Theater News

Goodspeed Opera House Announces 2008 Season

Gordon Greenberg
(© Michael Portantiere)
Gordon Greenberg
(© Michael Portantiere)

The musicals Happy Days , Half a Sixpence, and Big River will be featured as part of Goodspeed Opera House’s 2008 season.

The season will kick off with Happy Days ( April 11-June 29), based on the Paramount Pictures’ hit TV series created by Garry Marshall. The musical features music and lyrics by Paul Williams, with a book by Marshall. Goodspeed produced the show as a developmental production in August 2007 at The Norma Terris Theatre , which was followed by a production at Paper Mill Playhouse. The new production will feature an expanded orchestra and bigger, broader dance numbers. Gordon Greenberg will direct, with choreography by Michele Lynch.

Greenberg will also direct Half a Sixpence (July 11-September 19), the British musical about a Cockney shop clerk who inherits a fortune, flirts with “society,” loses his money and winds up happier without it. Based on H.G. Wells’ novel Kipps, the show features music and lyrics by David Heneker and book by Beverly Cross.

The season will conclude with Rob Ruggeiro’s production of Big River (September 26-November 30), the musical tale based on Mark Twain’s classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The Tony-winning musical has music and lyrics by Roger Miller, and and a book by William Hauptman.

For more information, visit www.goodspeed.org.