UNIVERSITY PARK — “Showtime with Shakespeare,” a new family theatrical production based on Mary Pope Osborne’s Magic Tree House adventure, “Stage Fright on a Summer Night,” will make its Penn State premiere at 4 p.m. on Nov. 3, in Eisenhower Auditorium, according to a press release.
Produced by the New Jersey Performing Arts Center with creative partner George Street Playhouse, “Showtime with Shakespeare” is a romp through Elizabethan England infused with hip-hop rhyme schemes, dance numbers and musical arrangements.
Tickets for the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State presentation are $21 for an adult, $15 for a University Park student and $21 for a person 18 and younger.Tickets are available at cpa.psu.edu or by phone at (814) 863-0255 or (800) ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at three State College locations: Eisenhower Auditorium (weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), Penn State Downtown Theatre Center (weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and Bryce Jordan Center (weekdays 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.). A grant from the University Park Student Fee Board makes Penn State student prices possible.
Jack and Annie, the story’s protagonists, travel back in time to meet playwright William Shakespeare. The show accentuates the importance of Shakespeare to children and adults in an entertaining way and drops plenty of winking references to the Bard’s many plays.
Jenny Laird and Will Osborne wrote the show’s book and lyrics. Randy Courts composed the music and wrote additional lyrics. Janeece Freeman-Clark directed the show, which is choreographed by Gregory Omar Osborne.
The Magic Tree House series, written by Mary Pope Osborne, has been translated into more than 30 languages, has sold more than 135 million copies worldwide and is the best-selling chapter book series of all time.
The author studied theater, mythology and comparative religion at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
