Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Centenary Stage Company's 2017-2018 Season of Events Now On Sale

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Centenary Stage Company’s exciting 2017-2018 season of events are now available for purchase to the general public. As Northwest New Jersey’s premier regional theater, Centenary Stage Company boasts more than 20 individual events ranging from self-produced professional plays and musicals to a host of explosive concert, dance and special events.

Curtain Up!

The 2017-2018 season launches with the annual Curtain Up! event, as CSC welcomes Suzanne O. Davis as she recreates the sound and vibe of a 1970s Carole King concert in Tapestry: The Carole King Songbook on Saturday, September 16 at 8pm in the Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center.  Tapestry: The Carole King Songbook has been hailed as North America's premier musical tribute to Carole King. Featuring the music of King’s classic album Tapestry (“It’s Too Late,” “I Feel the Earth Move” and “You’ve Got a Friend”) as well as other King favorites, audiences will be transported back to the iconic image of her record-breaking, multimillion-selling album of 1971. Tapestry not only presents the Grammy winning album of the same name, but is a retrospective of the iconic songwriting team of Goffin and King, and her hits that continued into the '70s.

Tickets for Tapestry: The Carole King Songbook are $35 for adult orchestra seating in advance and $30 for adult balcony seating in advance. As with all concerts, jazz and special events, ticket prices increase $5 on the day of the performance.

Professional Theatre Highlights

Centenary Stage Company presents four professionally produced plays and musicals including the ever popular annual Family Holiday Musical. This season, CSC continues its tradition with Broadway’s smash hit musical Newsies November 24 through December 10 in the Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center as the Family Holiday Musical.

Based on the 1992 motion picture, Disney’s Newsies features a score by eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Sister Act) and Jack Feldman, with a book by four-time Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein (La Cage aux Folles, Torch Song Trilogy). While on Broadway, Newsies received 23 major theatrical nominations – including eight Tony Award nods – and won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Score and Choreography.

Set in New York City at the turn of the century, Newsies is the rousing tale of Jack Kelly, a charismatic newsboy and leader of a ragged band of teenaged "newsies," who dreams only of a better life far from the hardship of the streets. But when publishing titans Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst raise distribution prices at the newsboys’ expense, Jack finds a cause to fight for and rallies newsies from across the city to strike for what’s right. Newsies is inspired by the real-life "Newsboy Strike of 1899," when newsboy Kid Blink led a band of orphan and runaway newsies on a two-week-long action against Pulitzer, Hearst and other powerful newspaper publishers.

Timely and fresh, the fictionalized adaptation of Newsies addresses age-old themes of social injustice, exploitative labor practices and David-versus-Goliath struggles as the young learn to harness their power against a corrupt establishment. High-energy with non-stop thrills, the stage version introduces eight brand-new songs by the original team of Menken and Feldman while keeping many of the beloved songs from the film, including “Carrying the Banner,” “Seize the Day,” “King of New York” and “Santa Fe.”

Individual performances are Fridays, November 24, 31 and 8 at 8pm; Saturdays, November 25, December 1 and 9 at 8pm; Sundays, November 26, December 2 and 10 at 2pm; Thursdays, November 30 and 7 at 7:30pm and Wednesday, November 29 at 2pm, in the Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center. Centenary Stage Company also is offering a special school group matinee Wednesday, December 6 at 10am.  Tickets are $29.50 for adults and $20 for children under 12 for Friday evening and matinee performances; Saturday evening tickets are $32 for adults and $20 for children under 12; Thursday evening performances are $29.50 for ALL SEATS with a buy one/get one free rush ticket special when tickets are purchased in person at the CSC box office as early as two hours prior to performance time.

Fringe Theatre returns to the Centenary Stage Company in 2017-2018 bringing New York City’s most daring and cutting edge theatre to Hackettstown for the third installment of Centenary Stage Company’s Fringe Festival.  This year’s festival highlights three exciting new works featuring My Name Is Gideon: I’m Probably Going to Die, Eventually, which runs November 16 – 19 in the Kutz Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center.

From Edinburgh to New York City and now to Hackettstown, acclaimed theatrical couch-surfing troubadour Gideon Irving brings his warm humor and tremendous heart to CSC. After a 5-STAR run at the Edinburgh Fringe, an armful of awards, 504 living room performances and an acclaimed NYC run, Gideon Irving has been hailed as “Eccentric and exhilarating.  The best possible combination” by Stephen Sondheim and “A cabinet of curiosities that charms and subtly plucks at your heartstrings” (theeasy.com). He has hopped from one town to the next on bike, rollerblades, and automobiles, performing and sleeping in the homes of perfect strangers. Now, with his banjo Rossana under his arms, Gideon invites audiences into his own living room for an evening of eclectic instruments and astonishing stories as the spell he casts transports you out of this world.  Individual performances run Thursday at 7:30pm, Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm.

