Chattanooga Theatre Centre sets 2015-16 season

"A Christmas Story, The Musical" will return to the Chattanooga Theatre Centre for a December run.
"A Christmas Story, The Musical" will return to the Chattanooga Theatre Centre for a December run.
photo Chattanooga Theatre Centr

Patrons to this year's Chattanooga Theatre Centre lineup will need to pack a bag and get ready to do a little traveling. The schedule includes trips to the Midwest, Texas, the South and England -- Medievel England, in fact. Twice.

"Camelot," the Lerner and Loewe musical, and "Spamalot," the Monty Python musical, are both on the bill, as is Del Shores' "Sordid Lives," "A Christmas Story the Musical" and "Dividing the Estate."

Nine shows in all make up the lineup for the CTC's 92nd season.

"Four of the nine productions next season are musicals, which is exciting," says executive director George Quick. "Our audiences love musicals, and we do them very well."

The season opens with the blockbuster musical "Sister Act," based on the 1992 Whoopi Goldberg movie, and ends with "Spamalot," based on the 1975 film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

"Looking at this season as a whole, you could call it a season of families, with 'The Royal Family,' 'A Christmas Story,' 'Sordid Lives,' 'Dividing the Estate' and 'Harvey,'" says Quick. "Even 'Sister Act' denotes a family of sorts.

"And there are interesting pairings, like 'Sordid Lives' and 'Dividing the Estate'; both are about the death of matriarchs in Texas, but they approach the subject from opposite ends of the spectrum. Then following immediately are 'Camelot' and 'Spamalot' -- both musicals about the Arthurian legend, but they couldn't be further apart.

"Both sets of productions play back-to-back in our season, which we think will invite comparison and conversation."

Season tickets for the 2015-2016 season go on sale to current season ticket holders in May, with season tickets available to the general public starting June 16.

For more information, visit TheatreCentre.com. The box office is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and can be reached at 423-267-8534.

The 2015-2016 Season

* "Sister Act, A Divine Musical Comedy." September. It tells the story of Deloris Van Cartier, a wannabe diva whose life takes a turn when she witnesses a crime and finds herself hiding out in a convent.

* "33 Variations." October. In 1819, the music publisher Anton Diabelli writes a waltz and sends it to 50 composers, asking each to contribute a variation. Everyone agrees except for Ludwig van Beethoven, who dismisses the work as a "cobbler's patch." He later becomes obsessed with Diabelli's waltz and ends up writing 33 variations.

* "Harvey." November. Elwood P. Dowd is an affable man who claims to have an unseen (and presumably imaginary) friend Harvey -- a 6-foot, 3 1/2-inch rabbit, which thoroughly embarrasses his social-climbing sister.

* "A Christmas Story, The Musical." December. The beloved family Christmas favorite returns.

* "The Royal Family." February 2016. This thinly-veiled portrait of Broadway's Royal Family, the Barrymores, features the Cavendish clan -- three generations of legendary American actors whose name and reputation is threatened by Hollywood, unwanted suitors and marrying outside the family business.

* "Sordid Lives." March 2016. Del Shores wrote this black comedy about white trash in a small Texas town.

* "Dividing the Estate." April 2016. The Horton Foote tale proves that nothing brings out the worst in a family quite like conflicts over an inheritance. Land, money and, of course, jewelry have a way of reviving old rivalries and resurrecting long-buried grudges.

* "Camelot." June 2016. Guinevere, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table populate this story now set in the Mad Men-era of the 1960s.

* "Spamalot." July 2016. This wacky musical is a spinoff of the movie hit "Monty Python and The Holy Grail."

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