carolina, Seussical at First Stage Children’s Theatre and Into The Woods at the Capitol Canter for the Performing Arts. Skylight Directing credits include The Figaro Story, La Boheme, Souvenir, South Pacific, The Tragedy of Carmen, Animal Crackers, The Spitfire Grill, La Cenerentola, The Mikado, Patience, The Pirates of Penzance and the world premiere of Over the Moon with Gilbert and Sullivan. Mr. Theisen works frequently on the university level as a Guest Director and Lecturer. He served as Director of Opera at the University of Iowa and has continued that relationship for the past 12 years. Other university credits include Carnegie Mellon University, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Florida State University, Portland State University, Manhattan School of Music, Utah State University, Northwestern University, NYU and St. Ambrose University where he is also serves on the advisory committee to the theatre department. Bill was the Artistic Director of the Capitol Center for the Performing Arts in Upstate New York and is an adjudicator for arts programming on PBS.

Richard Carsey (Music Director) – Richard Carsey is a conductor, arranger, pianist and actor.  He provided music coaching for the recent Broadway production of House of Blue Leaves starring Ben Stiller and Edie Falco, was music supervisor for Josh Schmidt’s A Minister’s Wife at Lincoln Center Theater and conducts the cast recording which is available on PS Classics. In 2010 he was music director for the first national tour of the new musical Little House on the Prairie, starring Melissa Gilbert and directed by Francesca Zambello. For eight seasons he was the Artistic Director of Skylight Music Theatre, and has conducted over 60 productions here including the world premiere of Richard Wargo’s opera Ballymore, Argento’s Waterbird Talk, Britten’s Rape of Lucretia and Mechem’s Tartuffe.  Other music direction:  Mikado—Syracuse Opera; Producers (first regional), Once Upon a Time in New Jersey (world premiere), Brigadoon—Marriott; The Happy Elf (Harry Connick—world premiere), The Wiz (also orchestrator for premiere of Theater for Young Audiences version)—First Stage Milwaukee. As an actor, he has appeared in 2 Pianos, 4 Hands at the Milwaukee Rep, Actors’  Theater of  Louisville; Dallas Theater Center; Laguna Beach Playhouse; Hartford Stage Company (Conn. Critics Circle Award), and the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. Also Souvenir (Skylight), Dirty Blonde (Chamber Theater), Old Wicked Songs (In Tandem).

Sean Allan Krill* (Georges/George)– Broadway: On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, Mamma Mia!  Off-Broadway: The Brother/Sister Plays (Public). Tours: Thoroughly Modern Millie (Leon Rabin & Carbonell Award nominations), Mamma Mia! (Outstanding Leading Actor, BroadwayWorld.com). Regional: Hot L Baltimore (Steppenwolf), Comedy of Errors (Chicago Shakespeare), The Importance of Being Earnest, Travesties (Court), Antony & Cleopatra (Hartford Stage), Spamalot (Oakbrook), Forever Plaid (Jeff Award, Best Ensemble – Royal George), Brigadoon (Jeff Award nomination – Marriott). O.F.U. seanallankrill.com

Alison Mary Forbes (Dot/Marie) – Alison Mary Forbes is thrilled to return to the Skylight after appearing in Jaques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris and RENT. A Milwaukee native, she has worked with many Midwest companies including Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, First Stage Children’s Theatre, In Tandem, Milwaukee Shakespeare, Optimist Theatre, Bunny Gumbo and the Minnesota Centennial Showboat. Favorite productions include You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Sally), The Mousetrap (Mollie), Twelfth Night (Olivia), Macbeth, The Rocky Horrow Show, and Normal in Schools, a touring show that educates families about eating disorders. Alison holds a BA in Theatre Acting from the University of Minnesota and has taught for First Stage and Waukesha Civic Theatre.

Sunday in the Park with George is generously sponsored by The Schoenleber Foundation.