MAGIc
and myth come to life in
SEATTLE
CHILDREN’S THEATRE’s
world-premiere
HOLIDAY PRODUCTION OF
THE SORCERER’s APPRENTICE
 (
Seattle
,
WA
)—For its holiday play, Seattle Children’s Theatre (SCT) will present the
world-premiere production of The
Sorcerer’s Apprentice, inspired by an ancient Greek fable, Dec. 1
through Jan. 27. This theatrical extravaganza is the creation of a
highly-acclaimed artistic team—playwright OyamO, composer Carman Moore,
choreographer Donald McKayle and director
Linda Hartzell
—who, along with a stellar cast and extraordinary sets and costumes, will
bring this timeless tale to life on stage.
Steeped
with magic realism, and with “N’Orleans-style” swing and jazz music by a
four-piece live band, this innovative production follows the trials and
tribulations of young Charles. When Charles comes across the queen of an
enchanted forest and witnesses her supernatural powers as a healer of the
environment, he vows to become her apprentice. However, his arrogance and
gullibility all but ruin his chances until he learns his lessons and bravely
aids the sorcerer in a battle against her villain.
“This
ancient tale uses a fantastical, exciting world of magic realism to show us that
there are consequences for our actions,” said Hartzell, who is also SCT’s
artistic director. “It reminds us that how we treat others matters, and
sometimes you have to be patient, listen to others and pay your dues. With
evocative music, this play transports us to a world where being good isn’t
always easy, but it is rewarded in the end.”
Public
performances of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
run Fridays at 7 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 2 and 5:30 p.m. at Seattle
Children’s Theatre, located at
201 Thomas Street
at
Seattle
Center
. Tickets range in price from $16 to $32 and may be purchased by calling
the SCT ticket office at (206) 441-3322 or by visiting www.sct.org.
This production
is recommended for ages six and older.
The
Sorcerer’s Apprentice
has had many incarnations, including a fable written in 150 C.E. by Greek
satirist Lucian of Samosata; a poem written in 1779 by the famous German
intellectual Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; an 1897 concert piece by French
composer Paul Dukas; and Walt Disney’s 1940 film Fantasia.
SCT’s play uses the sorcerer’s apprentice story as a foundation
for the action, but incorporates other story elements as well.
SCT
is delighted to work with celebrated playwright OyamO and noted composer and
conductor Carman Moore, who are cousins. Renowned choreographer Donald
McKayle, who danced in the original West
Side Story, also adds much to this production. With generous
sponsorship from the Bureau of Education & Research, SCT will use live
musicians, with music
direction and orchestrations by David Duvall. Longtime
SCT collaborators Carey Wong, set design; Cathy Hunt, costume design; and
Douglas N. Paasch, puppet design, created the remarkable world of the enchanted
forest and the characters within.
SYNOPSIS
Young,
hungry and on his own, Charles finds himself in a mystical wood with talking
plants and animals—the prickly Jeremy Groundhog, Southern belle Miss Orange
Tree, the grounded Mr. Juniper Bush and more. Catching a glimpse of
Marguerite, the queen of the forest, he is astounded as she makes everyday
objects sail through the air, work in the garden and seem to come alive. He
has never seen a sorcerer before!
Charles
eagerly seeks to become her apprentice, but his arrogance, disrespect and
gullibility have him quickly run through the three chances that Marguerite
granted him. After the third incident, the sorcerer’s trust in Charles
is gone. In his desperation, he turns to Big John King, an evil flimflam
artist, to convince Marguerite to take him back.
Now
things look bleak for Marguerite, but Charles comes to his mentor’s aid,
fending off John’s giant and sinister minions in a spectacular battle. For
his loyalty and bravery, Marguerite gives him another chance; he has finally
learned to listen to others and is truly ready to be the sorcerer’s
apprentice.
CAST
AND DESIGN TEAM
The
cast for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice includes
Anne Allgood as Miss Marguerite, Mo
Brady as Mr. Juniper Bush/Demon, Khanh
Doan as Miss Grapevine/Demon, Lisa
Estridge as Jeremy Groundhog/Demon, Peter
A. Jacobs as Mr. Who/Gordagu, Terence
Kelley as Baron, Leslie Law
as Miss Orange Tree, David Silverman
as Big John King and Connor Toms
as Charles.
The
production features set design by Carey
Wong, costume design by Cathy Hunt,
lighting design by Andrew Duff,
sound design by Chris R. Walker,
fight choreography by Geoffrey Alm,
puppet design/coaching by Douglas N. Paasch,
magic design by Steffan Soule, and
dialect coaching by Judith Shahn.
A limited amount of $10 rush tickets will be available Friday nights (except for
opening night) at SCT’s ticket office, located at 201 Thomas Street in
Seattle. There will be an American Sign Language interpreted performance
of the play for deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons on Saturday, December 16, at 2
p.m. For tickets, call (206) 441-3322, voice, or (206) 443-6938, TTY.
The Target Family Matinee, including
post-show discussions with the artists, free giveaways from Target and
discounted ticket prices, will be on Saturday, December 9, at 2 p.m.
Seattle
Children’s Theatre would like to thank season sponsors Microsoft and Boeing,
music sponsor the Bureau of Education & Research, and media sponsor KUOW
94.9 radio for their generous support of this production.
In its 32nd season, Seattle Children’s Theatre performs September
through June in the Charlotte Martin and Eve Alvord Theatres at
Seattle
Center
. Since its inception, SCT has gained acclaim as a leading producer of
theatre, educational programs and new scripts for young people. SCT has
presented 184 plays, 92 of which have been world premieres, and entertained over
4 million children.
