"Curtains" plays at the Scottish Rite in February
Monday, February 01, 2010
The Collingswood Excelcior Theatre Company is proud to be one of the first area companies to stage the musical comedy whodunnit Curtains on February 11, 12, 13, 19. From the creators of Chicago and Cabaret, this hilarious send-up of backstage murder mystery plots recently completed a successful run on Broadway starring David Hyde Pierce and Debra Monk.
Featuring brisk, witty dialogue and funny and beautiful songs, Curtains is set in Boston’s Colonial Theatre in 1959. The plot follows the fallout when the egregiously untalented leading lady, faded film star Jessica Cranshaw, a triple threat - she can't sing, act, or dance (or remember when to say her lines), collapses during her opening night curtain call of the aspiring Broadway production Robbin' Hood of the Old West.
The reviews of Robbin' Hood are bad, and the show has lost its star. Divorced songwriting team Aaron Fox and Georgia Hendricks, together with the show's naive financial backer, Oscar Shapiro, and Carmen Bernstein, the hard-bitten co-producer (with her philandering husband, Sidney), bemoan the situation. The show's flamboyant director, Christopher Belling, has an idea: Georgia can sing, and she used to act, and she knows the show perfectly. She would be a far better leading lady than Cranshaw was, although that is not saying much.
News comes that Cranshaw is dead, and more than that, she has been murdered. Homicide detective Frank Cioffi, a starstruck amateur community theatre actor, is called in to solve the case. The cast and crew are all suspects as Cioffi sequesters them in the theatre.Even while subsequent murders are occurring, Cioffi’s obsession with the show nearly overtakes his mission to solve the case.
Performances are February 11, 12, 13, 19 and 20 at 7:30 p.m. with a matinee on Saturday, February 20 at 2 p.m. All performances are at the Scottish Rite Auditorium, 315 White Horse Pike, Collingswood. Group rates (groups of 15 or more) are available for all shows. Call Dale at 609-217-4691 for information.
Curtains will host a luncheon prior to the Saturday, February 20 matinee. Lunch is at 12:30 pm and the cost is $25 per person, which includes a ticket to the matinee. Reservations are required. Call Terry at 856-858-9275.