April 25, 2024

Garden City High School Drama Department announces ’22-’23 season

Garden City, Kan (WesternKansasNews.Com) – The Garden City High School Drama Department is proud to announce its 2022-2023 season.  The season will begin with Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Macbeth on October 6th, 8th and 9th. Set in Scotland, the king, Duncan, is murdered by his nephew Macbeth. Macbeth becomes a tyrant to hold on to power, eliminating those who oppose him. This classic tale of political intrigue and horror will be directed by Robyn Hilt, Assistant Theatre Director.

The second production of the season will be the new musical comedy A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder on November 11th-13th. This musical by Robert Freedman & Steven Lutvak won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Musical. When the low-born Monty Navarro finds out that he’s eighth in line for an earldom in the lofty D’Ysquith family, he figures his chances of outliving his predecessors are slight and sets off down a far more ghoulish path. Can he knock off his unsuspecting relatives without being caught and become the ninth Earl of Highhurst? And what of love? Because murder isn’t the only thing on Monty’s mind…. A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder will be adjudicated for the Kansas Thespian Festival held in January.

The third production will be Leading Ladies on February 3rd-5th. In the hilarious comedy by the author of Lend Me A Tenor and Moon Over Buffalo, two English Shakespearean actors, Jack and Leo, find themselves so down on their luck that they are performing “Scenes from Shakespeare” on the Moose Lodge circuit in the Amish country of Pennsylvania.  When they hear that an old lady in York, PA is about to die and leave her fortune to her two long lost English nephews, they resolve to pass themselves off as her beloved relatives and get the cash.  The trouble is, when they get to York, they find out that the relatives aren’t nephews, but nieces! 

The fourth production of the season will be the dark musical called Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical by Frank Wildhorn & Leslie Bricusseon March 31st-April 2nd. An evocative tale of two men – one, a doctor, passionate and romantic; the other, a terrifying madman – and two women – one, beautiful and trusting; the other, beautiful and trusting only herself– both women in love with the same man and both unaware of his dark secret. A devoted man of science, Dr. Henry Jekyll is driven to find a chemical breakthrough that can solve some of mankind’s most challenging medical dilemmas. Rebuffed by the powers that be, he decides to make himself the subject of his own experimental treatments, accidentally unleashing his inner demons along with the man that the world would come to know as Mr. Hyde. Jekyll & Hyde will be a part of Music Theatre of Wichita’s Jester Awards.

The final show of the season will be the hilarious new farce Failure: A Love Story by Phillip Dawkins on May 18th-21st. By the end of 1928, all three Fail sisters will be dead — expiring in reverse order, youngest to oldest, from blunt object to the head, disappearance, and finally consumption. Tuneful songs, and a whimsical chorus follow the story of Nelly, Jenny June, and Gerty as they live out their lives above the family clock repair shop near the Chicago River, before their time unexpectedly runs out. A magical, musical fable where, in the end, the power of love is far greater than any individual’s successes or failures. 

The department is currently looking for businesses and individuals to sponsor the season. Season sponsors receive discounted season sponsor passes (4 tickets per pass), advertising/recognition in our programs and preshow and a tax deduction. Sponsorships begin as low as $25 up to $500. Contact Ms. Alice Hilt at ahilt@gckschools.com for more information, or ask a current GCHS Drama student about sponsorships.