Centenary Stage Company announces 2019/20 season of events with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Darlene Love slated to kick off the season. Now available to Season Subscribers the 2019/20 season features a host of professional theatre productions including the return of Centenary Stage Company’s popular Fringe Festival, the January Music Festival highlighting an array of top tier musicians, as well as a vast selection of dance events featuring premiere professional dance companies. The 2019/20 season of events is now available for Season Subscribers only.
Individual ticket sales will be available to the general public beginning July 1, 2019.
Curtain Up with Darlene Love
WHEN: Saturday, September 21, at 8:00 pm
WHERE: Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center, 715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown
TICKETS: $49.50 for orchestra seating and $45.00 for mezzanine seating in advance. All ticket prices increase $5.00 on the day of the performance.
The 2019/20 season launches with the annual Curtain Up event featuring Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Darlene Love. Hailed as “One of the greatest singers of all time,”by Rolling Stone, Darlene Love continues to captivate audiences worldwide with her warm, gracious stage presence and sensational performances. Since the early sixties, as part of Phil Spector’s “wall of sound” hit factory, this great lady has done it all from major motion pictures to Broadway hits, even starring as herself in Leader of the Pack, credited as Broadway’s first “jukebox musical.”
Darlene has appeared on numerous television programs, running the gamut from her weekly appearances on Shindig to a recent guest spot on the PBS special entitled Women Who Rock. Her background vocals as a lead member of The Blossoms for Tom Jones, The Righteous Brothers, Dionne Warwick, Marvin Gaye, and Elvis Presley (to name but a few) set the stage for her emergence as a star. Her billboard hits include “He’s A Rebel,” “The Boy I’m Gonna Marry,” “Wait ‘Til My Bobby Gets Home,” “He’s Sure the Boy I Love” and the #1 holiday classic “Christmas Baby Please Come Home.” An autobiographical film is currently on the drawing board and another recent film Twenty Feet from Stardom that prominently features Darlene landed the Academy Award in 2013. Darlene is currently working on a new CD being produced by Stevie Van Zandt.
Professional Theatre Series
Centenary Stage Company’s 2019/20 Professional Theatre Series offers a mix of genres including a thriller, family musical spectacular, laugh out loud comedy and a world premiere.
The series begins October with Arnold Ridley’s comedic suspense thriller The Ghost Train. First produced in 1925 and filmed no less than three times, The Ghost Train has been a long running success in London, on Broadway and is packed with thrills, chills and laughter.
WHEN: October 4 – 20
WHERE: Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center, 715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown
The 2019/20 Professional Theatre Series continues with Centenary Stage Company’s annual Family Holiday Spectacular Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. An international sensation that played a remarkable 13-year run on Broadway, nominated for nine Tony Awards including Best Musical and has been produced in 37 countries worldwide, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is based on the Academy Award-winning animated feature. Centenary Stage Company’s Family Holiday Spectacular marks a culmination in all of CSC programming by combining professional guest artists with Centenary University students, students from our critically acclaimed Young Performers Workshop and local regional talent.
WHEN: November 29 – December 15
WHERE: Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center, 715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown
Neil Simon’s laugh-out-loud comedy The Sunshine Boys continues the Professional Theatre Series. Featuring comedy duo of CSC artistic director Carl Wallnau and CSC favorite Allen Lewis Rickman, Al and Willie as “Lewis and Clark” were top-billed vaudevillians for over 40 years. Now they aren’t even speaking. When CBS requests them for a “History of Comedy” retrospective, a grudging reunion brings the two back together, along with a flood of memories, miseries, and laughs.
WHEN: February 14 – March 1
WHERE: Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center, 715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown
A world premiere rounds out Centenary Stage Company’s mainstage Professional Theatre Series with Turning by Darrah Cloud March 26 through April 5. In the heart of 1930s Newark, New Jersey a group of scrappy young women began to train in backyard gyms for what would become the experience of a lifetime. Inspired by the real life stories of Hackettstown resident and 1st US Gymnastics Team member, Ada Lunardoni, Turning brings to life the story of the first US Women’s Gymnastics team to compete in the controversial 1936 Berlin Olympics. Part of the NJ Stage Exchange Program, in collaboration with the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.
