Premiere on tap for Playhouse’s new season

Tom Titus

Playgoers will recognize most of the titles in the Huntington Beach

Playhouse’s just-announced 2005 season, but about a year down the

road will be a show no one has ever seen before -- or even heard of,

for that matter.

“The Golden Dream in Cockaigne” is a musical by a local

playwright, Joe Sylek, which will constitute a world premiere for the

playhouse. It will open Sept. 23, 2005 and runs through Oct. 9, and

additional information will be forthcoming when the production time

approaches.

The playhouse will kick off its season with the popular 1950s

musical “Bye, Bye Birdie,” which illustrates what might happen if a

rock star the equivalent of Elvis Presley dropped into a sleepy

American town in that era (or this one, for that matter) to give a

local teen queen “one last kiss” before reporting for Army duty

(remember the draft?). The show opens Jan. 14 and will run through

the 30th.

Comedy continues to reign Feb. 25 through March 13 with Henry

Denker’s “The Second Time Around.” If you enjoyed the playhouse’s

recent production of “Squabbles,” you should get a kick out of this

tale about love among the senior citizens, whose kittenish antics

raise their kids’ eyebrows.

The mood turns deadly serious in April, when Arthur Miller’s “The

Crucible” arrives with its chronicle of supposed witchcraft and

religious zeal in Salem, Mass., during the late 1600s. This modern

classic drama opens April 29 and runs through May 15.

That patron saint of community theaters, Neil Simon, will be

represented June 17 to 26 with one of his best comedies, “Plaza

Suite.” This show is divided into three situations, played out in the

same room of New York’s Plaza Hotel, which get progressively funnier

and more farcical.

Playgoers will say “Hello, Dolly” to the Jerry Herman musical,

planned for July 29 to Aug. 21. The matchmaker created by Thornton

Wilder will spin her web for a Yonkers widower, and waiters will be

falling all over themselves to salute our heroine in the title

number.

The world premiere of the aforementioned “Golden Dream in

Cockaigne” is next on the schedule, followed by the season closer

“You Can’t Take It With You.” This venerable comedy, with its

collection of assorted oddballs from George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart,

will be on stage from Oct. 28 to Nov. 13.

The playhouse’s season also will include an as-yet-unannounced

Shakespearean effort, staged in Huntington Beach’s Central Park

adjacent to the Library Theater, where the rest of the season will

unfold.

Performances are given in three-weekend increments at the theater

in the Huntington Beach Central Library, 7771 Talbert Ave.

Information and reservations are available by calling the theater at

(714) 375-0696.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.