Great Plains Theatre’s 22nd Mainstage Season begins June 10th. The season consists of the new Broadway version of the well-known classic Annie Get Your Gun, the Pulitzer and Tony award winning “memory” play, by everyone’s favorite playwright Neil Simon, Lost in Yorkers, the finger licking’ good country playground known as Pump Boys and Dinettes, and at Christmas time, GI Holiday Jukebox. All shows will be in the recently opened Great Plains Theatre at 401 Cottage Ave, Abilene, KS, 67410 and will be directed by the theatre’s newly named Artistic Director, Randal K. West.
The latest revival of Annie Get Your Gun features time-honored musical favorites such as, You Can’t Get a Man With a Gun, There’s No Business Like Show Business, and Doin’ What Comes Naturally. This high-energy show will have you laughing in your seats.
Lost in Yonkers is one of Neil Simon’s most honored plays. Though not autobiographical, it recalls a time and a culture that was very much a part of Simon’s life experience. The play, though very funny, draws its humor from dense characterizations and cultural understanding rather than standard set up and punch lines. It is a deeper and more complex Neil Simon. Take a journey with us as we travel in time and space to Yonkers, NY at the height of WWII.
Pump Boys and Dinettes is a country western romp that tells the story of four men, who work at a gas station and two waitresses who operate the “Double Cupp Diner,” a dinette, located somewhere between Frog Level and Smyrna, North Carolina. The music is mostly from the country rock/pop music genres and they perform on guitars, piano, bass and kitchen utensils. It all adds up to a chicken fried portion of country hi-jinx and a high-octane blend of country and bluegrass packed with entertaining toe-tappers about life, love, and good times.
GI Holiday Jukebox is a salute to the stage door canteen of the 1940s. Set during the war, the show features four fictitious Hollywood stars who have gathered a string of 1940s hits and Christmas music to entertain the troops. Filled with great standards, holiday music and comedy, the show is reminiscent of the USO shows of days gone by. Musical moments include tributes to The Andrew Sisters, Bing Crosby, Spike Jones and many more.
Annie Get Your Gun performs June 10-19, Lost in Yonkers runs July 8-17, Pump Boys and Dinettes plays August 5-14, and GI Holiday Jukebox will perform December 9-18, 2016. There will be evening and matinees performances for all shows. “We are looking forward to a fun-filled, highly entertaining season under Randy’s direction,” stated Elizabeth Weese, executive director at GPT, “this, our 22nd year, will be the finest one yet thanks to its season underwriters and corporate sponsors, Astra Bank, Brierton Engineering, Inc., First Bank Kansas and Advantage Trust Company.”
Great Plains Theatre is offering many ticket packages. Visit www.greatplainstheatre.com or call the theatre at 785-263-4574 to learn which value package works best for you. Get “Starstruck in Abilene.”
