Willy Loman Heads to the O.C., Miss Saigon Breaks Hearts in Virginia & More Cross-Country Highlights

Broadway.com is your go-to destination for stage scoop, including the hottest offerings at theaters across the U.S.A. In this week's Countrywide Guide, we highlight five can’t-miss picks including the West Coast debut of Pulitzer Prize finalist Rapture, Blister, Burn, an exciting new Miss Saigon, the world premiere of Mark. St. Germain's historical drama and more!


ARLINGTON, VA
Miss Saigon Reigns Anew
In Signature Theatre’s production of Claude-Michel Schönberg, Richard Maltby Jr. and Alain Boublil's Tony-winning Miss Saigon, director Eric Schaeffer steers the story away from special effects and refocuses on the love story between an American GI and a Vietnamese bar girl during the fall of Saigon in 1975. Featuring new material (including the song "Maybe"), an 18-actor company (with Broadway vet Thom Sesma as the Engineer), and a set littered with military paraphernalia, this buzzed-about staging has been extended through September 29.



COSTA MESA, CA
It's Miller Time in Orange County
In celebration of South Coast Repertory Theater's 50th season, Death of a Salesman is being revived with an African-American Loman family. Starring Charlie Robinson (a South Coast regular best known for the sitcom Night Court) as Willy Loman, Arthur Miller's epic drama follows the insecure and self-deluded peddler who pursues the American Dream even as his warped values threaten to destroy the lives of his two grown sons. Directed by Marc Masterson, Salesman will run August 30 through September 29 on the Segerstrom Stage. Attention must be paid!



LINCOLNSHIRE, IL
9 to 5 Ladies Head to the Office
Stalwart office pals Violet, Doralee and Judy are workin' 9 to 5 in a suburban Chicago production of Dolly Parton and Patricia Resnick's 2009 musical. Based on the hit 1980 movie, 9 to 5 centers on a trio of smart female underlings who exact revenge on their sexist, philandering, condescending boss. Starring Broadway alums Susan Moniz, Marya Grandy and James Moye, the show features a zesty story and score, including Doralee's irresistible "Backwoods Barbie." See it at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire through October 13. 



PITTSFIELD, MA
Literary Lions Brawl in the Bay State
Playwright Mark St. Germain (Freud's Last Session) is virtuoso at mining drama from imaginary encounters between historical figures, and Scott and Hem in the Garden of Allah is no exception. Playing the Barrington Stage Company through September 29, the play details a confrontation between literary frenemies F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway in 1937, when Fitzgerald's wife Zelda is institutionalized on the other side of the country. Directed by St. Germain, Scott and Hem stars Broadway vets Joey Collins as Fitzgerald and Ted Koch as Hemingway.



LOS ANGELES, CA
Rapture, Blister, Burn Sizzles 
Gina Gionfriddo's Pulitzer Prize-nominated Rapture, Blister, Burn is receiving its West Coast premiere at the Geffen Playhouse through September 22. Reuniting the acclaimed 2012 off-Broadway cast, the production follows Catherine (Emmy nominee Amy Brenneman), a successful, fortysomething feminist provocateur who suffers a midlife crisis and covets the "normal life" of her former roommate, Gwen (Kelley Overbey). This thoroughly modern comedy examines the age-old question: Can a woman have it all?