Bay Street Theater Announces 2017 Mainstage Summer Season

[caption id="attachment_57390" align="alignnone" width="721"] Andrew Lippa and Jules Feiffer at the Bay Street Theater’s 2016 New Works Festival reading for The Man in the Ceiling. Photo courtesy of Bay Street Theater.[/caption]

Bay Street Theater has announced the three productions planned for the 2017 Mainstage Summer Season. The first will be the world premiere of the musical “The Man in the Ceiling,” based on work by Pulitzer Prize winner Jules Feiffer, and directed by “Hamilton” producer Jeffrey Seller. The season will also include productions of “Intimate Apparel” and William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.”

“The Man in the Ceiling” will be staged May 30 through June 25 and is based on the novel “The Man in the Ceiling” by Mr. Feiffer, a Shelter Island resient, with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. In this musical, Jimmy Jibbett is a disappointment to his father, a daydreamer in the classroom and a failure on the ball field. Can he find happiness as a boy cartoonist? A Pulitzer Prize cartoonist joins a Tony-nominated composer to find out.

[caption id="attachment_57392" align="alignleft" width="262"] Bay Street Theater's Scott Schwartz.[/caption]

“Intimate Apparel” will run July 4 through July 30, and is written by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and directed by Bay Street’s Artistic Director, Scott Schwartz. This play tells the story of Esther Mills, a skilled African-American seamstress who has her own successful business in 1905 making lingerie for both society ladies and “ladies of the night.” But Esther is lonely, and as she searches for something more in her life, she finds intimacy comes in many forms.

“As You Like It” will run August 8 through September 3, directed by Tony Award winner John Doyle and will be a co-production with Classic Stage Company in New York City. In this production, Rosalind travels into the merry Forest of Arden and leaves behind the politics of the city. Disguised as a man and accompanied by her cousin Celia and Touchstone the clown, they embark on a hilarious and romantic journey.

“We are very excited to announce Bay Street’s 2017 Mainstage Summer Productions. It will be a Season about love, imagination, and self-discovery,” Bay Street’s Artistic Director, Scott Schwartz said. “We are thrilled to welcome so many renowned, award-winning artists to our stage who will make theatrical magic for our East End audience. With a World Premiere musical, a great drama by a masterful contemporary playwright, and Bay Street’s first full production of a play by William Shakespeare, we know 2017 is going to be one of our most entertaining and adventurous yet”

For more information or to purchase a 2017 Mainstage Season subscription, log on to www.baystreet.org or call the Box Office at 631-725- 9500 Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.