Madison Lyric Stage Opens Its 10th Anniversary Season With Double-Bill

MADISON, CT —As Madison Lyric Stage celebrates its 10th anniversary, the theater company announced its first production of it 2022 main stage season will be a double bill of Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins and Benjamin Britten’s Curlew River.

The four-performance double-bill will be staged May 12 through May 15 in the "brand-new deluxe tent" on the grounds of the Deacon John Grave House.

The Seven Deadly Sins by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht tells the story of Anna, who is sent on a seven-year journey through seven American cities to earn enough money for her family to build a house. Anna is torn between the need to make money and her morals, and as such has a split personality – so much so that she is played by two different women. The Seven Deadly Sins is described as a “sung ballet” and incorporates both song and dance.

Curlew River, by Benjamin Britten with text by William Plomer, is known as a ‘parable for church performance’ and is one of three church parables written by Britten. It tells the story of the Madwoman and Traveler who cross the Curlew River on the Ferryman's boat to find the Madwoman's missing child. During the journey, the Ferryman tells the story of a boy who mysteriously arrived a year ago with a cruel master who had kidnapped him. When the boy died, he asked to be buried by the path to the local chapel. Curlew River is based on the Japanese Noh play Sumidagawa (Sumida River) and is told through three main characters, all performed by male singers, which is the style of Noh theater.

“I am so delighted to present these two magnificent works that are rarely seen in Connecticut, artistic director of Madison Lyric Stage Marc Deaton said. "The Seven Deadly Sins is a perfect example of music from the Weimar Republic, with a social commentary on American rural life in the 1930’s. The church parable, Curlew River, reflects the universal Judeo-Christian traditions of people’s relationship with God, community and the dignity of human life.”

Deaton directs both pieces, with musical direction by Nathaniel Baker. Sarah Kennedy and Allison Lindsay play the dual sides of ‘Anna’ in The Seven Deadly Sins. Sonny Capaccio, Marc Deaton and Daniel Hague are featured in Curlew River.

Tickets are $55 and can be purchased by visiting madisonlyricstage.org or by calling 203-215-6329. The Deacon John Grave House is located at 581 Boston Post Road in Madison.

The Madison Lyric Stage 2022 season continues in June with the Stephen Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd, followed by Stephen Schwartz’s musical Pippin in July, and Edward Albee’s play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in September.

About Madison Lyric Stage

Madison Lyric Stage is supported in part by generous gifts from Chase, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, Guilford Savings Bank, the Maureen E. and Peter F. Dalton Fund of The Madison Foundation, the New Alliance Foundation and the Rotary Club of Madison, along with support from the Connecticut Office of the Arts, which also receives funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Support has also been provided from CT Humanities (CTH), with funding provided by the Connecticut State Department of Economic and Community Development/Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA) from the Connecticut State Legislature.

Madison Lyric Stage is an award-winning, non-profit arts collective serving the Connecticut shoreline. Its mission is to expand participation in the arts by presenting accessible, inclusive and affordable professional-quality opera, musical theater and drama.

Money-saving subscriptions are currently available for the four mainstage shows. Individual tickets are $55, and season ticket bundles are now on-sale for a limited time for $180 (a savings of $40 over the individual ticket price for all four shows). Subscription purchasers will need to select their dates in advance, but will be able to change them.

For more information about Madison Lyric Stage, visit madisonlyricstage.org.