FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 9, 2003

2003-2004 Season To Include Saint John Theatre Company’s First Musical

Guys and Dolls Coming To Imperial in October

The Saint John Theatre Company is preparing to launch a season that will include a Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, a critically-acclaimed modern drama, and one of the best-loved musicals of all time.

The 2003-2004 season opens October 9 at the Imperial Theatre with Frank Loesser’s Guys and Dolls. The fun, splashy musical tells the story of two couples in 1940s New York City and features unforgettable songs like Luck Be A Lady and If I Were A Bell. Guys and Dolls will be the first musical production in the 12-year history of the Saint John Theatre Company.

“I think the plans to do a musical are very exciting and a little frightening,” says Robert Doherty, an SJTC board member and the director of the production. “Something new, with new people and new talents, is always exciting. At the same time, it brings with it the fear of the unknown.”

Amateur musical theatre once flourished in Saint John. But in recent years, only high school groups have been performing big Broadway-style song-and-dance shows. Guys and Dolls will give talented people of all ages the chance to strut their stuff.

“There hasn’t been a community group in the city that has staged a big musical using local talent since the days of the old Saint John Arts Council,” Doherty says. “The Council used to produce such shows under the direction of Andrew Garrod and Bob Edwards, and that goes back about 30 years. I’m really looking forward to seeing all those people who can act or sing or dance or do all three showcasing their talents in this production.”

The second show of the season is Proof, a hot new play the critics have described as beautiful, striking and cunning. Written by David Auburn in 2000, it has already won a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize for drama. The protagonist is Catherine, the 25-year-old daughter of a brilliant Chicago mathematician who suffered from mental illness until his death. Proof runs March 18-20, 2004, at the Imperial Theatre.

The Saint John Theatre Company’s 2003-2004 season will wrap up in style with the brilliant and intense Tennessee Williams play, A Streetcar Named Desire. Blanche DuBois, a Southern belle with a turbulent life, has been considered a prize role for more than half a century. A Streetcar Named Desire has been produced thousands of times since its Broadway debut in 1947, and it became an Academy Award-winning film in 1951. The play garnered Tennessee Williams his first Pulitzer Prize.

Subscriptions for this blockbuster line-up are available through the Imperial Theatre box office at 674-4100. The cost is $42 per seat (plus the Imperial Theatre fee of three dollars). Discounts are available for seniors, students and matinees.

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