How to Go:
What: “Bullets Over Broadway,” the Broadway musical by Woody Allen
When: Tuesday, Nov. 3, through Sunday, Nov. 8. Curtain is 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Schuster Center, Dayton
Tickets: Priced from $39 to $82. Student and military discounts are also available. Tickets are available at www.TicketCenterStage.com, at the Box Office, or call (937) 228-3630 or (888) 228-3630.
Also: At 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5, and 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7, the VTA presents "Background on Broadway." The free program is held in the Schuster Center's 4th Floor Lobby for ticket holder's of that day's show.
If you love Woody Allen, you will be happy to hear that the famous comic/director had a hand in the musical adaptation of his popular film, “Bullets Over Broadway.” The show is now playing at the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center through Nov. 8 as part of the 2015-16 Premier Health Broadway Series.
Written by Allen and inspired by the 1994 screenplay he wrote with Douglas McGrath, the plot centers around an aspiring young playwright in 1920s New York forced to cast a mobster’s talentless girlfriend in his latest drama in order to get it produced. The original production, which premiered on Broadway last season, received six Tony-Award nominations, including Best Book of a Musical and Best Choreography.
Director Joe Deer, one of those most responsible for putting Wright State University’s musical theater department on the map, saw the show on Broadway and thinks Dayton audiences are going to love it. Deer is currently directing “Chicago” at Wright State.
“It’s really a period farce that is incredibly well crafted with surprising plot twists, and some delightfully funny characters,” he said. “Woody Allen carries the film’s wonderful characters into this musical but adds popular and obscure songs from the the 1930s.”
Deer says “Bullets Over Broadway” is really an old-fashioned “juke box” musical, like “Mama Mia” or “Jersey Boys” but set in a very different period. “It hearkens back to some of our favorite gangster musicals, like ‘Guys and Dolls,’ ‘Kiss Me Kate’ and ‘Sugar,’” he says. “Susan Stroman’s choreography and direction is inventive and fun.”
Stroman, who got her start as a dancer in the touring company of Bob Fosse’s “Chicago,” is a five-time Tony Award winning director and choreographer who earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Choreography for “Bullets Over Broadway.”
In the just-published book “Musicals: The Definitive Illustrated Story,” Stronan is quoted as saying: “Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve had this passion. When I hear music, I see visions of people dancing.”
→ Meet one of the cast members of 'Bullets Over Broadway' at MyDaytonDailyNews.com