Uptown Players, which opens the third mainstage production of its 15th season tonight, has lined up its 2017 slate of productions — as usual consisting of two plays, two musicals and a fundraiser show — but a few curveballs are headed this way as well.
First, the next season will begin at the Kalita Humphreys Theater this November (rather than in 2017), with their first-ever production of Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches (Nov. 4–20). Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer- and Tony-winning reverie about the AIDS crisis is often considered one of the towering theatrical achievements of the 20th century. Cheryl Denson, who direct tonight’s show, It’s Only a Play, will helm it. Uptown Players co-founder Craig Lynch also assures me that the company plans on doing the follow-up, Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika, the following season.
That will likely be followed in March 2017 by the latest incarnation of Broadway Our Way (March 3–5). The annual revue is a fundraiser for the company.
The next mainstage show will be It Shoulda Been You (March 24–April 9), a romantic musical that ran on Broadway in 2015. At a wedding, secrets are revealed, lesbian relationships unveiled, promises broken and more. The will be followed in the summer by the first-ever UP production of La Cage aux Folles (July 14–30), the flamboyantly joyous and colorful musical about a gay couple who own a drag club and their efforts to hide their business from their son’s conservative in-laws.
The final show of the season will be the regional premiere of Charles Busch’s comedy The Tribute Artist (Aug. 25–Sept. 10). Once again, Coy Covington, pictured, will take over the cross-dressing lead role as a female impersonator whose deception leads to chaotic hijinks. (This production is slated for Bryant Hall on the Kalita campus, although it may move to the main building depending on the decisions made by the Dallas Theater Center, which retains right of first refusal over the space.)
Aside from the early start to the season, a few other specials emerge. First, Uptown’s Pride Performing Arts Festival will return (right after The Toxic Avenger), to coincide with Dallas Pride. Second,UP will once again team up with the Turtle Creek Chorale for a concert production of a musical — this time, Titanic (May 5–7). It will be performed at the City Performance Hall.
Finally, Lynch said there is “room on the calendar” for a Christmas show in December 2016 (following Angels), although one has not been selected yet.
Individual tickets are $25–$55, and season subscriptions are also available. Visit UptownPlayers.org for more.
