Playreading Suggestions
Our playreading committee works hard to sort through hundreds of shows each year to develop our season. If you have any plays or musicals you’d like to suggest for consideration, please tell us here.
Friday, October 17
Sheffel Theatre - The Mousetrap - 6:00 p.m. dinner, 8:00 p.m. show
Oldfather Theatre - WTCT Radio Players @ 8:00 pm
Topeka Civic Theatre & Academy 3028 SW 8th Avenue Topeka, KS 66606 Tickets: (785) 357-5211 Office: (785) 357-5213
February 11th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I keep hearing about The Great American Trailer Park Musical. I read the plot synopsis and it looks hilarious…and has strong lead roles for women (something that is hard to find in a lot of shows). Has anybody heard the music from it? I love the premise!
February 21st, 2008 at 8:23 am
Watched “Company” last night on PBS. It was really fun. I had done the show many years ago but this was so different. With all of the actors and actresses playing instruments as well as singing, dancing, and acting it was astonishing. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend seeing it; although the times scheduled are not quite the best times if you work and sleep during the night, which is what most of us do. I am glad I caught It, purely by chance, last night at eight.
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Company is a great show… one of my favorite things I’ve been in! I think it’d be a great show for TCTA to look into (maybe without the cast playing instruments… that’s not my favorite idea), since there are many strong musical theatre folks in Topeka in the perfect age range for the show.
February 24th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Company was really good on PBS! It would love to see TCT produce that show is seasons to come. I’d also like to see Hairspray, Light in the Piazza, or White Christmas.
I’d really like to see the Academy to the sequel to The Taste of Sunrise, Mother Hicks. Also, Seussical looks really good!
I would love to see The Laramie Project on the Studio Series Season.
February 25th, 2008 at 9:36 am
I would like to see TCTA stage Darren Canady’s play in the studio theatre.
March 1st, 2008 at 10:35 pm
I second the motion for Suessical!
It’s an amazing show, and I think the Academy could do an amazing job with it. It also has a really good message for teens, and kids!
March 4th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Also,
Dead Poet’s Society would be really neat for the studio
March 26th, 2008 at 10:32 am
I agree with “Company”! I’ve seen a KC community theatre production and it’s a great show, lots of good roles for men and women! I also agree that “the Laramie Project” would be great for the studio.
I’d also love to see TCTA stage “Sweet Charity” (there’s great women roles) and Neil Simon’s “Rumors” (also great show with good men and women roles).
We did “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” at ESU (in 2000 I think) it’s not a very popular show, but it’s a fun mystery musical with a different ending every night. The audience votes and picks the murderer. It’d be something different than TCTA has staged before and there’s lots of audience interaction and participation!
July 31st, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I think that Urinetown proved that the studio can be a huge success, and I’m pretty sure High School Musical is going to do the same. I would love to see or participate in ‘The Last 5 Years’ or ‘Forbidden Broadway’ or another revue in the studio. Really, anything that’s a little outside the box.
August 20th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I would really like to see a great Rodgers and Hammerstein classic like South Pacific, State Fair, The Sound of Music, or Carousel. I think it’s been way to long since we’ve gotten a classic musical up on the Sheffel stage, so I’m very excited for My Fair Lady.
Perhaps Hairspray, Aida, or The Pajama Game for the Mainstage as well?
I also would like to see some revue type shows in the Studio Series.
I really liked having High School Musical in the Academy this year for several reasons. It was nice to see a big, full length production done in the Academy. I also liked the idea of having shows that are for more High School aged kids. I think it would be really fun to see something like Bye Bye Birdie in the Academy.
August 20th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
“The Sea Gull” by Anton Chekov. “Miss Julie” but August Strindberg. “Hedda Gabler” by Henrik Ibsen. “Betrayal” by Harold Pinter. “Beyond Therapy” by Christopher Durang. “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” by Steve Martin. “Largo Desolato” by Vaclav Havel. “American Buffalo” by David Mamet. “The Pillowman” by Martin McDonagh. “Proof” by David Auburn. “‘night, Mother” by Marsha Norman. “Closer” by Patrick Marber. “Frozen” by Byrony Lavery. “The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?” by Edward Albee. “Arcadia” by Tom Stoppard.
I don’t care what stage they’re on- they’re great plays.
August 21st, 2008 at 8:05 am
I would like to see/do Fiddler on the Roof, possibly West Side Story. I agree that The Laramie Project would be good for the studio series and that it would be nice to see Darren Canady’s work done at TCTA.
