Theatre Notes About Three New Shows

There are three theatre stories to check out on the Herald-Dispatch online. For example:

- Go here and read my pal Dave Lavender's preview of the show that takes the stage next week - the touring show of Cats. Here's an excerpt:

More than 8.5 million purring fans can't be wrong.

Based on T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, and power-packed with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cats is without a doubt one of the most popular musicals of all times.

Cats set records for longevity in London, scratched out the second-longest-run on Broadway, and on the road, the big '80s musical has lived up to its motto, "Now and Forever" playing in some 26 countries and five continents.

Come Monday and Tuesday, the behemoth musical that cost some $5 million when it first came to Broadway in the early 1980s, brings its amazing and playful musical junkyard to the stage at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center, 925 4th Ave.

The Monday night show, produced by the Marshall Artists Series is sold out, as is a Tuesday morning school show that will be performed for more than 2,200 area school children from around the Tri-State.

Tickets do remain for a second night show at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $55, $50 and $45 and are on sale now at the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center box office and all Ticketmaster locations, online at ticketmaster.com or call 304-696-6656 for more details.

As a testament to Cats' popularity we caught up with actor Adam Steiner (Rum Tum Tugger). He has only been with the touring production of Cats since February 2009, but has already been to most states, as well as South and Central America.

A graduate of Western Michigan University, Steiner said it was an amazing experience sharing Cats with audiences in South America, many whom were experiencing their first taste of American Broadway shows.

"It was just phenomenal, and we had sold out houses over and over. It was just an honor to be there as one of the first Broadway shows to go down there," Steiner said. "It's something people had only heard about, but they hadn't seen a full production, so it was so cool for them and for us to be immersed into their culture. It really was amazing to get to go and get a feel for each individual place that we were performing it in."

And here's a show that has its origins a bit closer to home - it takes the stage (and the dinner table) Valentine's weekend:

First United Methodist Church is thrilled to present yet another brand-new comedy by local actor, playwright and drama instructor Jonathan Joy.

First Church Dinner Theater will be hosting the World Premiere of Bitsy, Boots and Friends for your Valentine’s entertainment.

The show will take place Feb. 12-14. Dinner served at 6:30 p.m., the show begins at 8 p.m. There is a choice of entrees: Prime Rib au Jus or Glazed Cornish hen, with Tossed Salad, Baked Potato, Green peas and Pearl Onions, Dilly Rolls and assorted Valentine Desserts.

Tickets: Dinner plus Show: Adult - $22, Child under 12 - $8, Show only (as space permits) - $5. Babysitting available on request for all shows (advance notice required). Reservations are required for all shows. For Reservations, call: 304-522-0357 or 740-867-8576.

Bitsy, Boots and Friends presents still more of the unexpected, as Tommy brings his bride to southern Ohio for another visit with the two oddball aunts who raised him, their even odder cousin Ida, and an assortment of other friends, new and old.

Then go here to read about a show I knew nothing about (but it sounds like a great one to check out):

The Memory House, a two-person play by Kathleen Tolan, will be performed at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights at Marshall's Francis Booth Experimental Theatre inside the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center.

Directed by Marshall University Department of Theatre student, Mary Poindexter Williams, the play is free and open to the public.

Set in a Manhattan apartment on a New Year’s Eve, the play follows a recently-divorced mother baking a pie as her daughter tires of finishing a college essay exploring her childhood memories. As the essay deadline looms, unexamined issues of the girl’s adoption from Russia, questions of her loyalty to one’s culture and country, her parents divorce and the fear of leaving home, surface as her mom works through her own loss and sadness.

The mom, Maggie, is played by veteran Huntington area actress, Linda Reynolds, and the daughter is a Marshall student, Rachel Kenaston, who is a senior theater and French major and also a Yeager Scholar.

For more theater events, go online at www.marshall.edu/cofa and click onto Theatre.