Sondheim. Signature’s Signature.

Stephen Sondheim has been the leading composer of musical theater for the past fifty years. His work is timeless. From the streets of ancient Rome, through 19th century Japan and turn-of-the-century Sweden, to the high-rise apartments of 1970 Manhattan, his songs represent a definitive time and place, and yet move beyond their particular settings to speak to us all. Now, with this award-winning revue of his earlier work, Signature presents some of the most lush, unforgettable songs from this musical theater master whose work has so influenced Signature’s history. Signature takes you back to where it all began with the early works of Stephen Sondheim.

Including songs from Anyone Can Whistle, Company, Do I Hear A Waltz?, Evening Primrose, Follies, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Gypsy, A Little Night Music, The Mad Show, Pacific Overtures, The Seven Percent Solution, and West Side Story.

“Signature has earned a national reputation for musicals, especially the works of Sondheim.” -Variety

Side by Side by Sondheim is sponsored by the HRH Foundation.
Media Sponsors: WJLA / TBD.com, WASH-FM and Metro Weekly.

A simple white canvas. A 200,000 francs pricetag. The real cost? Decades-long friendships. Enter the world of Yasmina Reza’s Art, where Serge’s purchase of an expensive, abstract painting raises questions about the nature of art and friendship. Set in Paris, the story revolves around three friends who find their previously solid friendship on shaky ground when Serge invests in a new painting. The purchase reveals unsettling secret opinions and conflicting world-views. As their arguments shift from the theoretical to the personal, this Tony Award®-winning comedy examines the pressures friends place on each other – and how different values can transform relationships. From the author of Broadway’s hit play God of Carnage. “Art is not so much a comedy about art as it is about friendship—and the limits of friendship.” - The New York Times Art is sponsored by Arlene and Robert Kogod.

AMERICAN MUSICAL VOICES PROJECT: PART THREE A WORLD PREMIERE

Partly historical. Totally hysterical.

The world premiere musical comedy And the Curtain Rises loosely re-imagines the theatrical bedlam surrounding the creation of the first American musical. Set in 1866, this classic backstage tale follows novice producer William Wheatley as he finds his production in shambles: bruised egos, secret plots, romance, some skimpy costumes, an uncompromising author, and a cast on the verge of revolt. All is complicated when a French ballet troupe is forced to seek refuge in his theatre after a fire erupts in an adjacent theatre. Rather than throw in the towel and count his losses, Wheatley decides to take control and turn lemons into lemonade. Filled with outrageous characters and rich melodies, and reveling in the chaos and camaraderie of the theatre, And the Curtain Rises is a lovely valentine to an unique American art form

“Signature’s American Musical Voices Project is the most ambitious embrace of new musical theater in the DC region.”
-The Washington Post

THE WASHINGTON PREMIERE OF THE LEGENDARY, TONY AWARD®-WINNING HOLLYWOOD MUSICAL

“All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.”

This December, legendary silent film star Norma Desmond will be singing the glorious songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber in Signature’s new production of Sunset Boulevard. All the glamour of old-time Hollywood and Paramount Pictures comes alive in this tale of love, lust, and revenge.

Starring Florence Lacey (star of Broadway’s Evita and Signature’s Follies) as the faded screen star, Sunset Boulevard is a noir musical and one of the greatest Hollywood tales ever told. With such stunning songs as “With One Look,” “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” and “Perfect Year,” Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard is a lush romantic tragedy. With a cast and orchestra of 38 strong, Sunset Boulevard promises to be the musical event of the season!

In a world that seems to be spinning beyond their control, two women find themselves sharing a table, stuck in an airport by a storm. Representing two sides of the culture wars – one red state, the other blue state – Margaret and Patty reluctantly strike up a conversation that encourages them to open up, challenge their preconceived notions, and find common ground.

Joe Calarco, the Helen Hayes Award-winning director of Side Show and Assassins, and a Signature Artistic Associate, has written a charming and intimate new comedy that explores the choices we all make, the regrets with which we burden ourselves, and the losses we suffer as we age, mature, and stride through an incomprehensible world.

Starring Helen Hayes Award winners Nancy Robinette (Studio Theatre’s Souvenir and Shakespeare Theatre’s Twelfth Night) and Sherri L. Edelen (Signature’s Sweeney Todd & Les Miserables).

“Joe Calarco is a theater man of imagination and vision.”
– The New York Times

A tribute from Ken Ludwig (Lend Me A Tenor, Crazy for You) to the great English farces of the 1930s and 1940s, A Fox On the Fairway takes Signature audiences on a hilarious romp which pulls the rug out from underneath the stuffy denizens of a private country club. Filled with mistaken identities, slamming doors, and over-the-top romantic shenanigans, it’s a furiously paced comedy that recalls the Marx Brothers’ classics.

You won’t want to miss this charmingly madcap adventure – directed by Tony Award®-winner John Rando (Urinetown) – about love, life, and man’s eternal love affair with… golf.

Starring Holly Twyford (Signature’s Little Dog Laughed)

“Ken Ludwig is one of those rare contemporary playwrights who thinks in terms of old-fashioned knockabout farce, and that’s something to be cherished.” – The New York Times

From the Composers of Mamma Mia! and the Lyricist of The Lion King and Jesus Christ Superstar

1988. The two greatest chess masters – one American, one Russian – competing to be the best in the world. And yet their greatest contest is for the love of the same woman.

Amidst political intrigue and international conspiracies, American Freddie Trumper and Russian Anatoly Sergievsk fight to take the queen in a romantic triangle that mirrors the heightened passions of the Cold War.

Originally produced on Broadway in 1988, this Tony®-nominated cult rock musical explores the classic themes of love, loss and betrayal.

Featuring the hit single “One Night in Bangkok”, and unforgettable songs like “Anthem,” “I Know Him So Well,” “Nobody’s Side,” and “Pity the Child.”

“One of the best rock scores ever produced in the theater!”
– Time Magazine