Ivins, UT - Tuacahn's production and design team has been busy putting together the cast and crew for its 2005 Broadway in the Desert theatre season. "We're celebrating Tuacahn's tenth anniversary this year," says Scott Anderson, Tuacahn's Artistic Director, "and we've got two incredible shows in Disney's Beauty and the Beast and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The production team has worked hard to ensure that we get the best talent and it's paid off--this year's cast is unbelievable," says Anderson.
Tuacahn will employ forty-eight actors (from Los Angeles to New York and many places in between) including seventeen actors from the St. George area. Tuacahn has also hired fifty behind-the-scenes professionals including costume, sound and lighting personnel and more than thirty local musicians. In addition, a children's choir of over forty local children will take to the stage each night for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Tuacahn will also be presenting Les Miserables the School Edition in their indoor Hafen Theatre as part of their inaugural Summer Theatre Institute featuring some of the best high school talent in the state including over twenty company members from the Southern Utah area.
The following is a sampling of those who will take part in Tuacahn's summer/fall Amphitheatre productions:
TIM THRELFALL will direct Disney's Beauty and the Beast, a Broadway favorite. An associate professor at Brigham Young University, Threlfall is a frequent Tuacahn collaborator. No stranger to large-scale family entertainment, Threlfall has directed several Tuacahn productions including Tuacahn's 2001 summer hit, The Sound of Music, and 2003 production of The Wizard of Oz.
DAVID TINNEY, artistic director of Provo Theatre Company in northern Utah, will direct and choreograph one of Tuacahn's most popular productions, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Tinney has choreographed previous Tuacahn successes including Singin' in the Rain in which he also played the role Don Lockwood and The Unsinkable Molly Brown. Tinney's all new approach to Joseph "will be entertaining and refreshing," says Kevin Warnick, Taucahn's Managing Director.
Actor, CHARLIE BOYER makes his Tuacahn debut in 2005 and will play Cogsworth in Disney's Beauty and the Beast and Jacob in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Boyer played Cogsworth on the National Tour of Beauty and the Beast and appeared as Gloucester at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. His other Broadway credits include the recent revival of The Music Man as well as The Odd Couple, Oklahoma!, and My Fair Lady.
Actress, BRENDA COX returns to Tuacahn for a third season, having played Aunt Eller in Tuacahn's production of Oklahoma!, Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music, and Aunt Maggie in Utah! (2002). Other favorite roles include Mrs. Paroo in The Music Man and Sister Regina in Nunsense. Cox has won a Robby Award and has been nominated three times.
Actor, TJ YOUNG makes his Tuacahn debut in the role of Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He has toured the United States in Footloose and starred as Ammon in the DVD Liken the Scriptures: A Mighty Change of Heart. At Sundance, TJ played roles in Gypsy, Oliver, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and Cinderella.
Actress, NICOLE RIDING played Anita in Tuacahn's summer 2004 production of West Side Story. She returns to the desert in 2005 to play the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Riding also played Eponine in the National Tour of Les Miserables as well as Stephanie Hertzfelt in the Off-Broadway production of Berlin.
For more information about Tuacahn or to purchase tickets see their website at www.tuacahn.org or call the Tuacahn Box Office at 1-800-746-9882 (for local calls, 652-3300).
