WHAT IS IT THAT WE'RE LIVING FOR? APPLAUSE, APPLAUSE!

That may be a lyric from the Tony Winning musical, Applause, but it’s also often a driving factor for many performing artists. And that’s the case of young, conniving, Eve Harrington in today's production - a  revealing inside story of life in New York’s theatre world, related in terms of an unscrupulous and manipulative ingénue's rise to Broadway stardom.

If the story sounds familiar, that’s because The Wisdom of Eve is adapted from the story of the same name by Mary Orr on which the film “All About Eve,” and Applause, were based.
I’ve been a big fan of the 1950 film and the 1970 musical for a very long time - I always thought the story would be great as a stage play, so when I found this script, I was thrilled, so here we are.

I have to say, having worked in this crazy world of theatre for most of my life, I luckily have not run into (I don't think) as manipulative an actor as our Eve. Back when I was working in NYC, I was fortunate to have a great conversation with one of the stars from the 1950 film - Celeste Holm. Over coffee and bagels at the ABC TV studio, we talked about the basis of the film and its popularity 40+ years* later. She didn't have much to say about co-star Bette Davis other than that they didn't exactly get along.   * All About Eve garnered 14 Oscar nominations, a record unmatched until 1997’s Titanic and 2016’s La La Land.

As we head into the home stretch of our 32nd season, we have two more full-scale musicals ahead, plus comedy nights, a concert by Frank Mastrone, and more, so I hope we'll see you here again soon.

Looking ahead to our 2023-2024 season, we're excited about our first big musical - Beautiful, The Carole King Musical, so be on the lookout for our subscription sales, soon.

For now, fasten your seatbelts; it's going to be a bumpy night!

Enjoy the show!