Delray Square Performing Arts Presents Shenandoah –Tony Award Winner!

Rarely produced, Tony-winning
musical-theater ‘gem’ opens
    in early January at
Delray Square Performing Arts

A NATION STRUGGLING AGAINST ITSELF – A FAMILY STRUGGLING TO STAY TOGETHER

DELRAY BEACH, FL –Opening Night, January 7, 2015 – Delray Square Performing Arts opens Shenandoah through March 1, 2015. Previews January 2nd – 4th (reduced pricing $32.50). Special performance New Year’s Eve is sold-out.
This colorful and dramatic saga with an INCREDIBLE SCORE centers around a strong-willed Virginia farmer trying to keep his family neutral as the Civil War rages. The family’s story is a heart-warming & heart-rending portrayal of the upheaval that left wounds on the land and its people for generations to come.

This rarely produced ‘gem’ of a Broadway musical has been compared to so many others including Oklahoma and has even been referred to as America’s answer to Fiddler on the Roof for its heart and depiction of how political turmoil, war and hatred can take such a huge toll on the traditions of a family that has embraced its way of life for generations.

Based on a 1965 film starring James Stewart, Shenandoah debuted on Broadway in 1975 and garnered six Tony® Award nominations, winning two. This fresh new production by director Gary Waldman and producing partner Jamison Troutman explores the tumultuous time when family loyalties were tested and patriotism was redefined.
Shenandoah features music by Gary Geld, lyrics by Peter Udell, and book by Peter Udell, Philip Rose and James Lee Barrett. Speaking about Shenandoah, Waldman says “It’s a story about family – about a father desperately trying to keep his family out of the Civil War. It’s about the earth and the land. It’s a little about faith – there is a great affirmation.” In Shenandoah, it is 1864 and the Civil War is raging. In the Shenandoah Valley, in northwest Virginia where his farmhouse sits in the middle of the ebb and flow of the fighting, Charlie Anderson, a widower, father of six sons and a daughter, is determined to keep his family out of the action, ready to hold his land and continue farming. Starring as Charlie Anderson is Waldman himself – in a role he has had at the top of his ‘A-List’ since he saw the Broadway revival in 1989. He was only 24 years old at the time and still remembers how he vowed to land himself this cherished role in 25 years or so (the script describes Anderson as 50 years old). Lo and behold, Waldman, who will turn 50 himself this coming March makes his deadline exactly 25 years later! Two-time Carbonell Award-nominated Waldman is best known for creating the role of Izzie Jacobson in the 7-year-long national tour of Paved With Gold (a role he played at every single performance), his critically lauded performances in the title role in Jesting with Danny Kaye and as Gideon in The Last Session. More recently he starred as an alcoholic indigent in The Sounds of Simon and in his semi-autobiographical musical, What I Learned in Fallsburg here at Delray Square Performing Arts.

Other principles include well-known south Florida performers Courtney Poston, Victoria Lauzen, Eliana Ghen, Jonathan Eisele and Richard Forbes, two celebrated out-of-town actors currently starring in DSPA’s PIAF, Jacob Grant and Scott Gunner and Delray Square newcomers, Abel Kain, Derik Lawson, Andrew Sturby, Justin Santiague and several young newcomers in ensemble roles.
Music Direction and orchestrations are by Waldman’s chief creative collaborator for nearly 20 years, Phil Hinton. Some of the more familiar original songs from Shenandoah include the Broadway standard, Freedom along with Meditation, Next to Lovin’, We Make a Beautiful Pair and over a dozen others.

DSPA Resident Choreographer, Ben Solmor provides the musical staging. Solmor is considered by many to be the region’s most promising young choreographer and has amassed dozens of impressive credits in the past couple of years.

CALENDAR INFORMATION
Delray Square Performing Arts presents:
SHENANDOAH
Tony Award-Winning Broadway Musical
by Gary Geld, Peter Udell, Philip Rose and James Lee Barrett
– continued on following page
Performances: Wednesdays – Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm
Reduced-Price Previews: January 2nd – January 4th
Opening Night: Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Runs through: March 1, 2015
Special Performance New Year’s Eve 12/31 at 9:30pm (Sold-Out)