Little Theatre stages '40s-era musical

"City of Angels," winner of six Tony Awards on Broadway, will be presented by the Little Theatre of Fall River as its final mainstage offering of the season. The show will be presented at 8 tonight through Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday.

All performances will be in the Margaret L. Jackson Arts Center at Bristol Community College, 777 Elsbree St., Fall River.

Set in the glamorous, seductive Hollywood of the 1940s, the world of film studios and filmy negligees, the show chronicles the misadventures of a young novelist attempting a screenplay for a movie producer-director.

Cy Coleman composed the music and David Zippel the lyrics for "City of Angels." Larry Gelbart (of "M*A*S*H" fame) wrote the musical's book. The original Broadway production received the Tony Award for Best Musical of 1990.

Every movie scene is acted onstage by a group of characters whose costumes are limited to shades of black and white. With music scored in the genre of '40s detective movies and the jazz-swing era, the audience is treated to a live version of a private eye film in the making.

Time magazine called "City of Angels" "that rarest of things ... a completely original American musical." (The show should not be confused with the recent film of the same title starring Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan.)

The Little Theatre production is co-directed by Jane Fiore Bigelow and Janice MacDonald, with Ms. MacDonald as choreographer and Ms. Bigelow as musical director of the show. The production is stage managed by Ron Robinson.

"In both the dialogue and the music as well, 'City of Angels' captures the mood, the look and the sound of what we love best about the 1940s and the movies," said Ms. Bigelow.

Included in the cast are John Ashley, Gary Bigelow, Kelly Estrella, Paula Arruda, Jerry Goldberg, Dee Kullander, Holly Ashley and John E. Moniz.

Single tickets are $15 for "City of Angels." Discounts are available for students, seniors and groups of 20 or more.

For reservations and information, call the Little Theatre box office at (508) 675-1852.

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