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UPDATE: Review of Sweet Charity by Ryan E. Johnson at examiner.com, August 6
UPDATE: Review of Sweet Charity by Rob Faubion at AustinOnStage.com, August 2
UPDATE: Review of Cabaret by Olin Meadows for AustinOnStage.com, July 25
UPDATE: Review of Cabaret by Ryan E. Johnson at examiner.com, July 30
Found on-line:
SummerStock Austin follows up last summer’s sold-out season with a much-anticipated return to the Long Center’s Rollins Theatre!
Cabaret and Sweet Charity
July 22 - August 7, 7:30 p.m. (matinees at 2 p.m.)
alternating at the Rollins Theatre, Long Center
Cabaret is scheduled for July 22-25, a July 31 Saturday matinee at 2 p.m., August 1, 3, 6 & a Saturday matinee August 7
Sweet Charity is scheduled for July 28 -30, a Sunday matinee August 1 at 2 p.m., August 4, 5 and 7
Tickets: Ranging from $15-25. Special prices for opening and closing nights. Purchase through the Long Center Box Office at www.longcenter.org or (512) 474-5664. Tickets are on sale through the Long Center Box Office.
SummerStock Austin announces its sixth anniversary season with the hit musical revival of Cabaret and the classic favorite Sweet Charity.Cabaret opens July 22 and closes Aug. 7, and Sweet Charity opens July 28 and closes Aug. 7. The two productions will play in repertory.
  Cabaret, directed by David Valdes and choreographed by Natasha Davidson, reflects the stark, heartbreakingly honest 1998 revival (which was innovatively performed at Studio 54 in New York City), while Sweet Charity, directed by Ginger Morris and choreographed by Vincent Sandoval, is infused with a swingy modern sensibility that supports its strong themes of love, relationship, and independence. Both productions are musical directed by Michael McKelvey with lighting and set design by Larry Lehew.
SummerStock Austin completed its first season at the Long Center in 2009 with its successful productions of Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Little Shop of Horrors, garnering eight B. Iden Payne nominations and six B. Iden Payne Awards, among other honors.
The productions are performed entirely by a student company, and this year will also feature student musicians in the orchestra. Student performers and crew are drawn from St. Edward’s University, Texas State University, Baylor University, AMDA and Juilliard School of the Arts, and the University of Texas at Austin. High school participants come from area schools including McCallum, Bowie, Dripping Springs, Westwood, McNeil, Cedar Park, Vista Ridge, Leander, Blanco and Star Charter. More than 100 students auditioned and interviewed to be part of the sixth season. The applicant pool not only tapped the greater Austin area, but included representatives from Houston and Dallas as well.
SummerStock Austin is a sponsored project of St. Edward’s University, as well as Zilker Theatre Productions. While the shows will be performed at the beautiful Long Center for the Performing Arts, rehearsals, administrative offices and set construction will remain at St. Edward’s University.
Founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross, St. Edward's University has been named as one of America's Best Colleges for 2009 by U.S. News & World Report and was selected by The Princeton Review for inclusion in the guide Colleges with a Conscience. St. Edward's is a private, Catholic, liberal arts university of more than 5,300 students located in Austin, Texas. For more information on St. Edward’s University, visit www.stedwards.edu.
 The company is led by a host of professionals with experience ranging from Austin to Broadway. Through this work college students begin making invaluable connections as they embark on their professional careers. High school students will have a similarly unique experience as they gain first-hand knowledge of working in a collegiate setting. Moreover, each student leaves the stock season with pride, knowing that he/she has played an integral part of a professional production.
Summer Stock Austin’s philosophy is to create an environment of shared learning by incorporating high school students, college students and professionals in a fast-paced production series where everyone involved shares in the responsibility of creating high-quality theatre.
The Beginning
In August of 2005, St Edward’s Mary Moody Northen Theatre hosted the inaugural season of Summer Stock Austin (SSA). Joining forces with Zilker Theatre Productions and Austin Shakespeare Festival, SSA brought together 15 of St. Edwards’s theater and music students and 30 high school students from the greater Austin area to produce two remarkable productions; Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and Footloose, the musical. Presented in back to back repertory style, Austin audiences flocked to these performances; many of which were sold out.
Founders
With more than 15 years combined experience working with Jr. High, high school and college students, two of Austin’s leading theatre professionals, Dr. Michael McKelvey and Ms. Ginger Morris, founded Summer Stock Austin. SSA provides an opportunity for Central Texas high school students to work alongside college students and theatre professionals to mount a summer stock season where each participant involved works in all areas of theatre production from acting to technical theatre to marketing.
Dr. Michael McKelvey has been an active performer, musical, and stage director on the Austin theatre scene for 15 years. Together with Ginger Morris, he founded Summer Stock Austin in 2005. Michael is the Coordinator of Music, and newly appointed Director of Musical Theatre at St. Edward’s University. As a stage director, Michael’s credits include Sweeney Todd (B. Iden Payne Award), The Last Five Years, John and Jen, Assassins (BIP Award), Alice in Wonderland, The Frog Prince, Nunsense, A Christmas Carol, and The Pajama Game. As a musical director, he has worked for the majority of musical producing companies in Austin with almost 50 titles on his resume. Some of his favorite musical direction credits are Sweeney Todd (BIP Award), Crazy For You (Austin Critics’ Table Award), Assassins (BIP Award), Pajama Game, Parade (ACT Award), Seven Brides...(BIP Award), The Last Five Years, Into the Woods, and Beauty and the Beast. He has also been an active composer over the past year, writing scores for Austin Shakespeare, the Mary Moody Northen Theatre, and Scottish Rite Theatre. Besides his university duties and directing activities, Michael also serves as a faculty member for the Texas Arts Project and Zachary Scott P.A.S., and as a board member for Hyde Park and Penfold Theatre Companies.
Ginger Morris graduated with a BFA in Theatre from the University of Texas at Austin. She worked as Stage Manager or Production Manager for various Austin Musical Theatre Productions, where she managed the AMT Performing Arts Academy for six years. Ginger has directed productions with St. Edward’s University, Zilker Theatre Productions, Arts On Real, Second Youth, and Austin Scottish Rite Children’s Theatre. She has also taught, directed, and/or choreographed for Dripping Springs Middle and High Schools, Trinity Episcopal School, Leander High School, McCallum High School, and NYOS Charter School. She is founder/director of Texas Arts Project at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School and Director/Choreographer for Camp Paramount 2010. Ginger is a proud co-founder of Summer Stock Austin, where she has directed Footloose, West Side Story, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Little Shop of Horrors.
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It is hard to believe that they mounted this show is just two weeks. The vocals are lead by “Charity” the talented high school senior Sara Burke, this heart wrenching love story and funny musical gives the all age audience a really fun time.
The choreography & dancing would make Fosse smile.
Congrats to Michael McKelvey, Ginger Morris and the very talented cast of Sweet Charity!
Don’t miss your chance to see this show!