Cabrillo Stage gets into the swing of things this summer with The Full Monty (June 24–July 17), the hilarious story of six out-of-work steelworkers who decide to bare it all for some quick cash. The musical The Last Five Years (July 8–Aug. 14) follows a five-year marriage between a writer and an actress, from first date to breakup, juxtaposing early hopes with late disappointments. The Tony Award–winning musical Hairspray (July 22–Aug.14) dives into 1962 Baltimore, where teenaged Tracy Turnblad goes from misfit to celebrity overnight. www.cabrillostage.com.
The Jewel Theatre presents Samuel Beckett’s black comedy Krapp’s Last Tape (June 2-5), about a lonely man, played by the talented former Shakespeare Santa Cruz artistic director Paul Whitworth, watching the years of his life pass from a darkened room. Each year on his birthday he makes a tape recording, but not before listening to a tape from the past. www.jeweltheatre.net.
Santa Cruz’s own James Durbin started at Kids on Broadway, which presents its Summer Academy Got Rhythm for children ages 8-15. The program, directed by April Burns, runs June 20–July 18 and culminates with an exhibition of the rhythms in music, dance and spoken word. www.kidsonbroadway.org.
The Mountain Community Theater presents The Dreamer Examines His Pillow, directed by Julie Willhite (June 9–19) at the Market Street Theater and ends the summer with its Dinner Fundraiser and play of Duets of Broadway VI, directed by Greg Ferrar (Sept. 17). www.mctshows.org
The Santa Cruz JewishTheatre presents I Ought to Be in Pictures (July 22–31), a comedy by Broadway’s infamous playwright, Neil Simon. A down-and-out writer/actor’s estranged 19-year-old daughter shows up on his doorstep harboring dreams of the stage which he finds all too familiar. www.santacruzjewishtheatre.com
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Shakespeare Santa Cruz puts a fresh spin on an audience favorite from 1988 and 1993, The Comedy of Errors (July 19–Aug. 28), the slapstick lyrical comedy about two sets of twins separated at birth. Presented in the beautiful outdoor Glen will be The Three Musketeers (July 20–Aug. 28), an adventure-filled romance adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas. The first installment of Shakespeare’s “Making of a King” trilogy begins Aug. 2 and runs through Aug. 28 with Henry IV, Part One, which tells the story of a prodigal prince who fritters away his time in taverns while his father fights to save the British throne. The trilogy will continue in 2012 and 2013. Last on the books for the summer season is Double Bind (Aug. 16–23), based on Menaechmi by the Roman playwright Plautus and presented by Shakespeare Santa Cruz’s talented interns. www.shakespearesantacruz.org.
