WORLD PREMIERE

 

 An award-winning Broadway creative team and a stellar cast of Broadway veterans and newcomers have assembled to bring one of Jane Austen's most beloved romances to life. The much-anticipated world premiere of SENSE & SENSIBILITY THE MUSICAL, book and lyrics by Jeffrey Haddow and music by Neal Hampton, receives its world premiere April 5 – May 26, 2013 (press opening April 11), presented by the Denver Center Theatre Company, in The Stage Theatre at the Denver Center for Performing Arts at 14^th and Champa.  Producing Artistic Director Kent Thompson selected SENSE & SENSIBILITY THE MUSICAL after it became a runaway hit at the 2012 Colorado New Play Summit. The production is staged by Director and Choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge, whose recent Broadway revival of Ragtime received six Tony Award® nominations.

In this grand musical adaptation of Jane Austen’s enthralling novel, audiences are drawn into the tempestuous world of the Dashwood sisters. Opposites in temperament, but equally determined to find love and happiness, sisters Elinor and Marianne struggle with soaring emotions, dashed hopes, and their own conflicting notions of ideal love. But while one follows her heart and the other her head, each finds personal triumph in romance.

Jane Austen fans from around the country are expected to converge in Denver, not only to experience SENSE & SENSIBILITY THE MUSICAL but also to participate in opening weekend “Austen at Altitude" festivities April 11-13, including a Regency Ball, backstage tours, reception with the stars, and discussions and presentations by world-renowned Jane Austen experts. Sponsored by JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America), proceeds from an opening night benefit will go to the Chawton House Library, located in Jane Austen’s final home, in Hampshire, England.

Denver Center Theatre Company has assembled an extraordinary cast for this world premiere. Starring in the pivotal Dashwood sister roles will be Stephanie Rothenberg as Elinor and Mary Michael Patterson as Marianne. Ms. Rothenberg made her Broadway debut last season as Rosemary opposite Nick Jonas in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and then starred as Princess Anne in the Guthrie Theater’s world premiere musical, Roman Holiday. Ms. Patterson made her Broadway debut in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Tony-winning revival of Anything Goes starring Sutton Foster.

The sisters’ romantic entanglements will be portrayed by three of Broadway’s most dashing leading men. Nick Verina, seen as Young Ben in the recent Broadway revival of Follies with Bernadette Peters, will take on the role of love-struck Edward; Jeremiah James, who starred as Billy Bigelow in the West End revival of Carousel and as Curly in the first national tour of Oklahoma!, will portray the rakish Willoughby; and Robert Petkoff, Broadway’s recent Lord Evelyn Oakleigh opposite Sutton Foster in Anything Goes, will be the loyal Colonel Brandon. Petkoff is familiar to Denver audiences from the Denver Center Theatre Company’s world premiere of Sir Peter Hall’s Tantalus (2000).

Additional Broadway talent joining the cast includes Ed Dixon (Anything Goes, Sunday in the Park with George, Mary Poppins, How the Grinch Stole Christmas) as Sir John; Ruth Gottschall (Mary Poppins, The Music Man, Funny Thing…Forum) as Mrs. Jennings, and Joanna Glushak (Sunday in the Park with George, Urinetown, Les Misérables) as Mrs. Dashwood/Mrs. Ferrars.

The ensemble will include Andrew Kober, Preston Dyar, Josh Walden, Stacie Bono, Liz Pearce, Trista Moldovan, Jessica Hershberg, Steven Strafford, and Daniella Dalli.

The production boasts a formidable production team, including Set Designer Allen Moyer, Tony nominee for Grey Gardens; Costume Designer ESosa, 2012 Tony nominee for The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and “Project Runway” finalist; acclaimed Lighting Designer James F. Ingalls; Sound Design by Craig Breitenbach (world premiere of The Laramie Project); Music Supervisor David Loud, whose recent Broadway productions include The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and The Scottsboro Boys; Music Director and Conductor Paul Masse, whose Broadway credits include The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, The Scottsboro Boys, as well as Curtains, Chicago, Avenue Q, 42nd Street, and Gypsy, and Orchestrations are by Kim Scharnberg and Neal Hampton.

SENSE & SENSIBILITY THE MUSICAL is based on the novel by Jane Austen. Book and lyrics by Jeffrey Haddow. Music by Neal Hampton. Directed and choreographed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge.  

Performance Schedule

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday performances at 6:30pm

Friday and Saturday evening performances at 7:30pm

Saturday and Sunday matinees at 1:30pm

No children under four admitted.

Tickets and Subscriptions

Tickets ($55 - $65) are available now by calling 303.893.4100 or 800.641.1222 (TTY 303.893.9582). Subscribers enjoy free ticket exchanges, payment plans, priority offers to Broadway shows, discounted extra tickets, a dedicated VIP hotline, free events including talkbacks and receptions, and the best seats at the best prices, guaranteed. 

SENSE & SENSIBILITY THE MUSICAL is presented by special arrangement with Betty Ann Besch Solinger and Alice Chebba Walsh. This production of SENSE & SENSIBILITY THE MUSICAL, generously sponsored by U.S. Bank and The Ritz-Carlton, is part of the Denver Center Theatre Company and Denver Center Attractions (DCA) 2012/13 seasons. SENSE & SENSIBILITY THE MUSICAL Producing Partners: The Anschutz Foundation, Joy S. Burns, Daniel L. Ritchie, June Travis. DCTC is generously supported by Larimer Square, The Steinberg Charitable Trust and Wells Fargo Advisors. DCA is generously supported by United Airlines and Vectra Bank. Media sponsors are The Denver Post and CBS4.  The Denver Center for the Performing Arts is supported in part by the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District.  Please visit our website at www.denvercenter.org.

**Please be advised that The Denver Center for the Performing Arts – denvercenter.org – is the ONLY authorized online seller of tickets for Denver Center Attractions (the Broadway touring productions) and the Denver Center Theatre Company (the resident theatre company productions). Currently there are scalpers, also known as ‘second party vendors,’ selling tickets online at a rate more than double the standard price – and up. Tickets bought through these vendors MAY NOT BE VALID. You could not only be refused admission, but also lose your entire investment.

About the Denver Center Theatre Company

The Tony Award-winning Denver Center Theatre Company, helmed by Producing Artistic Director Kent Thompson, is currently in its 34th season of offering classic, contemporary and new works to the American West.