A diva delight awaits theater-lovers
Despite the yearlong pandemic, Lowell’s Dramatically Incorrect Theater Group & Dance Company — DITGDC, for short — has kept pace and brought the stage to people’s homes via live-streamed monthly productions that entertain and elicit laughs.
“We have come so far and delivered much talent and many laughs,” said DITGDC owner/ director Paul Gymziak.
Its latest “Legends and Bridge,” a comedy by playwright C. Stephen Foster, will be live streamed on Friday, April 30, and Saturday, May 1, starting at 7:30 p.m. A divine diva comedy, it’s the imagined story of Joan Crawford inviting Bette Davis and Judy Garland to live with her to work on their comeback film with Tennessee Williams and a young boy-toy thrown in for laughs.
In the play, screen legend Crawford is a washed-up matron, drunk on spiked Pepsi.
She invites Garland, recently fired from her CBS TV show, and Davis (of course, a Lowell native), bitter at no longer being the “Queen of Hollywood,” up to her Manhattan digs in 1964 to work on their “secret” film project.
Joan puts Judy on an exercise regimen to get her in shape and tries to butter up Bette with little gifts. All hell breaks loose when divas Bette and
Judy learn Joan’s plan to film a screen adaptation of “St. Joan.” It will star you-know-who, of course, as the saint, with Bette as her mother and Judy playing various voices. Back-biting, catfights and skullduggery ensue as the divas revolt, even as the boy-toy, Madison, and a drunk Williams arrive on the scene and watch the comedy erupt.
The cast, featuring longtime thespians from across the region, includes Valerie Schillawski of Shirley, Debbie Moylan of Ashby and Jen Knight of Fitchburg as leading ladies
Joan Crawford, Judy Garland and Bette Davis. Rounding out the cast are Matthew Debettencourt of Worcester as Madison, Steven Cristoforo of Fitchburg as Tennessee Williams, and Mic Godwin of Lowell as the taxi driver. Gymziak, a Lowell resident, directs.
Tickets are $15 and available at ditgdc.org. You can also catch a preview Youtube teaser of the play on the website.
In the wings
: MRT OPENING DELAY: Merrimack Repertory Theatre has announced a change in the viewing schedule for its upcoming video-only production of “Until the Flood” by Dael Orlandersmith. The docu-drama, originally schedule for viewing on April 17, will now be available from April 21-May 5, starting at 7 p.m. The change is the result of a delay in the editing process of its first-ever filmed production. Courtney Sale, MRT’S artistic director, said, “We want to deliver the highest-quality experience to our audiences and ensure that this live performance on film feels as close as possible to the MRT experience.” Visit www.mrt.org for info on purchasing and other questions.
: A CANNON MUSICAL: What have you been doing the last five years? That’s the question posed and answered in “The Last Five Years,” an emotionally powerful, intimate musical by Jason Robert Brown. Cannon Theatre brings the show to life online over two weekends in April. It’s about two New Yorkers in their twenties who fall in and out of love over the course of five years. The show’s unconventional structure consists of Cathy, the woman, telling her story backwards, while Jamie, the man, tells his story chronologically. The two characters only meet once, at their wedding in the middle of the show. Performances
are April 16, 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25 at 7:30 p.m. It is filmed with stills and effects interspersed, and includes gorgeous music and rich emotion. Joel and Laura Iwaskiewicz, real-life husband and wife who met at the Cannon 10 years ago, play Jamie and Cathy; Shawn Cannon directs. Tickets are $20 individual, $40 household, at www.showtix4u.com/event-details/47295.
: OGUNQUIT REOPENS: Live theater returns to Maine’s southern seacoast this summer with four upbeat shows at the venerable Ogunquit Playhouse. Productions include “Spamalot!” June 16-July 10; “Escape to Margarittaville,” July 14-Aug. 28; “Mystic Pizza” world premiere, Sept. 1-Oct. 2; and “Young Frankenstein,” Oct. 6-31. Instead of staging these musicals indoors, the Playhouse
Pavilion will rise from the south lawn grounds this month, offering a 25,000square-foot, fully covered, opeair venue, designed to give audiences a great theatrical experience in a safe environment. Fully wired for lights and sound, the 75-foot-wide stage will dazzle socially distanced audiences seated in pods of two seats with clear sight lines for each show, which will be presented in 90-minute, no-intermission performances. Masks are required at all times, except when eating and drinking, and vaccines are strongly encouraged although proof of vaccination will not be required. Playhouse members receive a week of pre-sales beginning April 19 at 10 a.m. General public sales begin April 26 at www.ogunquitplayhouse.org or phone 207-646-5511.
Nancye Tuttle’s email address is nancyedt@verizon.net.