"Jekyll & Hyde" Mississippi Can't Stop the Showboat: Theatre Season Extended for Additional Week

Minneapolis/St. Paul (July 24, 2014)--After a summer when the Mississippi River was more Mr. Hyde than Dr. Jekyll, the University of Minnesota Centennial Showboat announced today that the current production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde will be extended for additional performances August 19, 20, 21 at 8:00 p.m., with a special closing night event on August 22.

June and July flooding along the Mississippi River led to the closing of Harriet Island and the cancellation of 16 performances on the Showboat between June 20 and July 3. "The irony is not lost on us," said managing director Peg Guilfoyle. "The Showboat is a boat, after all. But this flooding was so serious, even the Showboat had to shut down."

A special closing performance on Friday, August 22 ($100 per ticket, $75 tax-deductible) will allow fans to celebrate the end of a challenging, wet summer. The evening's highlights will include special material developed by the Showboat's talented student cast, along with a champagne toast to close the season.

The 16 performances of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde washed from the schedule resulted in heightened demand for tickets to the summer theatre operated by the University of Minnesota's Department of Theatre Arts & Dance. The resumption of University classes on September 2, along with previous commitments on the Showboat, mean that these additional four performances are the only ones that can be added. "This great production started with sold-out previews, an enthusiastic response from our opening night audience and strong word of mouth," said director Peter Moore. "Now that the waters have receded, we are excited that we can add these four dates for our audiences."

Showboat productions, known for their trademark thrilling melodrama plus vintage vaudeville song and dance, have become a Minnesota summer tradition.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde performs 2:30 p.m. matinees every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday; evenings at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Thursday nights feature post-show informal Q & A sessions with cast members. Family Fun special rates are available for Friday nights and Saturday matinees. Discounts for students with valid ID, seniors 62+ and group rates for 15 or more are available. Tickets for all performances except August 22 are $20-$25. Call 651.227.1100 or visit showboat.umn.edu.

FAST FACTS
What: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Musical Olios aboard Minnesota Centennial Showboat
When: now through August 22, 2014
Where: Harriet Island, downtown St. Paul, Minnesota
Tickets: $20-$25 showboat.umn.edu or call direct 651-227-1100; ask about rates for students, seniors, groups 15+ and Family Fun specials.
Tickets for the "Closing with a Splash" special finale on August 22 are $100.

Carl Flink's WRECK with Black Label Movement at Guthrie wins critical praise

Choreographer Carl Flink, outgoing chair of Theatre Arts & Dance Department, earns high praise from Star Tribune's dance reviewer Caroline Palmer (July 15,2014) commenting on WRECK now at the Guthrie through July 20. See following excerpt....

"Many artists have taken up the challenge of portraying what it might be like to face death without any hope of reversing the outcome.
It's a tough journey to take but Carl Flink, artistic director and choreographer for Black Label Movement, proves he and his dancers are up to the task in a polished revival of the elegiac "Wreck" (2008), now performing in the Dowling Studio at the Guthrie Theater.
"Wreck" depicts a harrowing scene inside the last airtight compartment of a sunken ore boat on the bottom of Lake Superior.
When the audience first enters the theater, the wall that separates the auditorium from the lobby has been raised. Daylight streams in and the space feels open.
But then the wall descends, sealing the dark in the theater, and there is an immediate sense of being shut in with the performers and their ordeal. Vintage films show intact ships traversing the great water.
The 13 dancers move anxiously but Flink's perspective is broader than fear and hopelessness. They fight for survival, as remote as it seems. They struggle with one another, and themselves, as anyone would in such a dire situation.
Flink's choreographic approach is rugged, athletic and gutsy but also beautiful and intimate as it depicts the final throes of lives cut short. Because the work is performed in the round, audience members see the movement from different angles...
The score for "Wreck" was composed by Mary Ellen Childs and is performed live by the top-notch ensemble...Childs received a Sage Award for this project in 2008 and the music is central to the work's success. Its texture inspires a rippling underwater mystery -- the composition pounds and crashes like a storm or delicately echoes as if recorded in the depths.
Together Flink and Childs lead us through an emotionally harrowing but artistically rewarding experience."

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Re-Opens on Centennial Showboat Harriet Island, St Paul

(July 7, St. Paul, MN) Today the Showboat Players return for their first full week of performances on the University of Minnesota's Centennial Showboat. "We are thrilled to announce we are open and welcoming folks aboard to see our summer thriller Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," said the production's director Peter Moore. "After sold out previews and a great response from our opening night audiences (on June 19) flood waters rose above 17 feet. You can't tangle with that mighty Mississippi,--she's a show-stopper - but now we are back with this talented cast that's poised for eight shows a week and rarin' to go." Tickets for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are available for performances by calling 651-227-1100 or visiting showboat.umn.edu online.

Seventeen performances of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde between June 20 and July 3 were postponed due to high water on the Mississippi. Flooding forced electrical power, gas, and sanitary, and waters services to be suspended on Harriet Island Regional Park, where the Showboat is permanently moored.

Showboat's managing director Peg Guilfoyle explained, "Our partner Padelford Riverboats Company has contacted over 1,565 ticket holders to offer alternate performance dates. The City of St. Paul has been very responsive helping us to get back onstage to raise the curtain on this summer's Showboat fun. All those interrupted services are now restored and our adjacent free parking lot is now open and dry. We are also indebted to our neighbors History Theatre and Park Square Theatre for getting the word out to the community that we are back."

To re-book previously purchased tickets, customers are asked to email info@riverrides.com for more information. Tickets for the performances June 20 - July 3 will be honored.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde performs 2:30 pm matinees every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday; evenings at 8:00pm Wednesday now through August 16, 2014. Thursday nights feature post-show Talk-backs, informal Q & A sessions with cast members. Ask about Family Fun Special rates for Friday nights and Saturday matinees. Discounts for students with valid ID, seniors 62+ and groups rates for 15 or more are available. Reserve tickets ($20-$25) by calling 651.227.1100 or by visiting www.showboat.umn.edu. for more information.

FAST FACTS
What: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Musical Olios aboard Minnesota Centennial Showboat
When: now through August 16, 2014
Where: Harriet Island, downtown St. Paul, Minnesota
Tickets: $20.00-$25.00 showboat.umn.edu or call direct 651-227-1100; ask about
rates for students, seniors, groups 15+ and Family Fun specials.
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