Put on your “Boogie Shoes” and get ready for Saturday Night Fever, one of the most loved dance stories of all time, which plays through Sept. 3, at Ivoryton Playhouse.
The year is 1979 and in Brooklyn, New York, Tony Manero, a young man with a dead-end job and an extraordinary ability to dance, has only one ambition in life … to become the disco king. When he meets Stephanie, who also dreams of a world beyond Brooklyn, they decide to train together for a dance competition and their lives begin to change forever.
Based on the 1977 film that became a cultural phenomenon, the electrifying score is packed with legendary hits from the Bee Gees including the classics: “Stayin’ Alive,” “Night Fever,” “Jive Talking,” “You Should Be Dancing” and “How Deep is Your Love?”
Originally based on Nik Cohn’s 1975 New York Magazine article, “Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night,” this stage adaptation premiered in the West End in 1998 at the London Palladium, and then at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre Oct. 21, 1999, playing 27 previews and 501 regular performances before closing Dec. 30, 2000.
Almost all of the songs from the original movie sound track are included in the stage musical. The album remained 24 weeks on the top of the U.S. album charts and stayed until March 1980 on the charts. In the UK, the album also achieved first place for 18 weeks and is one of the most successful movie sound tracks ever. In 1979, it won a Grammy as Album of the Year. In 2003 it reached #131 of Rolling Stone’s “500 best albums of all time”.
The production stars Michael Notardonato* as Tony and Caroline Lellouche* as Stephanie. Lellouche was seen last year in Ivoryton’s production of Chicago. Notardonato is reprising the role of Tony, which he has performed twice previously to critical acclaim.
The production is directed and choreographed by Todd Underwood and musical directed by Mike Morris, with set design by Martin Marchitto, lighting design by Marcus Abbott and costume design by Lisa Bebey.
Be advised that Saturday Night Fever, in similar fashion to the movie, contains adult language and situations.
Saturday Night Fever opens at the Ivoryton Playhouse Aug. 9 and runs through Sept. 3. Performance times are Wednesday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Evening performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.
Additional matinee performances on Saturday, Aug. 19, at 2 p.m. and Sept. 2, at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $50 for adults; $45 for seniors; $22 for students and $17 for children and are available by calling the Playhouse box office at 860-767-7318 or by visiting www.ivorytonplayhouse.org
(Group rates are available by calling the box office for information.) The Playhouse is located at 103 Main Street in Ivoryton.
Photographs courtesy of Ivoryton Playhouse
*denotes member of Actors Equity