Two special things about this production: It’s the first local staging of the 2006 Tony-winning musical comedy, and it’s directed by Villanova University President Rev. Peter M. Donohue, O.S.A., Ph.D (if that’s enough honorifics for you), a man who before his big 2006 promotion helmed one Barrymore-winning kick-ass musical after another on Villanova’s main stage. The show-within-a-show starts with a diehard musical fan (“The Man in the Chair”) putting on his favorite record, a cast album of a (fictional) old musical that comes to life in his humble apartment. “It’s an homage to the melodic, slapstick-silly musicals of the 1920s,” says Donohue, “adorned with just enough postmodern footnotes to keep it fresh.”
Nov. 6-Dec. 2, $21-$25, Vasey Hall, 800 E. Lancaster Ave., Villanova, 610-519-7474, theatre.villanova.edu.
