While The Spa Little Theater stage belongs to Opera Saratoga during the summer months, come fall, the curtain will rise on the 2019-20 season of Home Made Theater (HMT). Entering its 35th season as the resident theater company of The Spa Little Theater, HMT recently announced an exciting four-show lineup spanning from October 2019 through May 2020.
First up is Mamma Mia!, the Tony Award-nominated musical-turned-film set in Greece and featuring the music of ABBA. HMT’s production, under the direction of Dawn Oesch, will be staged over eight evenings between October 12-27. Tickets are $30 and go on sale September 3. Then, from December 13-21, HMT will present seven performances of the holiday classic It’s A Wonderful Life, directed by Laurie Larson. Tickets are $19 and are available now. Come February, HMT will showcase its darker side, as Director Dianne O’Neill Filer presents Dial M For Murder, a stage adaptation of the classic Alfred Hitchcock film, which the theater company last performed in 1989. The play, which follows ex-tennis pro Tony Wendice, as the plot to murder his wife goes horribly wrong, will take place over eight performances from February 8-23. Tickets are $28 and go on sale September 3. And finally, to close out the season, HMT invites audiences to investigate The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, the Tony-winning play based on the eponymous novel by Mark Haddon. The Erin Nicole Harrington-directed mystery begins April 18, with eight performances between then and May 3. Tickets are $28 and go on sale September 3.
Before those four performances take place this fall and next year, the theater troupe will be taking a few other plays and performances on the road through its HMT To Go program, which brings HMT theater to venues other than the Spa Little Theater. The troupe will present The Beauty Queen Of Leenane, a dark comedy about the relationship between 40-year-old Maureen Folan and her aging mother as they navigate living together in the small Irish town of Leenane, at Caffè Lena on August 4 at 3pm and 7pm (as in, this weekend!). For younger audiences, HMT’s Summer Youth Musical Theater Conservatory will present Once on This Island Jr. August 9 and 10 at the Dee Sarno Theater at Saratoga Arts.
Back at the Spa Little Theater and closer to the holidays, HMT will stage its annual Saratoga Christmas with the McKrells performance on December 15, and lead singer Kevin McKrell will present a pre-St. Patrick’s Day concert on March 7. Additionally, on January 11, former APCA Comic of the Year Adam Grabowski, who’s been featured on America’s Got Talent, will perform at the Spa Little Theater, and two benefits—HMT’s two-day Murder Mystery Event and Annual Spring Benefit—will be held on January 24-25 and March 14, respectively.
If that weren’t enough, on select Sundays at 1pm throughout the season, HMT will also be hosting The Shuster Series of Play Readings, a live, roundtable play reading, which gets audience members involved, followed by a discussion and analysis of that Sunday’s featured play (these are free and open to the public).
