Civic Theatre of Allentown is staging a musical about an iconic ogre, and Touchstone Theatre is announcing a change in leadership.<\/p>\n
Civic is presenting \u201cShrek The Musical,\u201d Oct. 17 to Nov. 2 on the Main Stage in the historic 19th Street Theater, Allentown.<\/p>\n
Touchstone has announced that Lisa Jordan, who has been the Bethlehem theater\u2019s managing director for 18 years is stepping down from that role.<\/p>\n
Civic brings everyone\u2019s favorite ogre to life with the Broadway hit \u201cShrek The Musical,\u201d based on the 2001 film \u201cShrek.\u201d<\/p>\n
The musical, which ran on Broadway from 2008 to 2011 and was nominated for nine Tony Awards, faithfully recreates the hit animated film on stage, telling the story of a green-skinned Ogre named Shrek (Richie Warmkessel) who rescues Princess Fiona (Brooke Harrsch) from the evil Lord Farquaad (Jarrod Yuskauskas) with the help of a Donkey (Noah Schafer), who talks.<\/p>\n
The musical adds humorous songs by Tony-nominated composer Jeanine Tesori. The cast recording of the show was nominated for a Grammy for best musical show album.<\/p>\n
The movie \u201cShrek,\u201d based on William Steig\u2019s 1990 book \u201cShrek!,\u201d was a huge hit for DreamWorks, and won the Oscar for best animated film in 2002. The unforgettable characters became a part of pop culture and the movie spawned four sequel movies, television shows and is a hugely successful franchise.<\/p>\n
The musical features clever and catchy tunes, including \u201cFreak Flag,\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s Up, Duloc?;\u201d \u201cBig, Bright Beautiful World,\u201d \u201cI Know It\u2019s Today,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t Let Me Go\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m a Believer.\u201d<\/p>\n
For theater buffs, the show features in-jokes. Look for references to \u201cThe Lion King,\u201d \u201cGypsy,\u201d \u201cLes Miserables,\u201d \u201cA Chorus Line\u201d and \u201cWest Side Story.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cast includes Mack Bolan, Alyssa Weber, Patrick Mertz, Helena Putney, Hannah Snyder, Connor Simmons and Cashton Morrow.<\/p>\n
The musical is directed by William Sanders, with musical direction by Nick Conti.<\/p>\n
\u201cShrek The Musical,\u201d 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17, 18, 24, 25, 31; 3 p.m. Oct. 26, Nov. 2; 3 p.m., 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1, Civic Theatre of Allentown, 527 N. 19th St., Allentown. 610-433-8903, https:\/\/civictheatre.com\/<\/p>\n
On Sept. 29, Lisa Jordan announced in an email that she is leaving her role as managing director of Touchstone Theatre and taking a position at the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley as a grants administrator.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am proud to continue serving our community there,\u201d Jordan stated.<\/p>\n
She will continue at Touchstone as an ensemble member and adjunct faculty for the Touchstone\/Moravian MFA program.<\/p>\n
There are several other administrative changes. Artistic director Jp Jordan will become Touchstone\u2019s executive director. Ensemble member Matt Prideaux will take on the new role of director of marketing and production. The 2024-25 season intern Haley Arnold has been named administrative and audience services associate. Touchstone\/Moravian MFA graduate Amber Charest has been named assistant education director.<\/p>\n
Jordan calls her announcement \u201cexciting and bittersweet news for myself and the company.\u201d<\/p>\n
She has been involved with Touchstone for 24 years and acted as managing director for nearly 18 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cTouchstone was my first professional home after college and internships,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve spent nearly half my life here, growing up both professionally and artistically, and building the most extraordinary community along the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile it\u2019s hard to imagine stepping back, it\u2019s the right time, and I\u2019m moving forward with gratitude for all that has been and excitement for what\u2019s to come for both myself and Touchstone.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is grateful to be able to remain connected with Touchstone and its community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t goodbye,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s simply to be continued.\u201d<\/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
Brooke Harrsch (Princess Fiona), \u201cShrek The Musical,\u201d Civic Theatre of Allentown.<\/p>\n
Lisa Jordan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Civic Theatre of Allentown is staging a musical about an iconic ogre, and Touchstone Theatre is announcing a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-8734","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\/8734","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=8734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}