Prince Music Theater Announces 2007-2008 Season

Prince Music Theater has announced its 2007-2008 theater season, as well as artists in its CrossWaves Festival and the performers in its Morgans Cabaret Series.

The season will begin with the world premiere of A Night in the Old Marketplace (September 29-October 21). Conceived and directed by Alexandra Aron and adapted from the Yiddish original by I.L. Peretz, the show is a Klezmer tale of people who rouse the spirits of the dead in order to heal past wrongs. It features a book and lyrics by Emmy Award-winner Glen Berger, with a score by Grammy Award-winner Frank London (last represented at the Prince with Green Violin).

The show will be followed by the holiday double feature of Ain’t Misbehavin’ (December 4-31) and Striking 12 (December 7-31). The former, which will occupy the Dennis Alter Mainstage, offers the sassy jazz and sultry tunes of “Fats” Waller. Directed by Michael Bush, the revue captures the soul of 1930s Harlem. Returning to the Independence Foundation Black Box, where it premiered in 2003, Striking 12 tells the story of a cynical guy who is cured of his Seasonal Affective Disorder by a light-bulb carrying princess. The show is directed by Richard M. Parison, Jr., with book music and lyrics by Valerie Vigoda, Brendan Milburn, and Rachel Sheinkin.

Next up will be the first musical by The Hooters’ Rob Hyman and Little Isidore’s David Forman, Dollface (February 1-24). This 1950s-style rock-and-roll musical follows an un-funny gal who’ll stop at nothing to be a television comic, all the while being drawn by the glamour and guilty pleasures of the Club Rub a Dub Dub.

The season will continue with Jamaica (May 30-June 22), which was originally written as an anti-materialism tale that satirized the commercialism of 1950s America. The book was stripped and it became a revue, but now the Prince becomes the first theater to restore the original script, with music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. “Yip” Harburg and a book by Harburg and Fred Saidy.

Prince’s highly successful CrossWaves Festival will feature the work of artists under 30. Manjiro (March 15-30), by Rob Redei, is about a shipwrecked Japanese youth in America, while From Tha Hip (April 23-May 4) is about an immigrant youth from Trinidad.

The Morgans Cabaret Series will kick off with Billy Stritch (September 26-October 7), followed by Mark Nadler (October 30-November 11), Anna Bergman (February 13-24), and Marilyn Maye (June 4-15).

For more information visit PrinceMusicTheater.org.