A contemporary take on \u201cAlice in Wonderland\u201d and a parody of a hit sci-fi TV series take the stage in Lehigh Valley premieres.<\/p>\n
Star of the Day Event Productions presents \u201cWonderland,\u201d May 8 to May 17 in Between the Lines Theatre, Allentown.<\/p>\n
Civic Theatre of Allentown presents \u201cStranger Sings!,\u201d May 8 to May 17 in the Nineteenth Street Theatre, Allentown.<\/p>\n
\u201cStranger Sings! The Parody Musical\u201d is a Lehigh Valley premiere at Civic Theater. The Civic production is directed by Civic Theatre of Allentown Artistic Director William Sanders.<\/p>\n
The show is a spoof of the Netflix series, \u201cStranger Things,\u201d which aired 2016 to 2025.<\/p>\n
Nick Flatto, the original Off-Broadway director of \u201cStranger Sings\u201d (2022-2023), is expected to attend the May 8 opening night performance at Civic Theatre.<\/p>\n
Flatto, a Muhlenberg College graduate, will participate in a meet-and-greet and offer a behind-the-scenes perspective of the show.<\/p>\n
Flatto, a Bethlehem native and 2006 Liberty High School graduate, studied theater and dance at Muhlenberg College, where he performed in many shows, including \u201cFiddler on the Roof,\u201d \u201cKiss Me Kate,\u201d \u201cBat Boy\u201d and \u201cRuddigore.\u201d<\/p>\n
The TV series, \u201cStranger Things,\u201d which takes place in the 1980s, centers on residents of the fictional town of Hawkins, Ind., where Eleven, a girl with psychokinetic abilities, inadvertently creates a wormhole known as the Upside Down, at a nearby secretive government research facility connecting Earth to a hostile realm called the Abyss.<\/p>\n
\u201cStranger Sings! The Parody Musical\u201d is a send-up of the 1980s\u2019-inspired science-fiction phenomenon, \u201cStranger Things.\u201d Music and book is by Jonathan Hogue.<\/p>\n
The parody musical has catchy songs, over-the-top characters and 1980s\u2019 references<\/p>\n
Eleven (Angie Dries) and her friends battle the Demogorgon (Max McCurdy), navigate middle-school crushes, and uncover the mysteries of the Upside Down, all with tongues firmly in cheek.<\/p>\n
From Steve\u2019s (Anthony Rizzuto) glorious hair to Barb\u2019s (Mackenzie Lewis) triumphant return, \u201cStranger Sings!\u201d pokes fun at every twist, turn and waffle along the way in the TV show.<\/p>\n
The cast includes Mason MacGowan, AJ Rodriguez, Jayden McFaddin, Mariel Letourneau, Joey Troiano, Doug Ace, Brooke Harrsch, Chelsea Soto, Nate Rosario, Shelby Shaffer and David Lippincott.<\/p>\n
Civic Theatre offers pay-what-you-can tickets for the May 9 performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cStranger Sings! The Parody Musical,\u201d 7:30 p.m. May 8, 9, 14, 15; 2 p.m., 7:30 p.m. May 16; 3 p.m. May 17, Civic Theatre of Allentown, 527 N. 19th St., Allentown. 610-433-8903, https:\/\/civictheatre.com\/<\/p>\n
Star of the Day Event Productions is presenting the Lehigh Valley premiere of \u201cWonderland,\u201d a modern spin on the classic story of \u201cAlice in Wonderland,\u201d featuring a pop score by \u201cJekyll & Hyde\u201d composer Frank Wildhorn.<\/p>\n
\u201cWonderland,\u201d with book by Jack Murphy and Gregory Boyd and lyrics by Murphy, is inspired by the novels \u201cAlice\u2019s Adventures in Wonderland\u201d and \u201cThrough the Looking-Glass\u201d by Lewis Carroll.<\/p>\n
The musical, set in in the high-stakes, fast-paced world of modern-day Manhattan, focuses on game designer Alice Cornwinkle (Jessie Dau Hughes) and her 10-year-old daughter Chloe (Adleigh Burdine).<\/p>\n
\u201cThis modern, high-energy adaptation brings the beloved Wonderland characters to life with a contemporary score that will delight all ages,\u201d says Daniel Petrovich, director.<\/p>\n
The show premiered on Broadway in 2011.<\/p>\n
In the musical\u2019s storyline, just moments away from a promotion, Alice has been estranged from her husband and alienated from her daughter, when a broken service elevator transports her into a colorful, dazzling and \u201cback-stabbing\u201d Wonderland.<\/p>\n
In Wonderland, she encounters strange yet familiar characters, including a Cheshire Cat with a Latin flair (Benjamin Ruth), a delightfully dotty Queen of Hearts (Dara Connelly), and\u202fa malicious, fashion-forward Mad Hatter (Raven Whitefawn).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are beyond excited to bring this reimagined, contemporary journey to Allentown audiences,\u201d says Kirsten Almeida, choreographer and founder of Star of the Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis show is a joyful, thrilling adventure about rediscovering your inner child and learning to believe in yourself again. It is truly a celebration of self-discovery, filled with a massive, pop-rock score that will absolutely blow the roof off the theater,\u201d Almeida says.<\/p>\n
The cast includes Nathaniel Lawall, Jared LaMar, Joseph Mowad, Safran Astra, Sean McFarland, Courtney Bodnar, Lydia Frei, Rebecca Herrera, Logan Razar, Julisa Trinidad and Hannah Zarate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWonderland,\u201d 7:30 p.m. May 8, 9, 15, 16; 3 p.m. May 10, 17, Star of the Day, Between the Lines Studio Theatre, 725 N. 15th St., Allentown.484-809-9228, https\/\/www.staroftheday.org\/<\/p>\n
\u201cCurtain Rises\u201d is a column about the theater, stage shows, the actors in them and the directors and artists who make them happen. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com<\/p>\n
CONTRIBUTED PHOTONick Flatto, original director, \u201cStranger Sings! The Parody Musical.\u201d<\/p>\n
CONTRIBUTED PHOTORaven Whitefawn (Mad Hatter), Jessie Dau Hughes (Alice), \u201cWonderland,\u201d Star of the Day Event Productions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A contemporary take on \u201cAlice in Wonderland\u201d and a parody of a hit sci-fi TV series take the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-187021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}