Holiday theater on Cape Cod begins with 3 stories of love and life
Three plays open just before the holiday season begins, and while all are about love, family and life, only one happens at Christmas. Here are the new stage choices at Cape Cod theaters this weekend through the start of December:
‘Tiny Beautiful Things’
For its next show, Provincetown Theater will present “Tiny Beautiful Things,” Nia Vardalos’ staged adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s bestselling book. The play, according to theater officials, personifies the questions and answers that Sugar magazine was publishing online from 2010-2012 when Strayed was advice columnist there. The play is described as being about “reaching when you’re stuck, healing when you’re broken, and finding the courage to take on the questions which have no answers.”
The show stars Sara Fitzpatrick as Sugar, William Mullin (who's also co-host of "The Mosquito Story Slam"), Tom Sharp, and Anne Stott. Making her Cape directorial debut with the production will be Rebecca Berger, who has stage-managed numerous shows at the theater. The design team will be Ellen Rousseau (scenery), Carol Sherry (costumes) and Stephen Petrilli (lighting).
Shows are at 7 p.m. Thursdays (except Thanksgiving) through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays Nov. 17-Dec. 4 at the theater, 238 Bradford St. Tickets and information: https://provincetowntheater.org/.
‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’
In “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” it’s 1920 in the seaside town of Swansea and 11-year-old Dylan – destined to become a world-renowned poet one day – loves adventure, has a vivid imagination and loves time with his family and friends. This final show of Eventide Theatre Company’s “No One Is Alone” season is based on a piece of prose by Dylan Thomas that was recorded in 1952.
The full-length musical play will be directed by Stephen O’Rourke, with musical director Sarah Fachada. They and the cast have put together a piece with music, dance and dialogue that Eventide describes as creating “a beautiful moment of a simpler time,” a day that is both “adventurous and magical … filled with squabbles, riddles, laughs, disasters, miracles, aunts, uncles, gifts, much food and parsnip wine, ghost stories, song and dance, and the essence of all our Christmases, just the way Christmas always should be.”
Actors will include Cathy Ode as the Mother, Liz Argo as Hannah, Janet Moore as Nellie and Toby Wilson as Glyn. Eventide newcomer Connor McLeod will play Dylan Thomas.
Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 18-19, 26 and Dec. 1-2, plus 2 p.m. Nov. 27 and Dec. 3-4 at the Dennis Union Church, 713 Main St. (Route 6A); $31, $16 for under age 12; https://www.eventidearts.org/, 508-322-2148. The Dec. 3 matinee offers reduced ticket prices for children under 12.
‘The Sound of Music’
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music” is such a beloved musical that tickets for this holiday show by Cotuit Center for the Arts sold quickly as soon as they were released in October. Check with the center for availability and waiting lists.
The story is set in Austria 1938, when a young governess, Maria, returns music and joy to the motherless Von Trapp family as all their lives are about to change with the Nazis gaining power. Familiar songs include "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," "My Favorite Things," "Do Re Mi" and "Sixteen Going on Seventeen."
The Cotuit production is directed by Michael Duarte, with musical direction by Pamela Wannie. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays (except Thanksgiving) and Fridays, 5 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays Nov. 22 to Dec. 18 at the center, 4404 Falmouth Road (Route 28). Tickets: $40, $35 for members, $38 for seniors/veterans, $15 for students, free for age 5 and under; https://artsonthecape.org/.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod theater: Holiday shows begin in Provincetown, Dennis, Cotuit
