Skip to main content

Musicals Have Broadway at Duke Singing

 

Four major musicals - "Footloose," "Titanic," "Cabaret" and "Ragtime" - are coming to Duke University starting this fall in the Broadway at Duke series, which annually brings top plays to campus.

A fifth musical production, "Annie Get Your Gun," also is coming to the university in December. Tickets to "Annie Get Your Gun" are currently available at a discount to people who purchase season tickets to the Broadway series.

Established in 1968, the series has built a reputation over the years for attracting time-honored shows and cutting-edge productions to campus, said Peter Coyle, associate dean of Duke's Office of University Life.

"Our aim is to bring Broadway hits and the best current theater performances to campus for the enjoyment of the university and the Triangle community," Coyle said.

The series is organized largely by Duke students. They select the shows, negotiate contracts, manage a budget and handle promotions, Coyle said. All of this year's performances will be held at Page Auditorium on West Campus at 8 p.m.

Season tickets to the series are $100, $115 and $130, depending on seating. They are available now through the University Box Office at 684-4444. Tickets for individual shows go on sale in the fall. The lineup:

Nov. 12. "Footloose," based on the 1984 film of the same name, is the fictional story of a mid-western town that tried unsuccessfully to enforce a ban on young people dancing to pop and rock-and-roll music. The movie's soundtrack went platinum with songs such as "Let's Hear it for the Boy," "Almost Paradise," "Holding Out for a Hero" and the title song, "Footloose."

Feb. 7. "Titanic," one of the more legendary tales of romance, adventure, greed and ambition being told on stage, focuses on the supposedly unsinkable ship that struck an iceberg and went down in the Atlantic. One by one, the lives and yearnings of the Titanic's crew, staff and passengers unfold against a backdrop of monument and majesty. "Titanic" is the winner of the 1997 Tony Awards for Best Book, Best Score, Best Sets and Best Musical.

March 20. "Cabaret" is a remake of Kander and Eb's hit musical and the winner of four 1998 Tony Awards, including Best Revival. This show brings the seedy glamour of the Kit Kat Club to Duke, after eliciting numerous accolades from critics and theater patrons alike in London and New York City.

April 17. "Ragtime," the four-time Tony Award-winning musical based on E.L. Doctorow's best selling novel, is a tale of innocence lost and freedom won. It presents a portrait of three families: one upper-class white, one socialist immigrant Jewish and one Harlem black. As they embark on journeys of self-discovery, their lives become intertwined with one another, as well as with real-life historical characters including Henry Ford, J.P. Morgan, Harry Houdini and Booker T. Washington.

"Annie Get Your Gun," by Irving Berlin, will open at Duke's Page Auditorium on Dec. 1 prior to beginning its national tour. This classic of American musical theater tells the fictionalized story of sharpshooter Annie Oakley and her stormy competitive relationship with Frank Butler, a handsome vaudeville marksman, as they tour the country together as stars of "Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show."

"Annie Get Your Gun" features memorable Berlin songs such as "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)," "You Can't Get a Man With a Gun," "The Sun in the Morning and the Moon at Night" and "There's No Business Like Show Business." Tickets for "Annie Get Your Gun" are $25, $28 and $31, depending on seating. At present, the only way to obtain tickets is with the purchase of the Broadway at Duke series.

More information on the Broadway at Duke series, including how to get tickets, is available at <http://www.union.duke.edu/>.