The College Light Opera Company presents Les
Misérables as the sixth show of its 46th season. This is CLOC’s premiere production of Les Misérables.

Les Misérables, set in early 19th-century France, is the story of Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his quest for redemption after serving nineteen years in jail for having stolen a loaf of bread for his starving sister's child. Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a kindly bishop inspires him by a tremendous act of mercy, but he is relentlessly tracked down by a police inspector named Javert. Along the way, Valjean and a slew of characters are swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists make their last stand at a street barricade.

This production is led by stage director Mark Pearson and music director Beth Burrier. In addition to Les Misérables, Pearson directed The White Horse Inn, Lady, Be Good! and Carousel. Burrier also music directed The Pajama Game earlier this season. Pearson, originally from Hull, MA, received his degrees from Boston College and Boston University and currently resides in Germany. Burrier, a resident of State College, PA and faculty member of Penn State, received her degrees from Otterbein University and Ithaca College.

The cast is full of new CLOC vocal company members. Talents to look forward to are Rebecca Brudner as Eponine (Brooklyn, NY – Yale University ’16) Lindsay Cabaniss as Madame Thérnardier (Tolland, CT – The Hartt School ’15), Melissa Carson as Fantine (Moody, AL – Samford University ’13), Billy Hicks as Marius (New Milford, CT – Boston Conservatory ’14), Becca Jackson as Cossette (Newark, DE – University of Delaware ’15), and Adam Wells as Javert (Clemson, SC – Oberlin Conservatory ’16).

Returners to look for include Bruce Barger as Jean Valjean (Southington, CT – University of Vermont ’14), Nick Martiniano as Enjolras (Troy, NY – Russell Sage College ’15) and Gunnar Manchester as Monsieur Thénardier (Rehoboth, MA – Bates College ’15).

This production of Les Misérables will also feature Bourne resident Molly Baptist as Gavroche and Pocasset resident Makena Jarvis as Young Cossette. They are both 5th graders at Bourne Middle School.

Les Misérables will run Tuesday, July 29th through Saturday, August 2nd at 8 p.m., with a Thursday Matinee at 2 p.m. Tickets are $35 and are available by calling the CLOC Box Office at 508-548-0668 or by visiting the CLOC Box Office, 58 Highfield Drive, Falmouth (open Monday-Saturday 10:00 am - 12:30 pm, 2:00 - 5:00 pm, and 7:00 - 9:00 pm). For more information, please visit www .CollegeLightOperaCompany .com. 

The College Light Opera Company  presents Carousel as the fifth show of its 46th season. Carousel was done at CLOC in the 1970, 1977, 1984, 1987, 1993, 1998, 2004 and 2009 seasons.

Carousel is the story of an outsider, Billy Bigelow, an itinerant barker for a carousel. The play is set in 1873, and later in 1888, in a village on the bleak coast of Maine. Every song the rugged townspeople sing (“June is Bustin’ Out All Over”, “A Real Nice Clambake”) throbs with the joy of community.

Billy – arrogant, violent, inarticulate, bungling everything he aspires to – falls in love and marries a local girl, Julie Jordan. Every song they sing (“If I Loved You”, “What’s the Use of Wond’rin”, “Soliloquy”) aches with their fumbling need to find their way in life on their own, and with a love they find impossible to express.

Ultimately, spurred on by a tragic event unique in American musical theatre traditions, they are able to find redemption and are able to say what they have so urgently needed to tell one another all along, but couldn’t: “I Love You”.

This production is led by stage director Mark Pearson and music director David Weiller. In addition to Carousel, Pearson directed The White Horse Inn and Lady, Be Good! earlier in the season and will direct Les Misérables which runs from July 29th – August 2nd. Weiller first came to CLOC 35 years ago as an accompanist and since then has music directed over 45 productions. Pearson, originally from Hull, MA, received his degrees from Boston College and Boston University and current resides in Germany. Weiller recently celebrated 30 years as a music professor and director of choral studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The cast is full of new CLOC vocal company members. Talents to look forward to are Lindsay Cabaniss as Nettie Fowler (Tolland, CT – The Hartt School ’15), Michael McCann as Billy Bigelow (Windslow, ME – Middlebury College ’15) and Maggie Robinson as Mrs. Mullin (Murfreesboro, TN – University of Memphis ’15).

Returners to look for include Bruce Barger as Enoch Snow (Southington, CT – University of Vermont ’14), Jane Duffy as Julie Jordan (Oak Brook, IL – New York University MM ’16), Jens Jacobson as Jigger Craigin (Platteville, WI – Belmont University ’14) and Maggie Langhorne as Carrie Pipperidge (Santa Barbara, CA – Oberlin Conservatory ’16).

