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The Show Will Go On: Scuttled IL Ragtime Production Will Sing July 10-26
By Kenneth Jones
A planned outdoor theatre production of Ragtime that was shut down by
park officials in Wilmette, IL, will sing in that Chicago suburb after
all =97 at two new venues.
Sam Samuelson, who, with Carole Dibo co-owns and programs the 198-seat
Wilmette Theatre, confirmed on July 2 that the homeless non-Equity
troupers, under the direction of Ty Perry, will present a scaled-down
concert version of the Tony Award-winning musical in their theatre 8 PM
July 10-11. Tickets for the non-Equity staging are $5 and are expected
to go like hotcakes given the local and national press generated by the
controversy.
"We want to be the conduit to healing," Samuelson previously told
Playbill.com. "We want to do this so that they can have a voice."
The presentation is produced by Wilmette Theatre Education Project and
the newly formed Wheels of a Dream Productions, put together by the
performers in recent days.
Director Perry, of Wheels of a Dream, told Playbill.com July 2 that four
additional performances will be presented beyond the Wilmette Theatre.
At 8 PM July 18-19 and July 25-26, the show will play (with full
orchestra) at Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette. A smaller band
will play the two shows at the more intimate Wilmette Theatre.
"They have a great, new state of the art theatre," Perry said. "It was
really im****tant for me that the show go up in Wilmette again."
When the new run is over, it will have played three fewer performances
than the original park plan, Perry said.
The right to stage the amended July 10-26 run was granted by the show's
licensing agent, Music Theatre International. The musical's Tony
Award-winning songwriters Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty gave the
resurrected run their blessing.
The Wilmette Theatre is a multi-disciplinary venue that offers movies,
children's theatre, lectures, comedy, plays and more.
www.wilmettetheatre.com =A0
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