WHEN: March 26 through April 5
WHERE: Edith Kutz Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center, 715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown
FRINGE FESTIVAL
The festival launches with Tim O’Brien’s literary classic The Things They Carried. Dramatized by Jim Stowell, The Things They Carried is the powerful telling of Tim O’Brien’s personal journey from his innocent years in rural Minnesota to the jungles of Vietnam. Audience discretion is advised.
WHEN: October 24 – 27
WHERE: Edith Kutz Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center, 715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown
The Fringe Festival continues November 7 through 10 with a celebration of the life and work of George M. Cohan in Cohan & Company. Based on the life of George M. Cohan this evening of song, dance and drama gives insight to one of America’s most prolific singing and tap dancing entrepreneurs.
WHEN: November 7 – 10
WHERE: Edith Kutz Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center, 715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown
The Fringe Festival closes with Kvetches of 1932. The production features songs and comic sketches from Yiddish and American vaudeville with miscellaneous related frou-frou and stars Yelena Shmulenson, Allen Lewis Rickman, the Shtetl couple from the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man and Shane Baker, the best loved Episcopalian on the Yiddish stage today.
WHEN: November 14 through 17
WHERE: Edith Kutz Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center, 715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown
JANUARY MUSIC FESTIVAL
Centenary Stage Company’s January Music Festival returns for the 2019/20 season.
- Big Brass opens the January Music Festival with Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass on Saturday, January 11, at 8:00 pm.
- The festival continues on Saturday, January 18, at 8:00 pm with the Bosa Nova Wave featuring Diego Figueiredo and Ken Poplowski.
- The festival closes on Saturday, January 25, at 8:00 pm with Sam Reider and the Human Hands.
WHERE: Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center, 715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown
TICKETS: $27.50 for adults and $17.50 for children under 12 in advance for each event. All ticket prices increase $5.00 on the day of the performance.
Concert Events
Centenary Stage Company also offers a selection of individual concert events for the 2019/20 season.
- On Saturday, March 14, at 8:00 pm Centenary Stage Company presents legendary Irish musician Seamus Egan in the Seamus Egan Project.
- Centenary Stage Company welcomes back Irish Tenor Timothy Liam Smith for a brand new show entitled ACT III: A Musical Journey on Sunday, March 8, at 2:00 pm.
WHERE: Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center, 715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown
Professional Dance Series
Professional Dance finds a home in the 2019/20 season with an array of dance events. The New Jersey Ballet returns to the Lackland Performing Arts Center’s Sitnik Theatre with two performances.
WHERE: Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center, 715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown
- On Saturday, November 2, at 8:00 pm The New Jersey Ballet presents the All-American Program featuring the American Masterwork Rodeo by Agnes De Mille with score by Aaron Copeland.
- Then on Sunday, November 3, at 2:00 pm The New Jersey Ballet returns with the family favorite Hansel & Gretel.
- Known for their site specific work Moe-tion Dance Theater, under the artistic direction of Maureen Glennon Clayton, returns to Centenary Stage Company on Saturday, March 7, at 8:00 pm.
- XY Dance Project returns to Centenary Stage Company on Sunday, May 3, at 3:00 pm with their unique movement style that blends contemporary dance through the spiritual rhythms of African dance, the grace and peace of Tai Chi and the heart of street dance.
NEXTSTAGE Repertory
Centenary Stage Company and Centenary University’s all student NEXTstage Repertory also returns for the 2019/20 season. NEXTstage Repertory productions feature Centenary University students in all elements of production from performance and design to technical and stage management.
- NEXTstage Repertory will present Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical September 26 – 30 in the Little Theatre
- Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor October 31 – November 4 in The Edith Kutz Theatre
- The Bachelorette by Leslye Headland February 6 – 10 in the Little Theatre
- Marisol by Jose Rivera March 19 – 23 in the Little Theatre
- I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change April 17 – 26 in the Sitnik Theatre.
TICKETS: range from $10.00 to $27.50 and vary by production and performance.
The 2019/20 Season of events is now available for season subscribers. Centenary Stage Company offers a variety of subscription options including the Season Producer Package. Centenary Stage Company’s Season Producer package offers patrons admission into 17 CSC events, including Curtain Up with Darlene Love, and all 5 NEXTstage Repertory events. In addition to up to 70% cost savings, the Season Producer package offers additional benefits including, early access to events, advance season renewal with preferred seating selection, no restrictions on the date/time of performance selection and no order, exchange or mailing fees. The Season Producer is $275 per patron.
