Music, mayhem mix in upcoming Saint Vincent Summer Theatre shows

The upcoming Saint Vincent Summer Theatre season is feeling like “a return to normalcy” for producing artistic director Greggory Brandt.

For its 53rd season, the theater will present three productions and welcome back its popular after-performance cabaret.

Following a two-year pandemic shutdown, SVST presented two productions in 2022. This year’s slate sees a blend of its traditional jukebox musicals, farces and musical revues.

“It’s a nice variety for young and old and to reconnect everyone back with the summer theater they’ve come to know and love over the years,” Brandt said.

He also hopes to present a Christmas season musical revue, but those plans won’t be finalized until later in the year, depending on the calendar at Saint Vincent College, where the theater has its home.

Each production will include eight performances. The cabaret that follows features musical entertainment by Saint Vincent students, who also serve the cabaret’s signature popcorn and hot dogs.

The season will open with the jukebox musical, “The Andrews Brothers,” running May 30 through June 4.

Set in 1945 on a small island in the Pacific Ocean, the story finds a USO show by the Andrews Sisters in jeopardy when the singing group doesn’t show up.

Three stagehands — the brothers of the title — are determined that the show will go on. Mistaken identities and mayhem ensue, including a romance between one of the brothers and a World War II pin-up girl determined to prove that she is more than just a pretty face.

The show was written by Roger Bean, known for a string of jukebox musicals including “The Marvelous Wonderettes.” It features popular songs of the 1940s, including tunes sung by the real-life Andrews Sisters.

Next up is Ken Ludwig’s “Moon Over Buffalo,” set for June 27 to July 2.

Taking place in 1953, the show finds fading stars Charlotte and George Hay on tour in the unlikely pairing of “Cyrano de Bergerac” and “Private Lives.” When they hear that legendary movie director Frank Capra is coming to town to see a matinee, they hope for one last shot at the big time.

The season will conclude with “Some Enchanted Evening: The Songs of Rodgers & Hammerstein,” from July 18 to 23.

“We’ll wrap up right before the Steelers arrive,” Brandt said.

The show’s first act finds five performers backstage, rehearsing by singing to each other as a kind of personal interplay. For the second act, it’s show time.

“Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote 11 musicals together,’” Brandt said. “This show covers them all, from ‘Oklahoma,’ their first, to ‘The Sound of Music.’ ”

The season will include some regional professional actors familiar to SVST audiences, along with some new faces, Brandt said.

Each production will include matinee performances at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday and evening performances at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

All performances will take place in the Performing Arts Center of the Carey Student Center on the Unity campus. Transportation is provided from the parking areas to the center.

Tickets will be available from the Saint Vincent box office beginning May 15. Online sales will begin in early May, with the date yet to be determined, Brandt said.

There is a $5 per person fee for the cabaret.

For information, visit saintvincentarts.org.