KISS ME KATE 

A musical version of "The Taming of the Shrew" is about to open in Baltimore. In the show with producer- actor Fred Graham are his former wife, Lilli; Lois, a singer in whom he is interested; and Bill Calhoune, who is Lois's interest. The irresponsible Bill informs Lois that he has signed Fred's name to a 10,000 dollar IOU for gambling debts. She begs him to reform. Fred and Lilli patch up their differences as they reminisce nostalgically about other shows in which they have appeared together. Fred sends a bouquet to Lois, which is delivered in error to Lilli. On stage as Katherine, Lilli discovers that the bouquet was meant for Lois and threatens to leave the show. Her departure is prevented by two gangsters who have come to collect the IOU with Fred's signature. As the first Act ends she is raging, both in character and reality.

Petruchio ( played by Fred Graham) although just married to Katherine, and beginning his tempestuous wedded life, begins to yearn for his life as a single man. Because of a sudden change in gang administration the gangsters tear up the now worthless IOU and Lilli prepares to walk out on the show as Fred muses on his love for her. They gangsters sing the always show-stopping Brush Up Your Shakespeare. As the show comes to close, Lilli unexpectedly returns and in Katherine's words expresses her intention of returning to her husband.

  

Songs include:   Another Op'nin; Another Show, Why Can't You Behave, So In Love, I Hate Men, Too Darn Hot,        Where Is The Life That Late I Led?, Always True To You (In My Fashion), Brush Up Your Shakespeare

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 FOOTLOOSE 

Footloose is the story of a young man from Chicago (Ren) forced to move with his mother to a puritanical, small town after his father abandons the family. To Ren’s shock, dancing and rock 'n' roll are forbidden. Through tenacity and clever use of the bible, Ren manages to convince Reverand Moore to let the town’s high schoolers dance again.

 Songs include: Footloose, On Any Sunday, The Girl Gets Around, Holding Out for a Hero,

                          Let's Hear It for the Boy, Mama Says, Almost Paradise

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         PAINT YOUR WAGON 

After years of searching for gold out West, Ben Rumson and his young daughter, Jennifer, strike it rich. At the burial service of another miner, Jennifer discovers a gold nugget and Rumson Town is born. The strike encourages other miners to move to Rumson Town and a boomtown is formed. Meanwhile, Jennifer falls in love with a Mexican prospector, Julio Valveras. With the lack of women in the town, the men feel uncomfortable with Jennifer's presence, so Ben sends her back East to school. When, a while later, she returns back to the town unexpected, Rumson Town has turned into a ghost town and Julio is gone. In the end, Julio returns and he and Jennifer are reunited.

 Songs include: I'm on my way, I Talk To The Trees, They Call The Wind Maria, I Still See Elisa,

                           Hand me down that can of beans, Wand'rin Star

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 URINETOWN

Winner of three Tony Awards, three Outer Critic’s Circle Awards, two Lucille Lortel Awards, and two Obie Awards, Urinetown is a comedy and an earnest tale of love, greed, and revolution  featuring satire of the corporate world, parodies of musical theatre conventions in general and Les Misérables in particular, and jokes that poke fun at the show itself (including the unattractive title).

The show is set in a Gotham-like town plagued by a 20-year drought, where water has become so scarce that private toilets have become unthinkable. At the mercy of a single dominating corporation who maintains a monopoly on the town’s public amenities, the destitute citizens must pay towering taxes and fines to carry out their most private and basic of needs. Out of the mass of the pitiable, a hero rises to lead his fellow citizens against the tyrannical regime. Drawing from West Side Story and Chicago, among others, the show irreverently pays witty homage to the great American musical theatre tradition. Hilariously funny and touchingly honest, Urinetown provides a fresh perspective of one of America’s greatest art forms.

Songs include: It’s a Privilege to Pee, Follow Your Heart, Look at the Sky, Snuff That Girl, Run Freedom Run, Why Did I Listen to That Man?,We’re Not Sorry,  and the title song: Urinetown

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Murder At Howard Johnsons. 

When a married woman and her lover lie in wait in a tacky motel room, plotting and planning to murder the woman's husband when he arrives, mirth isn't the first response one would normally expect -- unless, that is, the wife is ditzy Arlene Miller, the husband bland and staid Paul Miller, and the lover a buffoon like Mitchell Lovell, who also happens to be the Millers' dentist.

This riotous comedy opens with Arlene and Mitch having concocted a ludicrous scheme to lure an unsuspecting Paul to the motel room so they can murder him and make it look like suicide, leaving Arlene free to marry Mitch. They soon realize, however, that their plan is sorely lacking in a key area -- the method. Dreaming up and then quickly discarding a number of outrageously ridiculous ideas, they are caught short when Paul innocently answers his wife's summons and discovers, much to his dismay, that he is to die. Quite understandably, he objects. A lot.

The hilarity increases as things become increasingly absurd, with Act II taking place in the same motel room six months later. This time it's Paul and Arlene plotting Mitch's demise. We soon learn that although the couple have not reconciled, neither are Mitch and Arlene still a pair. It seems Arlene caught Mitch in a compromising position with his dental assistant. Now she wants her revenge, and Paul is only too happy to lend a hand.

Not surprisingly, this murder plan achieves no greater success than the first. The final act finds Mitch and Paul now in cahoots and -- who else? -- Arlene on the receiving end of their bizarre machinations. She has thrown over both men, choosing instead to succumb to the oily charms of a self-help guru. Feeling she and her new lover both deserve the worst, the men plan to murder Arlene and pin it on their successor.

Will anybody ever murder anybody else in this screamingly funny farce? Will Arlene go back to Paul, choose Mitch, or remain with her latest paramour? Or will Mitch and Paul decide they are a match made in heaven? Whatever happens, this deliciously clever romp will leave its audience rolling on the floor by the time the curtain falls on the final witty line.

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