Carousel will run Tuesday, July 22nd through Saturday, July 26th at 8 p.m., with a Thursday Matinee at 2 p.m. Tickets are $35 and are available by calling the CLOC Box Office at 508-548-0668 or by visiting the CLOC Box Office, 58 Highfield Drive, Falmouth (open Monday-Saturday 10:00 am - 12:30 pm, 2:00 - 5:00 pm, and 7:00 - 9:00 pm). For more information, please visit www.CollegeLightOperaCompany.com. 

The College Light Opera Company (CLOC) is presenting “The Pajama Game” as the fourth show of its 46th season. The show was done at CLOC in the 1972, 1980, 1989, 1998 and 2006 seasons.

“The Pajama Game” is the story of the Sleep-Tite Pajama Factory where conditions are anything but peaceful, as sparks fly between new superintendent Sid Sorokin and Babe Williams, leader of the union grievance committee. Their stormy relationship comes to a head when the workers strike for a 7 1/2 cent pay increase, setting off not only a conflict between management and labor, but a battle of the sexes as well.

This production is led by stage director Heidi Kloes and music director Beth Burrier.

Ms. Kloes also directed the second show of the season, “George M!” She is a native of Houston, Texas, and received her degree from Texas Tech University.

Ms. Burrier will also music direct “Les Misérables” this season. A resident of State College, Pennsylvania, and a faculty member of Penn State, she received her degrees from Otterbein University and Ithaca College.

The cast is full of new CLOC vocal company members. “The Pajama Game” will feature Rebecca Brudner as Gladys, Lindsay Cabaniss as Mabel, Melissa Carson as Babe Williams, Will Hawkins as Hines, and Billy Hicks as Sid Sorokin.

Returning performers to look for include Bruce Barger as Prez, Gunnar Manchester as Hasler, and Nick Martiniano as Pop.

“The Pajama Game” will run Tuesday through Saturday, July 15 to 19, at 8 PM, with a Thursday matinee at 2 PM.

Tickets are $35 and are available by calling through the CLOC box office at 508-548-0668 or 58 Highfield Drive, Falmouth; the box office is open Monday through Saturday from 10 AM to 12:30 PM, 2 to 5 PM, and 7 to 9 PM. 

Falmouth, MA (July 1, 2014) The College Light Opera Company (CLOC) is proud to present George & Ira Gershwin’s 1924 hit Lady, Be Good! as the third show of its 46th season. Lady, Be Good! was done at CLOC in the 2004 and 2009 seasons.

Lady, Be Good! is the story of the brother and sister team of Dick and Susie Trevor who are down on their luck having been evicted from the family home for missing the rent. In an effort to silence their growling stomachs, they head for wealthy Jo Vanderwater's garden party.

Dick is in love with Shirley, but because he is broke he decides to propose to Jo. Meanwhile, Susie is captivated by a charming hobo, Jack Robinson, unaware that he is actually the only heir to his family’s fortune. Watty Watkins, a fast talking lawyer, tries to get Jo to help but discovers that she was behind the eviction in the first place. Manuel Estrada, whose sister supposedly married Jack Robinson in Mexico before he mysteriously disappeared, has hired Watty to retrieve the inheritance. Watty convinces Susie to help him by dressing up as the missing Senora Robinson.

In Act II, Dick professes his true love to Shirley, and Watty and Susie (disguised) try to claim the money. Jack, still dressed as a hobo, returns and is shocked to find Susie, the lovely young girl he met earlier, claiming to be his "widow". Jack saves Susie from disgrace and proclaims his love, Dick and Shirley are reunited, Jo and Watty form a happy love knot.

This production is led by stage director Mark A. Pearson and music director Jonathan Edward Brennand. Pearson directed the premiere show of the season, The White Horse Inn, and will also direct Carousel (July 22-26) and Les Misérables (July 29-August 2). Brennand also music directed The White Horse Inn and George M! in addition to Lady, Be Good! this season. Pearson, originally from Hull, MA, received his degrees from Boston College and Boston University and current resides in Germany. Brennand, originally from Middlesex, England, studied at Drew University and UMass: Amherst.

