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Westport Country Playhouse artistic director Mark Lamos directs “L’Étoile” at New York City Opera

By Westport Country Playhouse


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Mark Lamos, Westport Country Playhouse artistic director (Photo by Kathleen O’Rourke)
Mark Lamos, Westport Country Playhouse artistic director, will direct Emmanuel Chabrier’s “L’Étoile” at New York City Opera, opening on March 18 through April 1. The comic opera features tenor Jean-Paul Fouchécourt as the madcap king. In addition, the opera company will reprise Lamos’ Emmy Award-winning production of “Madama Butterfly,” opening on March 19, with Shu-Ying Li as the trusting geisha. For ticket information, call New York City Opera at 212-870-5570.

A long-time director of New York City Opera productions, Lamos also helmed “The Turn of the Screw,” “Roberto Devereux,” “Paul Bunyan” (televised), “Tosca” (televised), “Madama Butterfly” (televised, Emmy Award winner), “Central Park” (televised, Emmy Award nominee), “La Finta Giardinera,” “Haroun” (world premiere), “Acis and Galatea” and “L’Étoile” (original production).

Lamos, a director of plays, musicals and opera, was named Westport Country Playhouse artistic director early last year. The New York Times called him "a poet of the theater,” and his work receives a chapter in Samuel L. Leiter’s The Great Stage Directors: 100 Distinguished Careers of the Theater, along with legendary directors of the twentieth century. Lamos spent 17 seasons as artistic director of Connecticut's Hartford Stage, for which he accepted the Tony Award in 1989. He made his Broadway directing debut with a transfer from Hartford Stage of “Our Country's Good,” for which he received a Tony Award nomination as Best Director.

Lamos will soon direct the opening musical production for Westport Country Playhouse’s 80th season, “She Loves Me,” April 20 through May 8, with book by Joe Masteroff, music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. The five-play 2010 season will continue with “Dinner with Friends,” a comic drama by Donald Margulies, directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, June 1 through 19; “Happy Days” by Samuel Beckett, a play of luminous beauty and rare power, directed by Lamos, July 6 through July 24; “I Do! I Do!,” the joyful and touching musical, written by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, August 10 through August 28; and “The Diary of Anne Frank,” a timeless and powerful classic, by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, adapted by Wendy Kesselman, directed by Gerald Freedman, September 28 through October 16.

About the Playhouse

Westport Country Playhouse, a not-for-profit theater, serves as a treasured home for the performing arts and is a cultural landmark for Connecticut. Under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos and management direction of Michael Ross, the Playhouse creates quality productions of new and classic plays that enlighten, enrich and engage a diverse community of theater lovers, artists and students. The Playhouse’s rich history dates back to 1931, when New York theatre producer Lawrence Langner created a Broadway-quality stage within an 1830s tannery. The Playhouse quickly became an established stop on the New England “straw hat circuit” of summer stock theatres. Now celebrating its 80th season, Westport Country Playhouse has produced more than 700 plays, 36 of which later transferred to Broadway, most recently the world premiere of "Thurgood" and a revival of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" with Paul Newman, and in earlier years "Come Back, Little Sheba" with Shirley Booth, "The Trip to Bountiful" with Lillian Gish, and "Butterflies Are Free" with Keir Dullea and Blythe Danner. For its artistic excellence, the Playhouse received a 2005 Governor's Arts Award and a 2000 "Connecticut Treasure" recognition. It was also designated as an Official Project of Save America's Treasures by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is entered on the Connecticut State Register of Historic Places. Following a multi-million dollar renovation completed in 2005, the Playhouse transformed into a year-round, state-of-the-art producing theater, which has preserved its original charm and character. In addition to a full season of theatrical productions, the Playhouse serves as a community resource, presenting educational programming and workshops; a children's theater series; symposiums; music; films; and readings.

For Westport Country Playhouse information or ticket purchases, call the box office at (203) 227-4177, or toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. Tickets may be purchased online at www.westportplayhouse.org.




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