On Stage

The curtain is going up on another great theater season in North Central Massachusetts!

Highlights of the fall and winter offerings in the region include a family-fun holiday favorite at Gardner’s Theatre at the Mount.  Based on the hit film of the same name, ELF, the Musical follows the story of Buddy, an orphaned infant who accidentally crawls into Santa’s sleigh one Christmas Eve and is transported back to the North Pole, where he is adopted by Santa’s elves.

Buddy grows up thinking himself to be an elf until his enormous size and less than extraordinary toy-making abilities make him realize he is human. Resolving to find his true identity, Buddy makes his way to New York City and winds up helping its cynical inhabitants discover the true meaning of Christmas. Embrace your inner ELF! The show runs the weekends of November 25 and December 15 at Mount Wachusett Community College.

But before we get to Christmas, Theatre at the Mount will dish up a sure-to-please comedy, The Odd Couple. Many in the audience will remember the TV show — and now you can see the antics live on stage!

This classic comedy opens as a group of the guys assemble for cards in the apartment of divorced Oscar Madison. And if the mess is any indication, it’s no wonder that his wife left him. Late to arrive is Felix Unger, who has just been separated from his wife. Fastidious, depressed, and none too tense, Felix seems suicidal, but as the action unfolds, Oscar becomes the one with murder on his mind when the clean freak and the slob ultimately decide to room together with hilarious results as The Odd Couple is born. Enjoy a good laugh, or two or three, when the curtain goes up on this comedy on Oct 6-7 and 13-15.

Theatre at the Mount hasn’t forgotten the younger set!  Kids will enjoy TILLY THE TRICKSTER on October 21. Tilly is a mischievous girl who loves nothing more than causing a little trouble. From leaking cups to toothpaste-flavored cookies, Tilly has a trick for everyone: her mom, dad, brother, classmates, and even her teacher. But when the tables are turned and her family does some scheming of its own, will Tilly decide to change her trickster ways? One show only, so get tickets soon!

And who doesn’t love a musical?  The classic extravaganza, The Music Man follows fast-talking traveling salesman, Harold Hill, as he cons the people of River City, Iowa, into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys’ band that he vows to organize – this, despite the fact that he doesn’t know a trombone from a treble clef. His plans to skip town with the case are foiled when he falls for Marian, the librarian. By turns wicked, funny, warm, romantic, and touching, The Music Man is family entertainment at its best. You can see it at The Mount in Gardner at the end of February and first weekend in March.

Want more music? StageWorks Performing Arts will present Blockbuster Hits, an original revue at the theater at St. Bernard’s High School, Fitchburg, on Oct 6-8. You’ll be tapping your toes with this revue of hits you know from movies you love. Visit stageworksarts.org.

And be sure to check out the New Players Theatre Guild in Fitchburg —plans are afoot there to host an improve group, and stage a musical this fall. Visit the troupe on Facebook or at nptg.org to see the plans unfold!

Curtains up! Light the lights! Sit back and enjoy!