Bullets Over Broadway, The Will Rogers Follies & Oliver! Set for Goodspeed in 2018

New productions of celebrated musicals Bullets Over Broadway, The Will Rogers Follies and Oliver! are slated to appear as part of the Goodspeed Musicals season in 2018, the theater has announced.

"2018 promises to be a fantastic year," said Michael Gennaro, executive director of the East Haddam, CT theater. "We have something for everyone at The Goodspeed including a dance-filled musical comedy, a beloved Dickens classic and a zany Roaring Twenties-inspired romp."

The Will Rogers Follies, beginning performances on April 13, will feature David Lutken, who appeared in the original Broadway production, playing the musical's title role. The rags-to-riches story of the American stage, screen and radio star of the show's title is told as a Ziegfeld Follies-style extravaganza. The Will Rogers Follies features a book by Peter Stone, music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Directed by Great White Way alum Don Stephenson, The Will Rogers Follies will run through June 21.

Lionel Bart’s classic show Oliver! is up next at Goodspeed. Based on Charles Dickens’ iconic novel, the musical follows an orphan's dark journey in the shadows of Victorian London. Oliver!, which features a book, music and lyrics by Bart, will be directed by Broadway veteran Rob Ruggiero. Oliver! will run from June 29 through September 9.

The 2014 show Bullets Over Broadway, based on the iconic film, will make its Goodspeed debut in the fall. Woody Allen’s musical comedy about mobsters mixed up in the theater features a fizzy backstage story loaded with zingers, slapstick and bigger-than-life show people. Including jazz and standards from the time between World War I and the 1930s, Bullets Over Broadway features a book by Allen based on his screenplay. The production will be directed by Holiday Inn helmer Gordon Greenberg. Bullets Over Broadway will run from September 21 through November 25.

Currently set for Goodspeed in fall 2017 is a new production of the musical Rags. The previously announced mounting, starring Broadway vet Samantha Massell, will run from October 6 through December 10.

Full casting for all three 2018 productions will be announced at a later date.