Life As A Cabaret

RLT offers big titles, changes in its 30th season

It's pretty hard to top "Les Miserables," but Rogers Little Theater leaders hope they can.

The Victory Theater will open its stage to seven Tony Award-winning plays and musicals to be performed alongside a Rogers Little Theater original in its 30th season entertaining Northwest Arkansas.

FYI

Rogers Little Theater

Season 30

‘Cabaret’

Auditions: July 27

Performances: Sept. 11-13, 17-20, 24-27

Based on the book by Joe Masteroff, the play by John Van Druten and the stories of Christopher Isherwood, the musical follows Berlin cabaret performer Sally Bowles and her brief affair with an American writer just before Hitler’s rise to power.

‘The Addams Family’

Auditions: Sept. 14-15

Performances: Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 5-8, 12-15

Wednesday Addams is all grown up, and this princess of darkness is dating the man of her dreams, a “normal” boy who doesn’t exactly fit into this macabre family unit.

‘#AChristmasCarol’

Auditions: Nov. 2-3

Performances: Dec. 11-13, 17-20

Eben Sadler has agreed to take part in a holiday special, but he gets more than he bargained for when the holiday-themed television reality show combines with social media. This comedy is written by RLT’s own Ed McClure and promises to be a treat for the entire family.

‘Monty Python’s Spamalot’

Auditions: Dec. 14-15

Performances: Feb. 5-7, 11-14, 18-21, 2016

This musical is “lovingly” ripped from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and is a retelling of the legend of King Arthur, featuring the knights of the round table, show girls, cows, French people and a killer rabbit. And hopefully a holy hand grenade.

‘Other Desert Cities’

Auditions: Feb. 8-9, 2016

Performances: April 1-3, 7-10, 2016

A Palm Springs family is torn along partisan lines, and democrat Brooke Wyeth is prepared to stir up trouble with her Republican parents on her first family Christmas in six years. Can the family survive the wounds reopened on this pivotal holiday?

‘Mothers and Sons’

Auditions: March 28-29, 2016

Performances: May 6-8, 12-15, 2016

Katharine Gerard lost her son to AIDS 20 years ago and now hopes to reconcile with her late son’s partner, Cal, who has remarried to Will. Their young son ignites a flame in Katharine as the past and present collide in this touching family tale.

‘Tuesdays with Morrie’

Auditions: April 25-26, 2016

Performances: June 10-12, 16-19, 2016

Sixteen years after graduation, journalist Mitch Albom reconnects with this professor, Morrie Schwartz, after learning the instructor has Lou Gehrig’s Disease. What starts as weekly visits soon turns into a final lesson for the career-oriented young writer.

‘Mary Poppins’

Auditions: June 6-7, 2016

Performances: July 29-31, Aug. 4-7, 11-14, 2016

Nominated for nine Oliver and seven Tony awards, this beloved Disney musical follows a magical nanny and two young children from a dysfunctional family in 1910 London. The show is family friendly and sure to delight.

INFO — 631-8988 or rogerslittletheater…

"RLT has grown a lot in the last 30 years," says Jeff Dunn, Rogers Little Theater Board chairman. "As an organization grows, it's not in a straight line, it's in steps. And we're taking a big step here."

The "big step" is a rumor that proved true.

Rogers Little Theater will do away with its dinner theater this season, opening the floor to full cabaret seating. The move will create a more intimate atmosphere and expand capacity, Dunn says.

But the theater is hoping for more than just increased ticket sales. The board members hope that the change will bring in more patronage to neighboring restaurants that have possibly missed out on customers.

"There were not a lot of places to eat when RLT first opening 30 years ago," Dunn says. "But downtown Rogers now has many places for dinner. We hope to be a good neighbor and bring people in rather than just take up parking spaces."

And focusing on just theater will make Rogers Little Theater even more successful, he says.

"Without worrying about dinner, we'll be allowed to focus on what we're really good at -- the stage."

NAN What's Up on 01/23/2015

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