On Theater: SCFTA lineup features shows based on movies
Something old (“Anything Goes”), something new (“War Horse”) and a lot of shows in between (most of which were inspired by movies) have been announced for the 2012-13 season at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, which begins its 26th season this fall.
Leading things off will be “Memphis,” the 2010 Tony Award winner for best musical, which will run from Nov. 6 to 18. It’s a fictionalized account of Dewey Phillips, one of the first white disc jockeys to play African-American style music in the 1950s.
Playing at the center over the Christmas holidays will be “The Addams Family,” which has evolved from the ghoulish cartoons of Charles Addams to a popular television show to a pair of movies. This haunting attraction will be on stage from Dec. 18 to 30.
A show that inspired a recent Oscar-nominated movie, “War Horse,” will occupy the center from Jan. 22 through Feb. 3, 2013. This winner of four Tony Awards focuses on a boy’s efforts to regain his steed, which was “drafted” for duty in World War I.
The ever-popular “Wicked” makes its third visit to Costa Mesa from Feb. 19 to March 17, 2013, spinning the “back story” about the witches of Oz before Dorothy arrived. Still running on Broadway following its debut in 2003, “Wicked” has become the 13th longest running show in Broadway history.
“Billy Elliot, the Musical” will be in town from April 16 to 28, 2013. Based on the 2000 movie, this 2005 Broadway show with music by Elton John centers on a young man who trades his boxing gloves for ballet shoes and travels a rocky road to success.
Another show with its roots in cinema is “Flashdance,” which — unlike the other Center attractions — is on its way to, rather than from, Broadway. Based on the 1983 movie, it (like “Billy Elliot”) focuses on a young welder’s urge to make a career in show business. Performance dates are May 7 to 19, 2013.
“Catch Me If You Can” was a hit movie for Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio, based on the true story of a great young impostor and his hide-and-seek game with the FBI. Now a stage musical, it’s ticketed for the center from June 25 to 30, 2013.
Audiences will remember “Sister Act” as a movie comedy with Whoopi Goldberg in a “Some Like It Hot” plot as a woman fleeing murderous thugs, who disguises herself as a nun and shakes up a convent. The Broadway version, produced by Goldberg, arrives Aug. 6, 2013, and plays through Aug. 18.
Finally, there’s “Anything Goes,” Cole Porter’s seagoing musical from 1934, which has been revived again and again through the years. The latest touring incarnation arrives Sept. 10, 2013, and plays briefly through Sept. 15.
For more information, or advance ticket purchases, go to https://www.scfta.org.
TOM TITUS covers local theater for the Daily Pilot.