Centenary Stage Company also offers a variety of Flex Pass subscription packages to bundle events and save. Flex passes provide patrons with discount ticket prices and the convenience of purchasing tickets at any time for each event. Series A Flex Pass grants entry to any 4 professional theatre series events, including Fringe Festival productions, for $100 per patron. Series B Flex Pass grants entry to any 6 CSC events for $150 per patron. Series C Flex Pass grants entry to any 3 CSC events for $84.00 per patron. Additional benefits include advance season renewal with preferred seating selection, no restrictions on the date/time of performance selection, discounted ticket prices and no order, exchange, or mailing fees. Patrons who wish to have specific seating for each event must provide dates and times when purchasing the Flex Pass by contacting the CSC Box Office directly. Flex Passes do not include Curtain Up with Darlene Love and do not carry over to the next season.
Individual tickets will be available for purchase to the general public beginning July 1, 2019. For more information, specific performance dates and ticket prices or to purchase your season subscription package visit centenarystageco.org or call the Centenary Stage Company box office at (908) 979 – 0900. The box office is located in the Lackland Performing Arts Center on the campus of Centenary University at 715 Grand Ave. Hackettstown, NJ. The box office is open Monday through Friday from 1 – 5 pm and two hours before every performance. Centenary Stage Company can also be found across social media platforms; Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Like and follow to receive the latest in Centenary Stage Company news and special offers.
Set in the first decade of the 20th century, Ragtime: The Musical interweaves three distinctly American stories: that of Mother, a stifled white, upper class wife; Tateh, a Jewish immigrant from Latvia determined to succeed in “Amerike”; and Coalhouse Walker, Jr., a talented and daring young black pianist who refuses to be held back by bigotry. All courageously break the chains of their respective social classes and exhibit a hope for a better future. Along the way, their trajectories cross, bringing happiness and tragedy in equal measure.
Once again, Jeffrey Fiorello shows off his masterful directorial talent, melding a cast of 35 into a true ensemble; moving them smoothly on, off and around Brandon Frumolt’s very versatile, yet spare, set (made up of various platforms and a pair of rolling staircases) through 18 different scenes; and getting his principal actors to express emotions and advance the story mostly through music supplemented by brief interludes of narration and dialogue. Robert Cruz’s sound, Mark Reilly’s lighting and Laura Iocometta’s props (there’s even a moving Model T Ford!) further enhance the production’s magnificence. And Mike Patierno’s beautiful costumes enable the large ensemble to assume a myriad of roles and telegraph the social status of the actors in the blink of an eye. (Above, right: a baseball game)
Standouts include an incandescent as Christina Ryan Mother, the New Rochelle housewife who takes charge of her life when her husband accompanies Admiral Peary to the North Pole. It is amazing to watch her metamorphosis from “one who stays put” to a woman with a mission. Anthony Crouchelli is terrific as Mother’s Younger Brother; he too undergoes a transformation: from louche playboy to anarchist. With a strong voice and great stage presence, he commands our attention whenever he appears. 
Dante Sterling’s suave, cool Coalhouse Walker Jr. is charming and sympathetic, and Amber Brown as Sarah (right) is heartbreakingly beautiful and vulnerable. As Tateh (above, left, with Grace Lustig), the Russian silhouette artist turned film director, Daniel Peter Vissers captures the immigrant’s optimism tinged with fear he won’t be able to provide for his child; his dignity in the face of abject poverty is palpable. Susan Speidel’s Emma Goldman is full of white-hot zeal, and Colleen Renee Lis (below, left) captures the charming silliness of Evelyn Nesbit, “The Girl in the Swing” and a real media darling of the period. Keith White’s Father is appropriately clueless about the changes in the world around him, and Justin Roth is adorable as his Little Boy.
The 18-member ensemble plays multiple roles, provides terrific vocal accompaniment and performs Aimee Sukel Mitacchion’s complex and evocative choreography with agility, energy and grace. Her having the three groups—white family, immigrants and blacks—circle is masterful. The 18 musicians led by Charles Santoro get the syncopation of ragtime music just right to provide a tuneful through line while complementing the actor/singers’ beautiful voices. 
