Located on the second floor of a YMCA, the Lyric is an intimate space with about 240 seats on three sides of the stage.
There are several shows in the lineup I'd love to see, including the play My Name is Asher Lev, based on the novel by Chaim Potok, and the musical Animal Crackers, by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind.But what truly has me salivating is the adaptation of Charles Dickens' The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby from Oct. 21-Dec. 19
I love epic stories and at two parts totaling 6 1/2 hours, with a cast of 25 playing 150 characters, I think this would qualify.
The original Royal Shakespeare Company production on Broadway, which took eight hours with 39 actors, won the 1982 Tony Award for Best Play.
Here's associate director Courtney O'Connor on Nicholas Nickleby:
"As with any play, the strength of the story is in how we relate to it. Though the events take place in 1830’s England, parallels to our contemporary world are clear. Thoughts and concerns of money, family, and morals are everywhere – just as they were 180 years ago."
It's the largest production in the theatre's 37-year history and is being sponsored in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Lyric has set up a backstage blog, which I'll be following.
Whether or not I get to see it, I think it's great that the Lyric Stage is tackling something so ambitious.
