Tony nominee Daniel Fish, who directed the 2019 Tony-winning revival of Oklahoma!, will similarly reimagine Frank Loesser's 1956 Tony-nominated musical The Most Happy Fella for the 2022 Williamstown Theatre Festival's summer season.
The fully staged Most Happy in Concert, with choreography by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, will play the Main Stage July 13-August 7. The production, featuring 12 musicians and seven female-identifying and non-binary performers, will also have music arrangements by Daniel Kluger and Nathan Koci, vocal arrangements by Koci and Fish, and orchestrations by Kluger. Excerpts from the production premiered last summer at Bard Summerscape. The Fisher Center at Bard will co-present the upcoming Williamstown run.
The Tony-winning theatre company’s 68th summer season, marking a return to indoor performances, will launch July 5 on the Nikos Stage with Anna Ouyang Moench's Man of God. Directed by Maggie Burrows, the comedic thriller concerns four teenage girls on a mission trip to Bangkok who discover a camera hidden by their pastor in their hotel bathroom. Performances continue through July 16.
The season will conclude with the world premiere of the WTF-commissioned we are continuous. Directed by Tyler Thomas, Harrison David Rivers' new play will be seen on the Nikos Stage August 2-14. The drama follows Simon and his mother, Ora, who have always been close. She’s been his champion, his defender, and his friend, but when a life-changing secret comes to light, can their bond survive?
Casting and design teams for all three productions will be announced in the coming weeks.
Interim Artistic Director Jenny Gersten says, “We are thrilled to be returning to our home at the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance at Williams College. While this homecoming marks the Festival’s return to a familiar setting, it does not mean a return to ‘the way things used to be.’ This season will feature the same artistic excellence audiences expect from the Festival, but we are in the process of evolving and reimagining the way we engage our community of artists and theatre-makers. The season will feature three productions that I hope will intrigue and enthrall. We look forward to bringing joy this summer—to our audience, to our Festival community, to our generous hosts at Williams College, and to the local residents, all of whom support Williamstown Theatre Festival in bringing these shows to life.”
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