Erie Playhouse

2011-2012 Season

The Erie Playhouse is thrilled to announce the 2011-2012 season! Below are all the shows included on the season ticket for the Mainstage and Youtheatre seasons. Renewal letters for season ticket holders will go out in April, and season tickets will go on sale for new patrons in June. Read on and enjoy! Broadway is 432 miles away. The great performances are right here!

MS - Mainstage, YT - Youtheatre

THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE MS (Sept. 9 & 10, 15-18, 21-25, 2011) - is a hilarious tale of overachievers' angst, chronicling the experience of six adolescent outsiders vying for the spelling championship of a lifetime. The show's Tony Award-winning creative team has created the unlikeliest of hit musicals about the unlikeliest of heroes: a quirky yet charming cast of outsiders for whom a spelling bee is the one place where they can stand out and fit in at the same time.

SWEENEY TODD MS (October 7 & 8, 13-16, 19-23, 2011) - the Stephen Sondheim/Hugh Wheeler chilling, suspenseful, heart-pounding masterpiece of murderous barbarism and culinary crime, tells the infamous tale of the unjustly exiled barber who returns to 19th century London seeking revenge against the lecherous judge who framed him and ravaged his young wife. His thirst for blood soon expands to include his unfortunate customers. The resourceful proprietress of the pie shop downstairs soon has the people of London lining up in droves with her mysterious new meat pie recipe! Sophisticated, macabre, visceral and uncompromising, SWEENEY TODD nevertheless has a great sense of fun, mixing intense drama with howlingly funny moments of dark humor: audiences find themselves laughing hysterically one moment and gasping in surprise the next. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical.

PINKALICIOUS YT (November 11-13, 18-20, 2011) - loves pink and wants everything in her life to be pink. Her dream is to radiate pink. After overindulging in pink cupcakes, she wakes up pink. She is thrilled to be pink and have her dream come true. Her parents take her to the doctor, and she is diagnosed with pinkitis. On the way home, Pinkalicious plays at the playground but is attacked by birds and bees when she is mistaken for a pink flower. Her best friend doesn't even recognize her as she is camouflaged in the garden. At home, she eats another cupcake, and the next morning she wakes up red and develops pink eye pinkitis whereby she can only see the color pink. Now she must do something to fix her predicament. She bravely follows the doctor's order to eat green food. Due to her new resolve, Pinkalicious is transformed back to normal. Pinkalicious has learned self-control and to be careful for what you wish for. Her brother, on the other hand, has eaten the last cupcake, turns pink, and shouts with glee: "Pink-A-Boo"!

WINTER WONDERETTES MS (December 1-4, 7-11, 15-18, 2011) – Meet the Wonderettes - Betty Jean, Cindy Lou, Missy and Suzy - four best friends since high school. They are here to entertain as they create a rockin' '60's party to celebrate the holidays with friends and family! This energetic and entertaining show includes some great holiday tunes such as "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town," "Jingle Bell Rock," "Run, Rudolph, Run," "Winter Wonderland" and 20 other season favorites.This is a sequel to the Off-Broadway smash hit The Marvelous Wonderettes.

DISNEY’S CAMP ROCK YT (January 13-15, 20-22, 2012) - This summer at camp was supposed to be all about the music and having the time of their lives. But the new, flashy Camp Star across the lake now threatens Camp Rock’s very existence. To keep the doors open, Mitchie steps up, rallies her fellow Camp Rockers, and gets them into top shape for the ultimate showdown! This new musical based on the hit Disney Channel Original Movies Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam will fire up the stage with over a dozen songs, including “This Is Me,” “Can’t Back Down,” “It’s On,” and “We Rock.”

THE COLOR PURPLE MS (February 10 & 11, 16-19, 22-26, 2012) Passion runs deep in this musical adaptation as it captures the joyful heart of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a woman's triumph over a life of abuse and tragedy. Brimming with beats of rhythm, blues and jazz, the core of the tale is the strength of the black women it depicts in rural Georgia in the first half of the 20th century. This is a musical sung from the heart telling us we all deserve happiness, joy and love.

THE LAST MASS AT ST. CASIMIR’S MS (March 16 & 17, 22-25, 28-April 1, 2012) - is the endearing last chapter of the trilogy of plays which begins with OVER THE TAVERN, which the Playhouse produced to rave reviews and record audience attendance in the 08-09 season. It's the end of an era in a working-class Catholic neighborhood, and the Pazinski clan has gathered to say their final goodbyes to their recently-sold childhood home. But when an unexpected blizzard compels the mayor to announce a driving ban throughout the city, they're trapped together in their old house, forced to confront and resolve lingering family issues -- albeit through miraculous and comical mishaps. Through all their trials and misfortune, the Pazinski family finally discovers the gifts of real love.

DISNEY'S ALICE IN WONDERLAND YT (May 11-13, 18-20, 2012) - Join Alice's madcap adventures in Wonderland as she chases the White Rabbit, races the Dodo Bird, gets tied up with the Tweedles, raps with a bubble-blowing Caterpillar, and beats the Queen of Hearts at her own game! Characters are plentiful, including three Cheshire Cats and dozens of other wonderfully wacky creatures and people. This fast-paced stage adaptation of Alice in Wonderland features updated dialogue and new arrangements of such classic Disney songs as "I'm Late," "The Un-birthday Song," and "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah."

DISNEY'S TARZAN MS (June 1 & 2, 7-10, 13-17, 2012) - follows the extraordinary adventures of an orphaned infant raised by a family of gorillas and ultimately accepted as one of their own, destined to be their leader. As Tarzan matures into a young man, with all the instincts of a jungle animal and the physical prowess of an athletic superstar, his life changes forever when he finally meets other humans, with whom he feels an immediate and irresistible bond, especially Jane, the daughter of a giddy scientist. They are on an expedition to study gorillas in their natural habitat. But when their "protector," Clayton, plans to capture the gorillas for his own greedy gain, it's up to Tarzan to save the day. *Audiences should get ready for a brand new and exciting theatrical experience never before seen on the Playhouse stage.

FROST/NIXON MS (July 6 & 7, 12-15,18-22, 2012)- British talk-show host David Frost has become a lowbrow laughing-stock. Richard M. Nixon has just resigned the United States presidency in total disgrace over Vietnam and the Watergate scandal. Determined to resurrect his career, Frost risks everything on a series of in-depth interviews in order to extract an apology from Nixon. The cagey Nixon, however, is equally bent on redeeming himself in his nation's eyes. In the television age, image is king, and both men are desperate to out-talk and upstage each other as the cameras roll. The result is the interview that sealed a president's legacy.

9 TO 5: THE MUSICAL MS (August 3 & 4, 9-12, 15-19, 2012) - The hit movie is now a hit musical featuring a score by Dolly Parton. In a farcical turn of events, Violet, Judy and Doralee live out their wildest fantasy - giving their "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical, bigot" of a boss the boot - but soon their schemes spin wildly and hilariously out of control.