Encore Michigan

JET annouces 2020 season lineup

Show Announcement January 23, 2020

WALLED LAKE—The Jewish Ensemble Theatre has announced its 2020 season lineup.

April 23–May 17: A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline by Dean Regan. Spanning Patsy Cline’s life and music from the age of 15 to her death at 31.

June 4–28: Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin. It’s 1946, and the vulgar, egotistic Harry Brock has come to a swanky hotel in Washington to make crooked deals with government big-wigs. He has brought with him the charming but unsophisticated ex-chorus girl Billie, whose lack of social graces embarrasses even Harry. Billie must be taught some of the amenities, and she learns about history and politics, she begins to uncover the corruption at the core of Harry’s business.

July 16–August 9: The Producers, book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan, music and lyrics by Mel Brooks. Bialystock and Bloom! Those names should strike terror and hysteria in anyone familiar with Mel Brooks’ classic cult comedy film. The Producers skewers Broadway traditions and takes no prisoners as it proudly proclaims itself an “equal opportunity offender!”

October 1–25: The Mystery of Irma Vep – A Penny Dreadful by Charles Ludlam. This spoof of Gothic melodramas is a quick change marathon in which two actors play all the roles. A sympathetic werewolf, a vampire and an Egyptian princess brought to life when her tomb is opened make this a comedy that has everything.

November 5–18: The Full Monty with book by Terrence McNally, music and lyrics by David Yazbek. While spying on their wives at a girls’ night out, a group of unemployed steelworkers from Buffalo sees how much the women enjoy watching male strippers. Jealous, out of work and feeling emasculated, the men come up with a bold and unclothed way to make some quick cash. In preparing, they find themselves extremely exposed; not merely physically but emotionally. As they conquer their fears, self-consciousness and prejudices, the men come to discover that they’re stronger as a group, and the strength that they find in each other gives them the individual courage to “let it go.”

Season tickets and more information are available online at https://www.jettheatre.org/.