CREATIVE
TEAM BIOGRAPHIES
Playwright
OyamO
(a.k.a. Charles F. Gordon) is an Associate Professor of Theatre and
writer-in-residence at the
University
of
Michigan
in
Ann Arbor
and his plays have been produced in numerous theatres. He has received
fellowships from the Berrilla Kerr, Guggenheim, Rockefeller and McKnight
Foundations, as well as grants from the
Ohio
and New York State Arts Councils and three National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
fellowships. He is a member of PEN, Dramatists Guild, New Dramatists
(alumni), the Ensemble Studio Theatre, Writers Guild East and the Black Theatre
Network. For HBO he wrote an episode for the Famous
Black American Anthology and a television adaptation of I
Am a
Man.
I Am a Man will also
be produced this coming May at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre. His show Boundless
Grace recently opened at The Children’s Theatre Company of
Minneapolis
. Other productions to open this spring include Famous
Orpheus at the Geva Theatre in
Rochester
,
New York
; Let Me Live at the Goodman
Theatre in
Chicago
; and The Resurrection of Lady Lester
at the Kuntu Repertory Company in
Pittsburgh
. For Seattle Children’s Theatre, Oyamo wrote Pink
and Say, which premiered at SCT in 1998.
Composer
Carman Moore received
his Masters, with honors, at the
Juilliard
School
. Since then he has become one of the world's most-acclaimed composers,
with commissions and performances by such world-class ensembles as the New York
Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the San
Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
Moore
has served as music critic and columnist for the Village
Voice and has composed for musical theatre, music for meditation,
music for children, scores for film and theatre, pop music and modern dance.
Among
Moore
's scores for theatre are Yale Rep's production of Shakespeare's Timon
of Athens (starring James Earl Jones and directed by Lloyd Richards)
and When The Bough Breaks at
LaMama E.T.C. directed by Lawrence Sacharow.
Moore
taught at the Yale University Graduate School of Music,
Carnegie-Mellon
University
, and
New
School
University
. In addition, he has taught children in the New York City Public Schools
as artist-teacher for the Lincoln Center Institute. His self-performed
meditation CDs Home and Interfaith
Meditations have just been released.
Successful
in the worlds of dance and theatre, Choreographer
Donald McKayle has created dances for concert stages, Broadway,
television and film. He made his professional dance debut in 1948 with
New York
’s New Dance Group and was a dancer in the original production of West
Side Story (1957). In 1951, along with Daniel Nagrin and
others, he founded the Contemporary Dance Group, which premiered McKayle's Games
that same year. His Broadway credits include Golden
Boy (1964), I'm Solomon
(1969), Raisin (1974) and Dr.
Jazz (1975); he was also one of the four choreographers for Sophisticated
Ladies (1981). Beginning in 1963, McKayle choreographed for
television programs including “The Ed Sullivan Show” (1966-1967), “The
Bill Cosby Special” (1968), the 1970 Oscar Presentations, and the Marlo Thomas
special “Free to Be You and Me” (1974). He created dances for films
such as The Great White Hope
(1969), Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1970)
and Charlie and the Angel (1972).
And in the field of popular music, he has choreographed stage acts for
singers such as Harry Belafonte and Tina Turner. McKayle's numerous honors
include five Tony Award nominations, the NAACP Image Award and an Emmy Award
nomination.
#
# #
SEATTLE
CHILDREN’S
THEATRE’S
The
Sorcerer’s Apprentice
WHAT:
Seattle
Children’s Theatre (SCT) presents OyamO’s The
Sorcerer’s Apprentice, with music by Carman Moore, choreography by
Donald McKayle and direction by SCT Artistic Director
Linda Hartzell
. This world-premiere production will run from December 1 through January
27, 2007.
WHERE:
Seattle
Children’s Theatre’s
Charlotte
Martin
Theatre
201 Thomas Street
,
Seattle
(
Seattle
Center
)
WHEN:
December
1
7 p.m.
December 2
2 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.
December 3
2 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.
December 8
7 p.m.
December 9
2 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.
December 10
2 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.
December 15
7 p.m.
December 16
2 p.m. (American Sign Language Interpreted)
& 5:30 p.m.
December 17
2 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.
December 19
11 a.m.
December 20
11 a.m.
December 21
2 p.m. & 7 p.m.
December 22
2 p.m. & 7 p.m.
December 23
2 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.
December 27
2 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.
December 28
11 a.m. & 2:30 p.m.
December 29
2 p.m. & 7 p.m.
December 30
2 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.
January 5
7 p.m.
January 6
2 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.
January 7
2 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.
January 12
7 p.m.
January 13
2 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.
January 14
2 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.
January 19
7 p.m.
January 20
2 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.
January 21
2 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.
January 26
7 p.m.
January 27
2 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.
TICKETS:
Tickets
range in price from $16 to $32 and may be purchased by calling SCT’s ticket
office at (206) 441-3322 or by visiting www.sct.org.
Recommended for ages six and older.
INFO:
Steeped
in magic realism, this world-premiere production brings to life an enchanted
forest with talking plants and animals. When young Charles comes across
the queen of the forest and witnesses her mystical powers, he vows to become her
apprentice. However, his arrogance and disrespect all but ruin his
chances, until he learns his lessons and bravely aids the sorcerer in a battle
against her villain.
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