This summer, Penn State Centre Stage will celebrate its 10th year presenting performances at its Downtown Theatre Center on Allen Street.
To mark the occasion, PSCS will offer production of two of its most popular productions, “Bee Hive,” and “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”
“Bee Hive,” the 60’s musical revue was first produced by PSCS in 2001 to sold-out audiences, according to Cheri Sinclair, PSCS marketing director.
“This year’s production promises to do the same with a stellar line-up of female performers from the Penn State Musical Theatre program,” she said.
“Bee Hive” opens June 6 and runs through June 23. The production will be directed by Amy Anders Corcoran, a 2010 graduate of Penn State’s directing program.
“This will be my third time directing for Penn State Centre Stage,” she said. “I have been very fortunate, as a freelance director based in New York, to be working consistently since I graduated.”
Anders Corcoran was the director for two of the most popular shows produced by the PSCS, “Smokey Joe’s Café,” and “Five Guys Named Moe.”
“Shows like ‘Bee Hive’ are done for the nostalgia they create,” she said. “We have six really talented performers and I will try to evoke memories in the audience.”
“Bee Hive” is a musical revue that runs from beehive hairdos to hippie chic and includes many of the most popular songs of that era. It includes songs from the early girl groups — the Chiffons, the Shirelles, and the Supremes — to the songbooks of Janis Joplin, Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin.
“We hope that we can get people to connect to their past through the music,” Anders Corcoran said.
The second production will be “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” directed by Cary Libkin, head of the Musical Theatre program at Penn State.
“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” is a musical comedy with book and lyrics by Joe Pietro and music by Jimmy Roberts.
The second-longest running Off-Broadway musical, the show is a series of vignettes that depict many of the relationships that we all encounter in life, from dating and romance to marriage and child rearing.
The show has been produced throughout the world and has been translated into 14 different languages, demonstrating its universal appeal.
“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” opens July 18 and runs through Aug. 4 at the Downtown Theatre Center.
