Fans of Broadway performance should be looking forward to this season’s offerings at the Wharton Center.
Local residents and students alike are able to take advantage of the professional off-Broadway theater that visits East Lansing every year.
The 2001-02 season lineup was released in April and now that students are back on campus, it’s time to start thinking about securing tickets before they disappear.
“I think one of the things that’s very exciting about our season is it’s got a lot of Tony award-winning shows,” said Bruce Bronstein, director of communications and assistant director at Wharton.
“Kiss Me Kate,” the third program scheduled, is leaving its home on Broadway, where it has been showing this summer, for MSU after winning five Tonys, including Best Musical Revival. It starts Nov. 13.
Dixie Durr, a professor in the Department of Theatre, saw “Kiss Me Kate” during its Broadway run.
“It’s a stunning performance and the dancing is great,” she told The State News this spring when Wharton’s schedule was released.
“Fosse,” coming in January, won three Tonys in 1999, and “The Music Man,” currently on Broadway, took home five Tony Awards and a Grammy for the cast and will begin in February.
“South Pacific,” a musical classic, won eight Tonys after opening in 1949 and will come to town in March.
The Wharton Center will kick off its season with “Blast!,” a combination of music and visual performance that started its Broadway run in April.
“It’s drum and bugle core meets Cirque de Soleil,” Bronstein said. “It’s a young, exuberant cast doing a mix of classical, contemporary, and jazz.”
Following “Blast!” is the comedy-musical “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.”
The star, Ann-Margret, is making her stage debut in the show which is returning from hiatus this fall. Margret has appeared in films such as “Any Given Sunday” and “Grumpy Old Men.”
Frank Rutledge, chairperson of the Department of Theatre, said he expects the musical to do fairly well.
“I suspect ‘Kiss Me Kate’ will do 80 percent of capacity,” he said.
Also coming to the Wharton this year are a number of ethnic performances designed to get students more involved in Wharton’s attractions.
“Right now the student body doesn’t make up an equitable portion of the audience,” Bronstein said. “I think that the ethnic attractions are a certain area that we can reach out to a part of the community that we weren’t reaching before.”
Some of those performances include “Ballet Folklorico de Mexico,” “Yamato” and “Arturo Sandoval.”
For more information about performances and tickets, call (517) 432-2000, 1 800 WHARTON or visit www.whartoncenter.com.
