What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1201092
To create the annual buffet of new works and familiar ones, McClure watches what's gotten good reviews or extended runs on Broadway or Off- Broadway. "Like everyone else, I have to wait for the new scripts to be published and hunt down which publishing house is going to have them," he says. "And then we get the rights because we're right there on the doorstep, asking, as soon as they're available. Two of these weren't even published when I started looking last fall!" Harry Blundell, a longtime theatrical colleague of McClure's at Arts Center of the Ozarks, always said metaphorically that he couldn't make dinner without looking to see what he had in the refrigerator. But McClure says the APT casting pool only minimally affects his selection of shows. "We have been fortunate to have people turn out and be cast that we had no idea who they were until they came to auditions," he says. "So at this point, I don't sit around and stew and fret and wonder who's going to play a part." But while he may not have any of the shows cast in his head, McClure knows the one he's most looking forward to. "I've always wanted to do 'Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,'" he admits. "I think it will be perfectly suited for our theater, for our audience — and it's just so much fun. It's such a fun show." To those who are surprised to see a Stephen Sondheim selection opening the season — McClure is, in general, not a fan — he says that "the movie version of 'Sweeney Todd' was compelling and really helped me enjoy the score more than I had just seeing it in the theater — which is crazy because I hardly ever like a movie version better! It's so dark and so different, it just felt like a good time to do it, in the fall of 2020. "Plus, it's a favorite of our musical director, Lisa Auten, and that helped seal the deal!" After delaying the season announcement last year, McClure says the APT Board and staff also discovered they like January better. "We're halfway through this season, and it helps us draw attention to our upcoming musical — 'Newsies' — and forces us to make decisions we need to make," he says. "So we'll be doing this on the third Friday in January. It works out better for us." WINNER! 2018 TONY AWARD ® FOR BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL "A BEWITCHING, BEAUTIFUL REVIVAL THAT CELEBRATES LOVE, RESILIENCE AND THE SPIRIT OF HOPE." JOE DZIEMIANOWIC Z, Photo by Joan Marcus Broadway Series Sponsor: Media Support: February 11-16 | 8 shows! 4 WHAT'S UP! JANUARY 19-25, 2020 APT Continued From Page 3 COVER STORY