Broadway, comedy & murderous mystery: 9 new shows on Cape Cod stages this week
This week’s new shows involve a mix of music, murder and commentary, with longer-running shows mixed with one-night performances worth noting on the calendar.
At our website https://www.capecodtimes.com/entertainment, you'll find reviews of recently opened shows that include those playing at Provincetown Theater, Cape Rep Theatre in Brewster, Cape Playhouse in Dennis and Cape Cod Theatre Company/Harwich Junior Theatre.
Reviews: Musicals, murder, sex & comedy: What our critics say about 11 shows at Cape Cod theaters
For new shows coming up, in chronological order, take a look:
The plays
► Kevin Rice’s play “Under the Radar” is back at Payomet Performing Arts Center, playing most weekday mornings and some early evenings through Sept. 1. The interactive “historical comedy” is set at the arrival of new airmen (the audience) about to begin a 12-month tour of duty in June 1969 with the 762nd Air Force Radar Squadron. Payomet is part of the Highlands Center inside the Cape Cod National Seashore at the former North Truro air base, where the action takes place. This is history in your own backyard that you likely didn't know. Reservations and information: https://payomet.org/events/theater.
► Harbor Stage Co. in Wellfleet will close out its summer season with Bryony Lavery’s “Frozen,” running at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 5 p.m. Sundays Aug. 11-Sept. 4. The play (far from the Disney musical, officials note) is described as a “haunting examination of grief, remorse, and reconciliation” told in intertwining stories of a mother, a murderer, and a clinical psychologist that chart “the decades-long effects of a single unimaginable act and the long, winding road to redemption.” Reservations and information: http://www.harborstage.org/.
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► College Light Opera Co. will close out its summer season with the musical “The Scarlet Pimpernel” finishing up through Aug. 13 and the musical “She Loves Me,” running Aug. 16-20. "The Scarlet Pimpernel" is Frank Wildhorn's adaptation of Baroness Orczy's 1905 novel that follows an English fop as he transforms himself into a quick-thinking escape artist in order to save victims of Madame Guillotine in revolutionary France. “She Loves Me” is a musical with a book by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock about two coworkers who unknowingly exchange anonymous love letters through a lonely-hearts-club ad despite being constantly at odds during the day. Reservations and information: http://www.collegelightoperacompany.com/.
► Cape Rep Theatre (3299 Route 6A, Brewster) will present the world premiere of a new play, “From the Heart of the Wreck,” conceived and written by Kirsten Peacock and Nick Nudler. Shows are at 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays Aug. 17-Sept. 10; https://caperep.org/. The play combines folklore and history in a sea-faring adventure that explores the relationship between notorious pirate Sam Bellamy of the Whydah and his mysterious mistress, The Witch of Wellfleet.
► Agatha Christie’s classic whodunit “Murder on the Orient Express” rounds out August for Cape Playhouse in Dennis, with an Aug. 17-27 run led by returning director/choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge, whose revivals of “Ragtime” won Tony, Drama Desk and Astaire award nominations on Broadway and the Helen Hayes Award in Washington, D.C. Starring as clever detective Hercule Poirot will be Broadway actor Reg Rogers (“Holiday,” “The Royal Family,” “Tootsie”), trying to sort out among a variety of luxury train passengers who perpetrated a murder.
Among the actors in what the playhouse describes as an “all-star Broadway and off-Broadway cast” playing the suspects will be Charlotte Bydwell and Duane Boutté who starred earlier this playhouse season in “Private Lives”; Cady Huffman, whose long list of stage and TV credits include “The Producer,” “The Will Rogers Follies,” “The Nance” on stage and two daytime Emmy Awards; Matt Bogart, whose Broadway credits includes “Paradise Square,” “Jersey Boys” and “Aida”; and Emma Stratton (Broadway’s “Prince of Broadway”; national tours of “Anything Goes” and “Bullets Over Broadway”). https://www.capeplayhouse.com/
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The one- (or two-) -person shows
► Lillias White will be the latest Broadway star to join host/music director Seth Rudetsky for 7 p.m. Aug. 12-13 shows of singing and conversation at the Art House, 214 Commercial St., Provincetown. White’s multiple Broadway credits include a debut in “Barnum,” winning the Tony and Drama Desk awards for “The Life,” and being Tony Award-nominated for “Fela!” Other credits include an Emmy Award for “Sesame Street”; concert, cabaret and one-woman shows; and playing Bloody Mary in the PBS Great Performances broadcast of “South Pacific.” https://provincetownarthouse.com/
► Christine Ernst will present her latest chapter of commentary on life in her “Fat-Ass Cancer Bitch” persona in “FACB 2022: Take Your Vitamins,” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13 at Cotuit Center for the Arts (4404 Falmouth Road, Route 28). This 11th annual show is described as “featuring new material and her usual brand of irreverent, mouthy, no-holds-barred humor and story” in a show that’s part stand-up, part storytelling and touches on “real life: aging, relationships, family, politics, and the big picture.” Reservations and information: https://artsonthecape.org/.
► Comedian/actor Jimmy Tingle will perform at 8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 14 at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater (2357 State Highway, Route 6) in a commentary show on politics and life as a fundraiser for a new scholarship. Tickets and information: http://www.what.org/. The fund will honor the late director Larry Arrick and his widow, actor/director/professor April Shawan and is tentatively called The Larry Arrick and April Shawhan New Work/New Voices Scholarship Fund for Aspiring Playwrights and Directors.
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Tingle worked with Arrick on Tingle's shows from the early 1990s to just a few years ago, on the Cape and around the country, including "Uncommon Sense," "Jimmy Tingle For President: The Funniest Campaign in History" and Tingle's commentary segments on "60 Minutes II" for CBS. Arrick’s other theater work included co-founding Brown University’s Trinity Rep Conservatory; as artistic director of Pittsburgh Public Theater; directing in New York City; directing at the Yale Repertory Theatre and Trinity Square Repertory Company; and directing TV series, including “East Side/West Side” with George C. Scott. Shawan has long lists of acting and directing credits, including on Broadway, off-Broadway and regional theater. She has numerous credits in Los Angeles, including at the University of California, where she was an acting/directing professor for more than 20 years.
► Award-winning performers D'jamin Bartlett and Mark Bornfield, with drummer Michael Gross, will perform a “Broadway Rebounds” dinner show at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 16 at the Sagamore Inn, 1131 Sandwich Road. The music will include songs from “Hamilton,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “Les Miserables,” “Oklahoma,” “Funny Girl,” “Cats” and more. The dinner, starting at 6 p.m., is a three-course meal that includes a salad, a main course and dessert. Tickets for the package: $75; https://www.sagamoreinncapecod.com/.
Contact Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll at kdriscoll@capecodonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @KathiSDCCT.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod theater: 9 new shows of comedy, Broadway, murder mystery
