Tag Archives: Middletown Lyric Theatre

ROUNDING THIRD
Presented by Middletown Lyric Theatre
March 7-15
Middletown

Directed by Nathan Greer

Cast: Michael Schlotterbeck as Michael & Bob Brunner as Don

ROUNDING THIRD is the tumultuous journey of two Little League coaches through an entire season, from their first tentative meeting to the climactic championship game. Despite their differences, Michael and Don form an uneasy alliance for the benefit of the team. And over the course of exhilarating victories, heartbreaking defeats, and interminable rain-outs, the two men battle over how to lead the team. Michael believes that the job of the coaches is to shield the kids from the intense pressure of competition while making sure everyone has a good time. Don thinks they should be teaching the kids how to win. Out of these conflicting philosophies, the real issues of the play emerge: how should we raise our children? By the end of the play, Don’s personal life has come crashing down around him and he’s forced to see both his son and the team in a different light. And Michael must confront an unfamiliar but powerful sensation: he really wants to win.

• Fri-Sat, March 7-8 at 8pm
• Fri-Sat, March 14-15 at 8pm

Official page |

CROWNS
Presented by Middletown Lyric Theatre
Nov. 8-16
Middletown

Directed by Charley Shafor
Music direction by Jay Mills

Cast: Catherine Collins as Wanda, Melani Harris as Mother Shaw, Audrea Johnson as Mabel, Heather Kimbrough as Janette, Amberly Winfrey as Yolanda, William “Kip” Moore as Man/Preacher & Angela Watson as Velma

A moving and celebratory musical play in which hats become a springboard for an exploration of black history and identity as seen through the eyes of a young black woman who has come down South to stay with her aunt after her brother is killed in Brooklyn. Hats are everywhere, in exquisite variety, and the characters use the hats to tell tales concerning everything from the etiquette of hats to their historical and contemporary social functioning. There is a hat for every occasion, from flirting to churchgoing to funerals to baptisms, and the tradition of hats is traced back to African rituals and slavery and forward to the New Testament and current fashion. This predominantly gospel music and dance underscored musical supports its impassioned narratives.

• Fri-Sat, Nov. 8-9 at 8pm
• Fri-Sat, Nov. 15-16 at 8pm

Official page |

THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES
Presented by Middletown Lyric Theatre
Sept. 13-21
Middletown

Directed by Charley Shafor

Cast: Ken Jaffe as Artie Shaughnessy, Karen Griesinger as Bananas Shaughnessy, Cate White as Bunny Flingus, Nathan Greer as Ronnie Shaughnessy, Sara Carbaugh as Corrinna Stroller, Joe Cunningham as Billy Einhorn, Pam Rogers Fugett as The Head Nun & Betty Coulter as The Middle Nun

Artie Shaugnessy is a songwriter with visions of glory. Toiling by day as a zoo-keeper, he suffers in seedy lounges by night, plying his wares at piano bars in Queens, New York where he lives with his wife, Bananas. Who is much to the chagrin of Artie’s downstairs mistress, Bunny Flingus who’ll sleep with him anytime but refuses to cook until they are married. On the day the Pope is making his first visit to the city, Artie’s son Ronny goes AWOL from Fort Dix stowing a homemade-bomb intended to blow up the Pope in Yankee Stadium. Also arriving is Artie’s old school chum, now a successful Hollywood producer, Billy Einhorn with starlet girlfriend in tow, who holds the key to Artie’s dreams of getting out of Queens and away from the life he so despises. But like many dreams, this promise of glory evaporates amid the chaos of ordinary lives.

• Fri-Sat, Sept. 13-14 at 8pm
• Fri-Sat, Sept. 20-21 at 8pm

Official page |