(ORADELL, NJ) -- Bergen County Players, the New Jersey Association of Community Theater’s “2015 Community Theater of the Year”, is proud to announce its 84th consecutive season, running from September 2016 to June 2017. From an entertaining musical to hilarious comedies to intense dramas, BCP has garnered a reputation for outstanding quality productions at affordable prices. As audiences have been anxiously anticipating, the new season kicks off with the Tony Award winning musical, Cabaret.
Donors who make a tax-deductible contribution of $85 now have early access for tickets to Cabaret and the rest of the 2016-17 season by ordering online at www.bcplayers.org. Ticket sales to non-donors will begin on August 10th via online or by phone at 201-261-4200. The box office, located at the Little Firehouse Theatre, 298 Kinderkamack Road in Oradell, NJ, will then open on Thursday, August 18th for walk up and phone sales. Special discounts for groups of 20 or more are also available by calling the box office number (extension 6) or by emailing
groups@bcplayers.org.
ON THE MAINSTAGE
Cabaret
September 10 – October 8, 2016
Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb, Book by Joe Masteroff
Based on the play I Am a Camera by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood
Directed by Alan Demovsky
Tickets are $24 (all performances)
"Wilkommen" to Berlin in the early 1930s, as one of the most honored shows in Broadway history (eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical of 1967) introduces you to Sally Bowles, party girl and wannabe star at the seedy Kit Kat Klub. As friends and neighbors are affected by the rising political storm around them, Sally and the decadent Emcee perform Kander and Ebb's memorable score, including the famous title song, which contains the perfect invitation to join us for an evening of entertainment: "What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play. Life is a Cabaret, old chum, Come to the Cabaret." 1998 Version; contains adult, sexual content and smoking.
The Last Night of Ballyhoo
October 22 – November 12, 2016
Written by Alfred Uhry
Directed by Carol Fisher
Tickets are $21 Friday & Saturday/ $17 Sunday
The biting comedy that was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and won the Tony Award for Best Play of 1997 highlights a Jewish family in
1939 Atlanta whose main goal is to assimilate at any cost. Alfred Uhry, the author of Driving Miss Daisy and Parade, manages to wrap
this cautionary tale in an appealing family drama laced with abundant humor and considerable compassion for the imperfections in everyday life. "The show is tight and entertaining from start to finish. Like all family-oriented shows, the comedy and drama come within the characters and their interaction." EXAMINER.COM
The Emperor’s New Clothes
November 26 – December 18, 2016
Prince Street Players Version
Music by Jeanne Bargy & Jim Eiler, Lyrics and Book by Jim Eiler
Directed by Lynne Lupfer
Tickets are $14 (all performances)
Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s satirical tale, two con-men wreak havoc at Wits Ends Palace when they present their Emperor with a special gift: an exquisitely beautiful "magic" suit of clothes, invisible to all but the wisest of men. The dangers of vanity are hilariously addressed with a host of delightful characters, a dozen songs with catchy music and clever lyrics, inventive staging and colorful costumes. Perfect for children age 10 and under!
The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940
January 14 – February 4, 2017
Written by John Bishop
Directed by Steven Bell
Tickets are $21 Friday & Saturday/ $17 Sunday
Is this a musical...or a comedy...or a murder mystery? How about "a comedy that’s about a musical, wrapped up in a murder mystery”? The story finds the creative team that was responsible for an ill-fated Broadway show in which three chorus girls were murdered by the Stage Door Slasher brought together again at the Westchester estate of a wealthy “angel” for auditions of a new show. Mayhem ensues, featuring revolving bookcases, hidden passageways and secret identities, giving way to a riotous homage to the thrillers of Hollywood’s heyday (including Nazi spies...after all, it is 1940!).
Time Stands Still
February 18 – March 11, 2017
Written by Donald Margulies
Directed by Ray Yucis
Tickets are $21 Friday & Saturday/ $17 Sunday
Can a couple who make their living reporting on war, one as a correspondent and the other as a photojournalist, carve out a normal life? Can they stay together amidst unspoken betrayals and conflicting ideals? What is their role in covering atrocities but taking no action to stop them? Nominated for both a Tony and Outer Critic Circles Award as Best Play of 2010, this play "is handily Donald Margulies’s finest play since the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Dinner With Friends.” NY TIMES
Night Watch
March 25 – April 22, 2017
Written by Lucille Fletcher
Directed by Jerry Hurley
** No performances on April 14 or 16 for Good Friday/Easter
Tickets are $21 Friday & Saturday/ $17 Sunday
An ingeniously devised thriller builds steadily in menace and suspense until the final, breath-stopping moment of its unexpected, twist ending. Coming from the same author who penned the film noir “Sorry, Wrong Number”, this is "A most superior thriller…which from its first blood-curdling scream to its last charming surprise is a first-class example of its genre." NY TIMES
Chapter Two
May 6 – June 4, 2017
Written by Neil Simon
Directed by Jerry Pettinati
** No performances May 26-28 for Memorial Day Weekend
Tickets are $21 Friday & Saturday/ $17 Sunday
Neil Simon at his autobiographical best! Based on his own courtship of actress Marsha Mason following the death of his first wife, the play is a transitional moment in his development as a writer, in which he focused more seriously on relationship drama. But being Neil Simon, he can't help but make it warm and hilarious along the way. "Neil Simon is at his best here. There is nothing in the script that is dated by time. All of the conversations...are just as vital, urgent, funny and hurtful now as when they were written. The witty repartee and comedic rhythm of Simon is all there." TALKIN' BROADWAY
SECOND STAGE
Impromptu, written by Tad Mosel
Patio/Porch, written by Jack Heifner
March 4 & 5, 2017
Directed by Paul J. Reitnauer III
Tickets are $11 (all performances)
Enjoy a clever comedy with Impromptu as four actors sitting on a darkened stage improvise a show while waiting for instructions from their stage manager. Then be mesmerized by two character-driven small-town dramas with Patio/Porch; all three short plays can be seen in one entertaining 75 minute production!
Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays
June 10 & 11, 2017
Conceived by Brian Shnipper
Directed by Mark Rinis
Tickets are $11 (all performances)
This 90 minute collection of hilarious and poignant short plays and monologues by renowned playwrights such as Neil LaBute, Paul Rudnick, Mo Gaffney and Doug Wright is a “…genial, often funny celebration of the recent advances in winning marital rights for gay and lesbian couples, and how the changing laws are changing lives.” NY TIMES.
* Contains mature language and content.