Tickets for My Name is Gideon:  I’m Probably Going to Die, Eventually and all other CSC Fringe Festival events are $25 for adults and $15 for children under 12 on Fridays and matinee performances.  Saturday evening performances are $27.50 for adults and $25 for children under 12. Thursday evening performance is $25.00 for ALL SEATS with a buy one/get one rush ticket special when purchased in person at the CSC box office, as early as, two hours prior to the performance.

Music

Music takes front and center at Centenary Stage Company during the 2017-2018 season with a host of concert events including CSC’s annual January Thaw Music Festival featuring three incredible music guests. First up is Freda Payne in A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald on Sunday, January 14 at 2pm in the Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Performing Arts Center.  Freda Payne scored a No. 1 hit with her 1970 pop anthem, Band of Gold.  Over the course of the last four decades, Payne has toured the world in concerts, theater performances and one-woman shows.  Now, Payne joins Centenary Stage Company to celebrate Ella Fitzgerald’s career from her 1934 award-winning Apollo Theater debut to vocalist and subsequent leader of the Chick Webb band, and her concert and recording career as the protégé of producer Norman Granz.

Tickets for CSC’s January Thaw Music Festival’s Freda Payne: A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald on Sunday, January 14 at 2pm are $30 in advance for ALL SEATS. As with all concerts, jazz and special events, ticket orders increase $5 on the day of the performance. Ticket pricing for all other January Thaw Music Festival and Concert events vary per performance.

Dance

Dance shines during 2017-2018 at Centenary Stage Company with performances by The New Jersey Ballet and the return of CSC’s annual Dance Fest, which this season welcomes the return of three renowned professional dance companies including XY Dance Project on Sunday, March 18 at 3pm. Under the artistic leadership of Artistic Director Nijawwon Matthews and Managing Director Lea Antolini-Lid, XY Dance Project is committed to presenting works that reflect on current social issues through a unique style of movement that blends contemporary dance through the spiritual rhythms of African dance, the grace and peace of Tai Chi and the heart of street dance. Their vision is believing in creating an inviting environment that highlights the versatility of each dancer by breaking gender stereotypes through performances and by fusing male and female qualities artistically, physically, emotionally as well as spiritually.

Tickets for all CSC Dance Fest events including the XY Dance Project are $20 for adults and $15 for children under 12. New Jersey Ballet ticket prices are different from Dance Fest prices and vary by performance.

Subscriptions and Flex Pass Packages

In addition to individual ticket sales, Centenary Stage Company also offers a variety of Season Subscription and Flex Pass packages.  The Season Producer package offers patrons admission into all 20 CSC events during the 2017-2017 Season (excludes New Jersey Civic Youth Ballet: The Nutcracker and Special Events). Benefits of the Season Producer package include huge cost savings of up to 70%, no restrictions on date/time of performance selection, preferred seating selection and no order, exchange or mailing fees. Season Producer package is $250 for single patron and $400 for two patrons.

Centenary Stage Company’s Flex Pass packages offer a variety of options for patrons looking to customize their 2017-18 season experience.  Benefits of Flex Pass packages include discounted ticket prices, preferred seating selection, no restrictions on date/time of performance selection and no order, exchange or mailing fees.  Flex Pass packages include Series A, Series B, Series C and Dance Fest packages. Flex Pass Series A grants entry into any 7 CSC events for $122.50 per patron.  Flex Pass Series B grants entry into ALL 4 Equity Theatre productions (Learned Ladies, Newsies, Art and Hitler’s Tasters) for $90 per patron. Flex Pass Series C grants entry into ANY 3 CSC events for $66 per patron.  Dance Fest Flex Pass grants entry into all 3 Dance Fest events (Moe-tion Dance Theater, XY Dance Project and Nimbus Dance Works) for $45 per patron.  Flex Pass packages do not include the Curtain Up event Tapestry: The Carole King Song Book, New Jersey Civic Youth Ballet: The Nutcracker and Special Events.

For a full listing of all Centenary Stage Company 2017-2018 season events, more information on events or to purchase tickets visit www.centenarystageco.org or call the CSC box office at (908) 979-0900. The Centenary Stage Company box office is located in the Lackland Performing Arts Center at 715 Grand Ave. Hackettstown, NJ in residency on the campus of Centenary University.  The CSC box office is open Monday through Friday from 1-5pm and two hours prior to every scheduled event.

Centenary Stage Company can also be found across social media platforms; Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  Like and follow to receive the latest in CSC news, updates and special offers.
The 2017-18 season of performing arts events at the Centenary Stage Company is made possible through the generous support of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the NJ State Council on the Arts, the Shubert Foundation, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, the Sandra Kupperman Foundation, and CSC corporate sponsors, including Premier Season Sponsor Heath Village Retirement Community, Silver Sponsors Hackettstown Medical Center, Home Instead Senior Care (Washington), The Holiday Inn in Budd Lake, and Fulton Bank of New Jersey, and Centenary Stage Company members and supporters.