Press Releases

October 19, 2001
More Musicals! Southampton Players Announce 2001-02 Season

First Up: "City of Angels," a Movie Within a Play, Opens Nov. 2

Contact:
Darren Johnson
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 287 8054

More dramas, more locally written comedies and especially more big-band musicals. The Southampton Players' 2001-02 season brings back the recipe that has made them one of Eastern Long Island's most popular troupes. They have also added more weekends of performances and even more talent and fun.

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The Southampton Players open their season with Cy Coleman and Larry Gelbart's Tony Award winning 1940s musical "City of Angels," which runs three weekends, Fridays through Sundays, at 8 p.m., November 2-18.

Then, The Players seek to cure wintertime blues with four weekends of one-act plays as presented in repertory. Their sixth-annual "InterAct" series of locally written plays, subtitled "Two by Four," will be staged January 25-26, February 8-9. Also this winter, The Players will stage two weekends of David Ives' outrageous one-act plays, "Mere Mortals," January 18-19 and February 1-2.

In the spring, slated for April 5-7, 12-14, The Players will take on a serious drama, James Goldman's masterpiece, ?The Lion in Winter.? The Players will also put on another summer musical, but this time with a twist. Audience members at ?City of Angels? will be given ballots, allowing them to pick the play.

Best known for their rollicking musicals with large casts and elaborate sets, the burgeoning troupe has become one of Eastern Long Island's most popular in recent years under the direction of Michael Disher. The Players regularly sell out shows and attract some of the area's top actors, who share their skills with Southampton College's wealth of younger talent.

Last year's season, which also featured two musicals, a drama and a winter of one-act plays, was the most successful in Southampton Players history. The Players are keeping the same format ? and their tradition of staging quality, envelope-pushing plays that are also uncommon.

"We've developed a loyal audience because we keep growing as a troupe and taking on daring works," Disher said. "We put it all out there, and stage important plays that people usually haven't seen before."

The fun continues with "City of Angels," the Tony Award-winning Cy Coleman ("Barnum," "Will Rogers Follies") musical with book by Larry Gelbart ("MASH"). Not to be confused with a recent movie of the same name, "City of Angels" ran two years on Broadway starting in 1989, winning six Tony Awards. A sultry, smoky 1940s period piece, Gelbart's script stars a detective-story writer whose work is being adapted for Hollywood, but the screenplay starts mirroring the protagonist's own life in a film noir style, as scenes on stage flash from color to black and white.

The show follows other successful musicals that The Southampton Players have recently performed, including "Anything Goes," "Guys & Dolls" and "Cabaret."

"City of Angels" will run Nov. 2-4, 9-11 and 16-18 in the Avram Theater with Friday, Saturday and Sunday shows at 8 p.m. Tickets will be $15 general admissions/$10 students and seniors. For further information, contact the Southampton Players box office at 631-287-8480.