'Summer nights': 'Grease' musical kicks off Cape Playhouse season + 3 more new shows

Editors note: This story has been updated to reflect new dates for the Cape Playhouse production of "Grease."

Cape Playhouse in Dennis reopens June 8 with the musical "Grease" as its first indoor summer season in three years, featuring a director and actress oh-so-familiar with the show for its 50th anniversary. See story below, plus here are three other new shows.

And for theater reviews of "The Drag" at Provincetown Theater and "St. Francis" at Cotuit Center for the Arts, check out www.capecodtimes.com/entertainment:

► Mark Cortale's "Broadway @" series at Provincetown Town Hall (260 Commercial St.) kicks off with one of stage's biggest stars: six-time (a record!) Tony Award-winning actress Audra McDonald ("Gershwin's Porgy and Bess," "Carousel," "Ragtime"), singing and talking with Sirius XM radio's Seth Rudetsky as host/music director. The show will be at 6:30 p.m. May 29, with part of proceeds benefitting Sandy Hook Promise. Indie rock star Melissa Ferrick will be the opening act, and have her own show at 7:30 p.m. May 28 at the Art House. Tickets and information: https://provincetownarthouse.com/.

► Provincetown favorite Zoe Lewis will open the Art House season (214 Commercial St.) with her new mini-musical memoir "A Slice of P-Town," which has the subtitle “30 years of songs and stories inspired by one incredible little spit of land.” Shows at 7:30 p.m. May 27 and 6 p.m. May 28 will feature Qya Cristal, plus Parker Ousley on cello and Roxanne Layton on recorder. Tickets and information: https://provincetownarthouse.com/

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► "Silver Threads," the hit musical revue tribute to Linda Ronstadt, conceived by Sonia Schonning and Marcia Wytrwal and starring them and Sara Bleything, will move this summer to Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Falmouth Road (Route 28). Shows are June 1-19. Tickets and information: https://artsonthecape.org/.

Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll

Cape Playhouse opens season with "Grease"

Broadway veteran Joyce Chittick is excited to be directing “Grease” at Cape Playhouse when the historic Dennis theater opens June 8-18 — kicking off an indoor season for the first time in three years while also marking the 50th anniversary of the storied musical.

No stranger to the hit show, Chittick served as on-screen choreographer for segments of the reality television show “Grease: You’re the One That I Want” (2007); became associate choreographer for the musical’s Broadway revival (2007-2009); and was choreographer for its national tour (2008-2010).

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The high-energy musical about teen romance, friendship, rivalries and pranks at 1950s Rydell High is so familiar to many of us, she says, that it feels “like a singalong show” — think “Summer Nights,” “Greased Lightning” and “You’re the One That I Want.” And Chittick says she hopes to “deliver that quality” for the big season opener.

One exciting addition to the Cape show, Chittick says, will be an actress connected to the original “Grease” production. Ann-Ngaire Martin was a company member for the original 1972 Broadway run of “Grease” and, in 1978, was a replacement in the role of teen Patty Simcox. This year, she’ll be on the Dennis stage in the role of teacher Miss Lynch for the anniversary production.

Fans of the musical can join the fun, too. Cape Playhouse is holding a “Grease Costume Contest” for ticket-holders who arrive dressed in their best “Grease” get-up, take a photo on-site and post it on Facebook or Instagram.  The “Grease” cast will pick a winner, who'll receive two current season passes, all to be announced at the June 18 closing performance. (Stay tuned for contest details on Playhouse social media.)

As this return season is about to begin, Chittick is also back to a theater she knows well: She was principal choreographer for 2018’s blockbuster “South Pacific,” and also directed “A Chorus Line” in 2019 at Cape Playhouse.

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Chittick has performed as an actor, singer and dancer since the 1980s in a variety of Broadway productions and national tours as principal, ensemble member and understudy. Her more recent performing credits include “Sweet Charity” (2005), “Pajama Game” (2006) and “Anything Goes” (2011).

Over the past several years, Chittick’s wide spectrum of experience has prompted a move to directing and choreography. She recently served as associate choreographer for the Broadway run of “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” (2015) and its national tour.

On Cape Cod, Chittick recalls the “wild summer” of 2019, when a storm caused power outages that blacked out many areas. There were frantic pre-show rehearsals for “A Chorus Line,” she says, with only one light working onstage, via generator. Just moments before showtime, an aide rushed down the aisle with an announcement that the lights were coming on, and the curtain rose to exuberant dancers and cheers from the audience.

“Having been a dancer,” she says, “I understood” what the cast was feeling on stage that night.

David Elliott, the new Cape Playhouse artistic director, echoes Chittick’s description of the “thrill of being in the audience” when such special theater moments occur. When people are in the audience on a particular night, he says, “you’re the only ones to see the spectacle. It’s what makes theater so unique.”

“Audience reaction determines so much,” he adds. “It’s oxygen for the performance.”

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Elliott says he’s “thrilled to be part of opening the doors for the first time since 2019,” and is among a number of new people working behind the scenes alongside longtime crew members and designers. Audiences are “so ready to return for a normal season,” he says.

In his own theater career of more than 30 years, Elliott has worked as director, producer and general manager for close to 75 productions on Broadway and at other venues in the United States and abroad. His first summer season at Cape Playhouse consists of shows that were scheduled for 2020, before COVID-19 forced the indoor-theater hiatus, plus “The Fantasticks” added in September.

The rest of the Cape Playhouse summer: “Private Lives,” June 22-July 2 (a Noel Coward play that first starred famed actress Gertrude Lawrence at the playhouse in 1940); “Always … Patsy Cline, July 6-16; “God of Carnage,” July 20-30; “An American in Paris,” Aug. 3-13; “Murder on the Orient Express,” Aug. 17-27; and “The Fantasticks,” Sept. 7-24.

Reservations and information: http://www.capeplayhouse.com/.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod theater: Cape Playhouse opens summer season with "Grease"