Continuing our tradition of reviving gems from the Golden Age of musical comedy, we open Shedd Theatricals’ 17th season with Roberta, Otto Harbach’s 1933 stage adaptation of Alice Duer Miller’s charming novel published that same year, Gowns By Roberta. The story is as much romance as comedy, with plenty of intrigue, star-crossed loving and Russian royalty in disguise mixed in with simply great songs by Harbach and the always masterful Jerome Kern.
John Kent, an all-American fullback at Haverhill College learns he has inherited a dress shop in Paris run by his Aunt Minnie under the trade name Roberta, who is the estranged black sheep of the family but has a deep affection for him. When John’s stuck up socialite fiancé Sophie throws him over, he travels to Paris, only to find that Aunt Minnie has died. Knowing how much his aunt relied on her beautiful assistant Stephanie (a real Russian princess in disguise), John proposes that she runs the shop in partnership with him. A budding romance between the two almost comes to naught when Sophie, appears on the scene bent to win John back.
The fabulous score by Kern includes such beauts as “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”, “Lovely To Look At”, “Yesterdays”, “I Won’t Dance”, “You’re Devastating”, and “I’ll Be Hard To Handle”.
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Event Personnel |
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Creative Team |
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Cast |
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Claire Kepple, StephanieAdam Kelly, John KentDylan Stasack, Huckleberry HainesCaitlin Christopher, Mme. Nunez ScharwenkaClarae Smith, Sophie TealeJudith Roberts, Aunt MinnieMatthew Leach, Lord Henry DelvesBradyn Debysingh, BillieJim Ballard, LadislawCyra Conforth, Luella la VerneSophia James, Mrs. TealeLyn Burg, Mme. Anna Grandet |
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Female Ensemble |
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Male Ensemble |
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Production Team |
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Time: 1933 Place: New England & Paris, France |
Scene 1: Alpha Beta Pi fraternity, New England late Spring, 1933 |
Scene 2: Roberta's private office, Paris 2 weeks later |
Scene 3: Roberta's fitting room the following week |
Scene 4: Hallway between the fitting and show rooms 6 weeks after |
Scene 5: Roberta's showroom |
Scene 1: Roberta's private office the following week |
Scene 2: Willie's Bar (Paris' idea of an American club) |
Scene 3: Roberta's showroom, set for a party |
Scene 4: Roberta's fitting room |