August 21st, 2008 at 8:45 am
“Hairspray,” “Aida,” “Rent,” “Miss Siagon,” “Sound of Music,” “Lion King,” — I’m a sucker for the mainstream productions b/c I can’t afford a trip to Broadway.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:26 am
I’d like to see someone do “Mastergate” by Larry Gelbart. It’s a classic political spoof that would be especially amusing in the current campaign atmosphere without being especially partisan.
August 21st, 2008 at 10:12 am
Some musicals I think would be great to do are “The Secret Garden”, “Follies” by Sondheim, “Mama Mia”, “Hairspray”, and “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”.
August 21st, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Ooh! I forgot about Edwin Drood. I honestly can’t say I know the show well but it sounds really interesting, especially considering the audience votes to determine which ending they see.
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:22 am
I agree that we need a production of a Darren Cannady play (any of them). I would also suggest “Sunset Boulevard”.
August 24th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Anything by Tennessee Williams, but particularly Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Fool for Love or True West by Sam Shepard, The Seagull by Anton Chekov, Closer by Patrick Marber, Henry V by William Shakespeare, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, The Dresser by Ronald Harwood, Parallel Lives by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy, Wit by Margaret Edson.
August 26th, 2008 at 11:03 am
How about,…Xanadu? Just kidding. I think “Thoroughly Modern Millie” would be a great show for TCTA. Fun characters, catchy music and just enough dancing to not be overwhelming. Musicals in the 1920’s, 1930’s genre are also very appealing across the board with audiences, and it’s still a relatively new musical, so I think people will still be curious. If they’ve seen and liked the original movie, they’ll love the musical. Also, when the rights become available, “Avenue Q” would be a fun show for the Studio. I’ve been told a company is going to construct and lease out the puppets, so the theatre wouldn’t have to stress that aspect of it. (Kudos for supporting Darren Cannady’s work!)
August 26th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Darren Canady’s work should definitely be considered — he’s one of our own, and his talent should be showcased in his hometown theaters.
It has been a very long time since TCTA has done a Tennessee Williams or a William Inge, or since we’ve taken a chance on a Sartre or an Edward Albee. What about the Greek tragedies? The themes of Oedipus and Medea and the gang never grow old. I’d love to see one of those classics raised from the dead.
I also have heard a lot about the Trailer Park musical, and it sounds kind of fun. Saw “Out of Order” at the new theater, and while I’m not a big fan of farces, I really enjoyed it. I think it would go over really well in the after-Holidays slot when the Legislature is in town since it deals with a philandering lawmaker. It has some absolutely hysterical moments. Fast paced and lots of fun. One set. A trick window. LOTS of fun roles.
Company is an old favorite. It desperately needs to be updated in presentation (I saw a production at Missouri Rep a few years ago that had been updated without resorting to making all the performers play instruments…that kind of bothered me in the production of Sweeney Todd I saw over at the Music Hall.)
Another production I’d love to see considered again is Jesus Christ Superstar. If presented in the late winter/early spring slot, around the time of Lent and Easter, I think it could be huge. Even more, there is a lovely blend of young and older talent out there that could really do justice to it. AND I think the interest in the look, colors and patterns of the 60’s - 70’s out there could really be played into. And the right choreographer could have a heyday.
And of course, since Secret Garden got bumped, I’d like to see it reconsidered. There are three men’s moments in Topeka theater that are set like crystal in my memory: David Pomeroy and Evan Gamsu singing “Pretty Women” in the WU production of Sweeney Todd, Jeff Templin and Glen Gabbard singing “I am I, Don Quixote” in Man of LaMancha, and best of all, Lee Lassiter and Jeff Templin singing “Lily’s Eyes” in Secret Garden. Of course I have other great memories, too, but Lily’s Eyes is probably the very best.
Okay. There. That’s ALL I have to say about that.
August 28th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Suggestions for consideration from this household are: Great Expectations; Chorus Line; Xanadu; Willa Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; and Hairspray.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:35 am
I saw a play in Kansas City that was wonderful! It was The Perfect Wedding by Robin Hawdon. It would be fabulous with the comedic talents of our TCT folks!
August 28th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
A play I saw and a young teen that still has stayed with was “The Curious Savage” by John Patrick. It is a great play and I feel in love with it…
October 1st, 2008 at 9:47 am
I agree with a 20’s musical, it would be very popular I think. Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anything Goes, 42nd Street would all do well in the Sheffel at anytime in the season.
I’d like to see TCT stage Rumors by Neil Simon, such a fun show with great men and women characters.
The Last 5 Years by Jason Robert Brown would be great in the studio.
I’m very glad that TCT is staging “Striking 12″, it is such a great, unique show - everyone should be sure to catch it over this holiday season! A modern twist on a classic story with awesome rock music and talented musicians! Don’t miss it!!