Young Performers Workshop returns with musical theatre favorites

HACKETTSTOWN — Centenary Stage Company’s Young Performers between the ages of 8 and 18 will fill the Little Theater with a variety of shows and musicals to entertain audiences of all ages May 29 to June 7 with their annual Spring Festival of Shows.

The Young Performers Workshop (YPW) brings in youth from Morris, Warren, Hunterdon and Sussex counties. This spring, the festival will feature How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, Gypsy, and American Sampler: 100 Years of Broadway Dance. Performances will be held on select dates in the Little Theatre on the campus of Centenary College at 400 Jefferson Street in Hackettstown.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

A hysterical musical by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is based on Shepherd Meade’s 1952 book, of the same name. The story follows a young, ambitious J. Pierrepont Finch, who, with the help of the book How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, rises from window washer to chairman of the board of the World Wide Wicket Company.

Performances are Saturday, May 30 at 8 p.m., Sunday, May 31 at 7 p.m., Friday, June 5 at 8 p.m., Saturday, June 6 at 2 p.m. and Sunday, June 7 at 1 p.m.

GypsyOften referred as the greatest American musical, Gypsy, is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business mother." It follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters and perform onstage. It casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life.

The musical contains many songs that became popular standards, including "Everything's Coming up Roses", "Together (Wherever We Go)", "Small World", "Some People", "Let Me Entertain You", "All I Need Is the Girl", and "Rose's Turn". It is frequently considered one of the crowning achievements of the mid-20th century's conventional musical theatre art form.

Performances are Friday, May 29 at 8 p.m., Sunday, May 31 at 1 p.m., Saturday, June 6 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 7 at 4 p.m.

An American SamplerCreated by Centenary Stage Company Producing Director, Carl Wallnau, for the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s inaugural State-wide Theatre Academy and seen by hundreds of students from across the state, An American Sampler: 100 Years of Musical Theatre once again comes to life at the Centenary Young Performers Workshop.

This group leads the audience on a lively song-and-dance tour of Broadway musicals from the early 1900 to the present in a revue of selections of classic moments from the American musical stage.

Featuring the music of such legendary artists as Scott Joplin, Rodgers and Hartz, Paganini, George M. Cohan, Rogers and Hammerstein, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Billy Joel, the company of young performers, depict the work and choreographic styles of such Broadway greats as George Balanchine, Agnes De Mille, Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, Michael Bennett, Twyla Tharp, Susan Stroman, Savion Glover and many others.

Performances are Saturday, May 30 at 2 p.m., Sunday, May 31 at 1 p.m., Saturday, June 6 at 5 p.m., Sunday, June 7 at 7 p.m.

The YPW program has been led by Broadway, film and television veteran, Michael Blevins, for more than 20 years. YPW is dedicated to the enrichment of young lives through experience in the theatre arts, and serves as a venue for cultivating young theatre performers. The program is one of only a handful in the nation that offers both formal training and production experience for young people.

Tickets to the YPW Summer Festival of Shows are $12.50 for adults and $10 for children under 12. Tickets may be purchased online at www.centenarystageco.org or by calling the CSC Box Office at 908-979-0900. All performances will take place in the Little Theatre at 400 Jefferson Street in Hackettstown.