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Stage
'Sweet Charity' in Ruth Eckerd lineup
The recently revived musical is among 10 shows scheduled for the hall's Broadway season. Familiar names dot the schedule.
By JOHN FLEMING
Published April 23, 2006
Molly Ringwald in Sweet Charity tops the 2006-07 Broadway season at Ruth Eckerd Hall. Ringwald, best-known for starring in the movies Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club, has appeared in the musicals Cabaret and tick, tick . . . BOOM! and plays such as Enchanted April and How I Learned to Drive. Sweet Charity, with score by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon, was recently revived on Broadway under director Walter Bobbie and choreographer Wayne Cilento. The Ruth Eckerd Hall Broadway season is as follows: Oct. 27-29, Annie; Dec. 2, Jesus Christ Superstar; Jan. 2-7, Sweet Charity; Jan. 10, Aida; Jan. 19, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Jan. 27, I Can't Stop Loving You; Feb. 2-4, Chicago; Feb. 15, Mark Twain Tonight!; Feb. 16-18, Riverdance; March 27-April 1, Mamma Mia!Three shows on the Clearwater hall's 2006-07 schedule have played or will play this year at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Tampa: Mamma Mia!, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Chicago. Except for Sweet Charity and I Can't Stop Loving You (music of Ray Charles), all the shows at Ruth Eckerd Hall have already come to the Tampa Bay area. "I don't see it as an issue at all,'' said Robert Freedman, chief executive of Ruth Eckerd Hall. "There are 2.5-million people in the Tampa Bay area, and these are popular shows that can be successful multiple times in the market.'' Lex Poppens, marketing director for Ruth Eckerd Hall, said fewer than 10 percent of ticket buyers to last year's engagement of Riverdance at the hall were from Hillsborough County. "It was a similar pattern with our Jerry Seinfeld shows,'' he said. Riverdance (which is returning again next season to Ruth Eckerd Hall) and Seinfeld have also played TBPAC. "Our growth is coming from Pasco County,'' Poppens said. Along with Sweet Charity and I Can't Stop Loving You, Aida (the Elton John-Tim Rice musical) and Mamma Mia! will play Ruth Eckerd Hall for the first time in 2006-07. Among the perennial attractions in other productions are Hal Holbrook, still playing Mark Twain almost 50 years after he originated the role in his acclaimed one-man show; and Ted Neeley in Jesus Christ Superstar, reprising the role as the savior he played on Broadway and in the 1973 movie of the Andrew Lloyd Webber rock musical. Ruth Eckerd Hall will announce its full 2006-07 season in May. Hall members may order tickets when they receive brochures in early July. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Aug. 26. Information: (727) 791-7400 or toll-free 1-800-875-8682; rutheckerdhall.com.
[Last modified April 20, 2006, 14:12:01]
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