Liza Mitchell
The Atlantic Beach Experimental Theatre promises to deliver a series of firsts as it ushers in its 25th season. Artistic Director Celia Frank, who is celebrating with ABET, says this year could be the best season yet.
It’s an ambitious schedule that kicks off with ABET’s first Sondheim musical, Merrily We Roll Along, running Sept 9-25. Directed by Lee Hamby, the Broadway musical tells a compelling story about friendship, compromise, and the importance of staying true to one’s ideals.
“This is the first Stephen Sondheim musical ever done at ABET. Also, Macbeth will be the first Shakespeare done at ABET. I feel like I can put shows like this on the schedule, and we’re going to be able to pull them off and do them justice,” says Frank. “I have all the directors lined up, and they’re all wonderful. I have confidence in every one of them. I feel really good about it. I think it might be the best season ever.”
“I have all the directors lined up, and they’re all wonderful. I have confidence in every one of them. I feel really good about it. I think it might be the best season ever.”
- Merrily We Roll Along
If Frank’s emotional barometer measures the success of a show, Merrily We Roll Along is bound to be a hit. Hamby called Celia to rehearsal to witness the sitzprobe – a German term used to describe a seated rehearsal where the singers sing with the orchestra, often for the first rehearsal time – between the 18-member cast and six-person orchestra.
“They sounded so beautiful that it brought me to tears.”
“They sounded so beautiful that it brought me to tears. Lee said, ‘We are not going to look at you anymore’,” she says. “I think audiences are going to have so much fun with Merrily We Roll Along. It starts in the 80s and moves backwards to the 50s. The costumes change as they go back in time, so you see the history of what’s going on. When I go to a rehearsal like this one for Merrily We Roll Along, and I see all these people, it’s such an honor to have them on our stage.”
Adapted and directed by Kelby Siddons, Macbeth comes to the ABET stage Oct 21-Nov 6. Frank says the staging is an appropriate production for the Halloween season, using practical lighting and cinematic sound to engulf audiences in the supernatural Scottish moors. “Kelby was interested in doing a paired-down version of Macbeth. She is super talented and very creative. When I was putting the season together, I thought what could be more perfect than Macbeth at Halloween?”
“Kelby was interested in doing a paired-down version of Macbeth. She is super talented and very creative. When I was putting the season together, I thought what could be more perfect than Macbeth at Halloween?”
In keeping with the holiday tradition, an inventive adaptation of the classic Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is paired down to essential themes. In this version directed by Samuel Fisher, audiences encounter a company of traveling players about to enact the Dickens story. The troupe improvises by creating a magical world of make-believe, working their magic and warming the heart of Scrooge.
As the season marches on, audiences will experience an avant garde musical fable, Celebration, from Jan 20-Feb 5 which tells the story of a magical New Year’s Eve when a young orphan stumbles into the home of the richest man in the world and encounters a bizarre entourage including a beautiful fallen angel.
The drama 400 Miles is held March 10-26 and is the story of 21-year-old Leo who suffers a major loss while on a cross-country bike trip and seeks solace from his spirited grandmother in her New York apartment.
Frank directs the season’s closing comedy, The Hallelujah Girls, May 5-21 about a group of feisty women in Eden Falls, Georgia, and what happens when they decide to shake up their lives in SPA-DEE-DAH!, an abandoned church-turned-day-spa.
“People seem to love seeing the shows at ABET. There’s just nothing like that atmosphere.”
“I just hope ABET can keep going at the level we’re at now and just keep getting better and better and attract more people. We still fill the house for most shows, but we want to increase our audience base, and we can always add more and more shows. People seem to love seeing the shows at ABET. There’s just nothing like that atmosphere,” says Frank.
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