The cast is full of new CLOC vocal company members.  Talents to look forward to are Maggie Robinson as Josephine Vanderwater (Murfreesboro, TN – University of Memphis ’15), Rebecca Brudner as Susie Trevor (Brooklyn, NY – Yale University ’16), Will Hawkins as Bertie Bassett (Alexandria, VA – University of North Carolina Chapel Hill ’14), Erik Dohner as Manuel Estrada (Chicago, IL – DePaul University ’16) Joshua Gronlund as Watty Watkins (Detroit, MI – Michigan State University ’15) and Mike McCann as Jack Robinson (Winslow, ME – Middlebury College ’15).

Returners to look for include Jens Jacobson as Dick Trevor (Platteville, WI – Belmont University ‘14), Gunnar Manchester as Jeff White (Rehoboth, MA – Bates College ’15), Celeste Lang as Shirley Vernon (Lake City, MI – Central Michigan University ‘15), and Maggie Langhorne as Daisy Parke (Santa Barbara, CA – Oberlin Conservatory ‘16).

Lady, Be Good! will run Tuesday, July 8th through Saturday, July 12th at 8 p.m., with a Thursday Matinee at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $35 and are available by calling the CLOC Box Office at 508-548-0668 or by visiting the CLOC Box Office, 58 Highfield Drive, Falmouth (open Monday-Saturday 10:00 am - 12:30 pm, 2:00 - 5:00 pm, and 7:00 - 9:00 pm). For more information, please visit www.CollegeLightOperaCompany.com.

The College Light Opera Company (CLOC)  presents George M. Cohan’s “George M!” as the second show of its 46th season, running from Tuesday, July 1 to Saturday, July 5. “George M!” was last done at CLOC in 1980.

“George M!” traces the story of George M. Cohan’s life from his birth until 1937. The early part of the story traces the family act and its slow rise on the vaudeville circuit to the big time in New York. George, in the process of making it to the top, falls in love with and marries Ethel Levey. He then breaks out of vaudeville and writes his first success, “Little Johnny Jones.” With a hit on his hands, he and his partner, Sam Harris, seek to become the kings of Broadway. They sign Fay Templeton, the biggest star of the day and George is on top of the world. His wife, however, is fed up and a divorce ensues. The event weighs heavily on George’s inflated ego and he later runs into Agnes Nolan from the cast of “Little Johnny Jones” and confides his troubles to her. She soon becomes the second Mrs. Cohan. With Agnes, George writes some of his most endearing songs.

But soon, George’s world begins to unravel. His father has died and his sister marries and leaves the theater. The actors, to whom he has always paid top wages, have voted to unionize and are presenting their demands to the producers. Rather than recognizing the Actors Equity Union, George vows he will write no more shows and retires from the Broadway scene. 

Later, to help out his old friend, Sam Harris, he comes out of retirement to star in “I’d Rather Be Right.” He finds much has changed and he must take orders instead of giving them. He confides to Agnes that he is a bit shaken but happy to be on Broadway again. 

“George M!” opened on Broadway in 1968 and ran for 433 performances at the Palace Theatre. The CLOC production is led by stage director Heidi Kloes and music director Jonathan Edward Brennand.  Ms. Kloes will also direct “The Pajama Game” from July 15-19 and Mr. Brennand will music direct “Lady, Be Good!” next week from July 8-12. Ms. Kloes received her degrees from Texas Tech University and currently resides in  Houston, Texas.

Mr. Brennand, originally from Middlesex, England, studied at Drew University and University of Massachusetts Amherst. 

The cast is full of new CLOC vocal company members: Maggie Robinson as Nellie Cohan (Murfreesboro, Tennessee, University of Memphis ’15), Rebecca Brudner as Josie Cohan (Brooklyn, New York, Yale University ’16), and Nell Komlos as Agnes Nolan (Allentown, Pennsylvania, Shenandoah Conservatory ’16). Returning cast include Cameron Brownell (from CLOC ’12) starring as George M. Cohan (Colchester, Vermont, SUNY Potsdam, Crane School of Music ’14), Gunnar Manchester as Jerry Cohan (Rehoboth, Bates College ’15), Caitlin Ruddy as Ethel Levey (Land O Lakes, Florida, Eastman School of Music MM ’15), and Nick  Martiniano as Sam Harris (Troy, New York, Russell Sage College ’15). 

George M! will run July 1 to 5 at 8 PM, with a Thursday matinee at 2 PM.  Tickets are $35 and are available by calling the CLOC box office at 508-548-0668 or by visiting the CLOC box office, 58 Highfield Drive, Falmouth, open Monday to Saturday, 10 AM - 12:30 PM, 2- 5 PM, and 7 - 9 PM).