Start your new year off right by seeing a new musical! Wasatch Theatre Company is excited to present the regional premiere of Stephen Sondeim’s Road Show. Based on the real-life story of two prospector brothers (and featuring two brothers in the leading roles), the musical features a book by John Weidman and orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick.
The story of Road Show focuses on the Mizner brothers, Addison and Wilson, as they adventure across the United States near the turn of the century. Following the death of their father, the duo journeys from their California home to the Yukon region in the late 1890s in search of gold. There, Addison works hard on the claim, discovering a strong work ethic. Wilson discovers a penchant for gambling and conning others. As their journeys continue, Wilson’s conman instincts and charm always finds a way to be disastrously harmful while Addison’s hard work and ethics seem to save the duo from complete annihilation.
Road Show is actually the third incarnation of the show, which started out as Wise Guys in 1999 (starring Nathan Lane and Victor Garber as the brothers) and then became Bounce for a performance in Chicago in 2003. The current story opened in 2008 in New York and featured Utah actor Claybourne Elder (who appeared in Wasatch’s production of Cabaret almost a decade ago) as Addison’s lover Hollis.
Cameron and Quinn Kapetanov play Addison and Wilson, and are able to capitalize on their own brotherly relationship to inform their performances. The decision to cast the brothers did not occur to director Rick Rea until he saw their chemistry at the auditions and realized that the pairing was clearly a great choice for the play. Derek Gregerson stars as Hollis, and Michael Nielson and Karrie Anne Ogilvie are featured as Papa and Mama, respectively. Rounding out the cast are ensemble players Brian Kesler, Dee Tua’one, Landon Welch, Marc Nielson, Natalie Noble, Stewart Fullerton, and Tamara Sleight.
Road Show opens Friday, January 3rd, and then runs Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays through January 18th at 8:00 p.m. at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center (138 West 300 South). There are also 2:00 p.m. Saturday matinees on January 4th, 11th and 18th. Tickets are $15.00 and can be purchased at www.arttix.org or by calling 801-355-2787. Upcoming shows for Wasatch include their annual Page-to-Stage Festival (January 23rd – 25th), Stephen Adly Guirgis’ The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (May 2014), and the musical The Color Purple (September 2014).
Post expires at 12:00am on Sunday January 19th, 2014