MILLBURN, NJ — Paper Mill Playhouse has announced the reimagined 2020–2021 season; the theater will move forward with a mostly digital season, including several original productions to be captured on the Paper Mill stage. The theater also optimistically anticipates bringing smaller audiences back to the theater, if that becomes possible, by late spring or early summer of 2021.
“We are excited to announce our new season and plan to keep our audience entertained and safe, as we cautiously move forward on this uncharted path back to the theater,” Producing Artistic Director Mark Hoebee said. “We designed the season to take us one step at a time, from solo virtual concerts to full productions in the theater in front of a small number of loyal subscribers. The shows previously announced, including ‘The Wanderer,’ ‘Clue’ and ‘Bruce,’ will be rescheduled in the 2021–2022 season.”
“We are eager to begin this journey with our subscribers,” Managing Director Michael Stotts said. “The support of our subscribers, donors and sponsors will ensure we survive through this difficult time. In early September, we held focus groups with subscribers to discuss digital programming and their willingness to participate with Paper Mill in this virtual way this season. We were very encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive response. We thank them for taking this journey with us and we look forward to a post-pandemic future, when we will be able to invite everyone back to the theater.”
Paper Mill begins the season with a three-part virtual concert series, “Live from the West Side: The Women of Broadway,” featuring two-time Tony Award–winner Patti LuPone on Saturday, Oct. 24; Tony Award-winner and Paper Mill alumna Laura Benanti on Saturday, Nov. 14; and Tony-, Grammy- and Emmy-nominated superstar Vanessa Williams on Saturday, Dec. 5. These livestreamed concerts are presented in partnership with a select group of nonprofit arts organizations from around the country and are a co-production with Dallas Summer Musicals and Entertainment Benefits Group.
The lineup continues with a series of original Paper Mill–produced productions offered exclusively to season subscribers. The first is titled “Sing in a New Year!,” streaming Saturday, Dec. 19, to Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021, a celebratory holiday cabaret featuring more than a dozen esteemed Paper Mill performers, recorded safely on the storied Paper Mill stage. Next, subscribers will enjoy a hit parade of the most beloved classics from the American musical theater canon in “Some Enchanted Evening: The Songs of Rodgers & Hammerstein,” streaming Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021, to Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021. The final productions are the charming and hilarious two-person musical romance “Pete ’n’ Keely” and the empowering girl-group tribute “Beehive: The ’60s Musical.” Both are currently announced without dates in the hopes that limited audiences, subscribers only, may be invited to safely return to the theater by late spring or summer 2021; otherwise, these productions will be digitally captured and streamed exclusively to Paper Mill subscribers.
For more information, visit www.PaperMill.org.
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