Segal Centre officially launches its 49th season

On April 27, after a busy two-week period that saw the Segal Centre experience a flurry of activity that included a Passover camp for kids, a gala fundraiser, the staging of the Les Belles Soeurs musical in Ottawa, a Shakespeare film festival and the popular Broadway café, its tired but very fulfilled Artistic and Executive Director Lisa Rubin stepped up to the podium and happily announced the repertoire of shows that will comprise its 2016-2017 theatre season.

Season 49 at the Segal Centre will offer theatergoers a diverse line-up that will include a popular Broadway comedy, a torn-from-the-headlines brand new Canadian musical, a musical tribute to rock’n’roll’s rockabilly roots, and a play based on a popular 1970s bestselling novel by Chaim Potok.

Segal Centre Artistic & Executive Director Lisa Rubin

Marc Hall 

The season begins with “My Name is Asher Lev” (September 11 – October 2), which is based on Chaim Potok’s best selling 1972 novel, which explores the conflicted career of Asher Lev, a Jewish painter with a mystifying talent, who is torn between his painting and the values of his religious family. “Prom Queen: The Musical” (October 27 – November 20) is an original Canadian musical based on the story of Marc Hall, a teen from a small Ontario town, who takes the Catholic School Board to court in order to get the right to take his boyfriend to his school’s prom. “Noises Off” (January 29 – February 19, 2017) is the rollicking Broadway comedy that takes a farcical look at the world of show business both onstage and offstage. “Million Dollar Quartet” (April 23 – May 14) is based on the true story of one of rock music’s greatest jam sessions, which actually took place in December of 1956 at the landmark Sun Studios in Memphis and involved music legends Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins. Combining original stage lighting and powerful storytelling, “How To Disappear Completely” (April 30 – May 14) is lighting designer Itai Erdal’s powerful story of how he comes to terms with the impending death of his mother, and how she wants to die on her own terms. The Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre walks down the aisle with the Yiddish language version of the musical wedding farce “It Shoulda Been You” (June 4 – June 25). And in time for Montreal’s 375^th anniversary celebrations, the Segal Centre, Just For Laughs and Alive 375 present the English language debut of the hit comedy “What’s in a Name?” (July 9 – 30), in which a dinner party dissolves into a verbal free-for-all over what an expecting couple plans to name their unborn son.

 

As well, the Segal Centre will present in 2016-2017 a Spring Break special presentation of “Fancy Nancy: The Musical” for kids between the ages of 3 and 9 (March 5 – 12, 2017), another edition of the Broadway Café, the Power Jazz Series, Sunday @ the Segal, Monday Night Talkbacks and the Segal Centre Academy.

For more information – or to purchase tickets – call 514-739-7944, or go to www.segalcentre.org.

(This item originally appeared in the May 6, 2016 edition of the Montreal Times)