Roberta 2018
Otto Harbach & Jerome Kern, 1933
Roberta
Fri, Jun 8 - Sun, Jun 17
Jaqua Concert Hall, The Shedd Institute
The Eye Center
Shedd Presenting Sponsor
  • Description
  • Personnel
  • Songs
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”.
Event Personnel
Creative Team
Peg Major, director
Robert Ashens, music director & conductor
Caitlin Christopher, choreographer
Jamie Parker, costume design
Jim Ralph, executive producer, set design
Cast
Claire Kepple, Stephanie
Adam Kelly, John Kent
Dylan Stasack, Huckleberry Haines
Caitlin Christopher, Mme. Nunez Scharwenka
Clarae Smith, Sophie Teale
Judith Roberts, Aunt Minnie
Matthew Leach, Lord Henry Delves
Bradyn Debysingh, Billie
Jim Ballard, Ladislaw
Cyra Conforth, Luella la Verne
Sophia James, Mrs. Teale
Lyn Burg, Mme. Anna Grandet
Female Ensemble
Male Ensemble
Production Team
Kristin Combs, production & stage manager
George Comstock, assistant stage manager
Emily Kidder, assistant to the conductor
Cosmo Cole, lighting & sound design
Connie Huston, scenic painter, scenic design
Jan Easton, set construction
Scenes & Musical Numbers
Time: 1933     Place: New England & Paris, France
ACT I
Scene 1: Alpha Beta Pi fraternity, New England
late Spring, 1933
 Let's Begin (Billie)
(1933) Roberta Otto Harbach (w) Jerome Kern (m)
 Fraternity Madrigal (John & the boys)
(1933) Roberta Otto Harbach (w) Jerome Kern (m)
 You're Devastating (Huck & the boys)
(1933) Roberta Otto Harbach (w) Jerome Kern (m)
 Let's Begin (continued, John & boys)
(1933) Roberta Otto Harbach (w) Jerome Kern (m)
Scene 2: Roberta's private office, Paris
2 weeks later
 You're Devastating (reprise, Stephanie)
(1933) Roberta Otto Harbach (w) Jerome Kern (m)
 Yesterdays (Aunt Minnie)
(1933) Roberta Otto Harbach (w) Jerome Kern (m)
 I Won't Dance (Scharwenka, Hank & John)
(1935) Roberta Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh (w) Jerome Kern (m)
 The Touch Of Your Hand (Stephanie & Ladislaw)
(1933) Roberta Otto Harbach (w) Jerome Kern (m)
Scene 3: Roberta's fitting room
the following week
 The Touch Of Your Hand (reprise, staff)
(1933) Roberta Otto Harbach (w) Jerome Kern (m)
Scene 4: Hallway between the fitting and show rooms
6 weeks after
Scene 5: Roberta's showroom
 I'll Be Hard To Handle (Scharwenka)
(1933) Roberta Bernard Dougall (w) Jerome Kern (m)
ACT II
Scene 1: Roberta's private office
the following week
 Hold 'Em High, You Are Going For A Ride (Scharwenka)
(1933) Roberta Otto Harbach (w) Jerome Kern (m)
 Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (Stephanie)
(1933) Roberta Otto Harbach (w) Jerome Kern (m)
 Let's Begin (reprise, Huck & Stephanie)
(1933) Roberta Otto Harbach (w) Jerome Kern (m)
Scene 2: Willie's Bar (Paris' idea of an American club)
 Something Had To Happen (Scharwenka & John)
(1933) Roberta Otto Harbach (w) Jerome Kern (m)
 Let's Begin (reprise, Huck, John & Scharwenka)
(1933) Roberta Otto Harbach (w) Jerome Kern (m)
Scene 3: Roberta's showroom, set for a party
 Don't Ask Me Not To Sing (Hank & Billy)
(1933) Roberta Otto Harbach (w) Jerome Kern (m)
 Lovely To Look At
(1935) Roberta Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh (w) Jerome Kern (m)
Scene 4: Roberta's fitting room
Scene 5: The Café Russe
 Clementine
(1933) Roberta Otto Harbach (w) Jerome Kern (m)
 I'll Be Hard To Handle (reprise, Scharwenka)
(1933) Roberta Bernard Dougall (w) Jerome Kern (m)
 The Touch Of Your Hand (instrumental)
(1933) Roberta Otto Harbach (w) Jerome Kern (m)
 You're Devastating (instrumental)
(1933) Roberta Otto Harbach (w) Jerome Kern (m)


Performances
June, 2018
Fr 08 7:30 pRoberta: Eugene
Sa 09 7:30 pRoberta: Eugene
Su 10 3:00 pRoberta: Eugene
Fr 15 7:30 pRoberta: Eugene
Sa 16 7:30 pRoberta: Eugene
Su 17 3:00 pRoberta: Eugene
Ticket/Venue Info
Roberta Ticket Prices
Seat
Level
Full
Price
Discount Prices
10%15%20%Youth
A36.00  32.50  30.75  29.00  23.50 
B30.00  27.00  25.50  24.00  19.50 
C24.00  21.75  20.50  19.25  15.75 
Jaqua Concert Hall
The John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts
285 E Broadway
Eugene, Oregon
541-434-7000
The Eye Center
Shedd Presenting Sponsor