Your Northern Sky News • SPRING 2017
Decades Under the Northern Sky Jeffrey Herbst, Artistic Director
W
hat an exciting, full year we have planned, with two world premieres, one in the summer and one in the fall. And for a second summer in a row we’ll be offering four shows in rotating repertoire. Northern Sky has now been carrying on the tradition of presenting shows in the park that dates back nearly five decades. Each of our five shows this year take place in a unique decade in American history. What do you remember or know about them?
1950s: Elvis was King of new-fangled rock ‘n roll; cold war was raging; dozen eggs = 60¢. Our summer world premiere, Oklahoma in Wisconsin, is set in 1954. Richard Castle (book and lyrics) and Matthew Levine (music) have written a charming homage to Door County with a musical that highlights the quirkiness of a family-run inn during the 1950s. When a Hollywood scout pays a visit, the result is the birth of the tourist fish boil and the humorous clash of big city and small town culture. This is our third collaboration with New Musicals Inc. after the success of Windjammers and When Butter Churns to Gold. We did a workshop last summer that featured Bill Theisen and Rhonda Rae Busch as the