Discount Ticket Offer

A "Tuneful" Romantic at MetroStage

By Michael Toscano

"When Isn't It Romantic opens tonight at MetroStage, it will mark another step in the Alexandria theater's evolution into a showplace for new, small-scale musicals.

A tribute to songwriters Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, and George and Ira Gershwin, Isn't It Romantic features MetroStage favorites Jimi Ray Malary and Lori Williams. Performing mostly concert-style, they tell a modern love story, from infatuation through difficulties, via familiar musical standards.

Malary, star of MetroStage's Ellington: The Life and Music of The Duke and Nat King Cole: King of Cool in seasons past, just finished starring in the debut of a solo version of this show at Milwaukee Repertory Theater. The show's Seattle-based writer-director, David Koch, has retooled it to add Williams, another MetroStage veteran (All Night Strut).

MetroStage was once known more for intimate dramas and comedies than musicals, but producing artistic director Carolyn Griffin likes to describe the theater's offerings as eclectic. And she happily notes that the increasing emphasis on music has helped fill seats during the economic downturn, which has reduced ticket sales for many theater companies."...

READ ENTIRE WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE HERE >

PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN PREVIEW THIS WEEK

ISN'T IT ROMANTIC?

Written and Directed by David Hunter Koch

Music Direction and Arrangements by William Knowles

Starring Jimi Ray Malary and Lori Williams

PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN PREVIEW

Thursday, November 20, 2008

8:00PM

$10.00 suggested minimum

Please come directly to the theater

and check in with the Box Office upon arrival.

Box Office opens one hour prior to performance.

Seating is general admission. Space is limited.

ISN’T IT ROMANTIC takes you through the timeless songs of Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart and George and Ira Gershwin with stories about the ups and downs of modern love and relationships. Taking the audience through a relationship from beginning to end – from the first meeting to falling in love and then to falling out of love - delightful songs illustrate the joyful as well as the tumultuous times that two individuals go through on their journeys for romance.

With such popular songs as Isn’t It Romantic, I Could Write a Book, Someone to Watch Over Me, My Funny Valentine and Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off, this tribute takes a humorous look at love in the time of text message love notes and dates at Starbucks. As the show comes to an end, one simple conclusion is reached about the complicated world of love and romance: “Love may not make the world go ’round, but it does make the ride worthwhile.”

Composer Jerome Kern has written well-known songs including, Ol’ Man River, Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat’ Man and The Way You Look Tonight, for which he won an Academy Award. Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart had a successful partnership during the mid 1930s creating ON YOUR TOES (1936), BABES IN ARMS (1937), THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE (1938) and PAL JOEY (1940). George Gershwin is best known for his composition Rhapsody In Blue as well as being half of the famous songwriting team with his brother Ira Gershwin. The Gershwin brothers wrote many shows for Broadway including LADY BE GOOD and their famous opera, PORGY AND BESS.

Playwright/director David Hunter Koch explains why he chose the music of these composers for ISN’T IT ROMANTIC: “Jerome Kern’s music has a more traditional feel and style to it. His songs were about what romance should be. George and Ira Gershwin wrote songs that captured the thrill of romance and falling in love. Their music is all about the heart. Rodgers and Hart had a different approach to love and would delve into the heartbreak that can happen and the quirks of being in love. Together, their songs work well guiding the path of our modern love affair, from infatuation and romance, to disillusionment and heartbreak, to solitude and then back to new love. There’s a timeless quality to the journey of love that we all take which these songs capture so well.”