Multi-award winning Foothill Music Theatre presents ALL SHOOK UP, featuring hit songs made famous by Elvis Presley and a book by Tony Award winner Joe DiPietro (Memphis; I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change). Fraught with mistaken identities, star-crossed lovers, and peppered with Elvis favorites including “Burning Love,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “A Little Less Conversation,” and “One Night With You,” this fast-paced musical follows a hip-swiveling roustabout who leaves a small town “all shook up.” Milissa Carey helms this fresh yet faithful new interpretation of The King’s tunes, with musical direction by Mark Hanson and choreography by Katie O’Brion. ALL SHOOK UP plays February 23, 2012 – March 11, 2012 at the Lohman Theatre at Foothill College in Los Altos. For tickets ($10-$28) and information, the public may visit www.foothillmusicals.com, or call the box office at (650) 949-7360.
Called “witty and amusing” and “poignant and moving” by BroadwayWorld, ALL SHOOK UP takes audiences on a rollicking musical romp through the 1950s. Natalie, the town’s tomboyish mechanic, is swept off her feet when guitar-playing roustabout Chad rides into her sleepy town and turns it upside-down with his contraband rock music. Unsure how to capture his attention, she disguises herself as “Ed” and becomes Chad’s new sidekick-in-training. But Natalie gets more than she bargained for when Chad enlists her to help him win the heart of the voluptuous Miss Sandra, who falls for “Ed” instead. The rest of the town’s youth, inspired by Chad’s devil-may-care attitude, find themselves singing, dancing, and falling in love – sometimes against their parents’ wishes. A wild ride through the excitement and confusion of youth, ALL SHOOK UP celebrates love in all its forms – from familial to friendly, unexpected to forbidden, passionate to unrequited – with humor, whimsy, and a healthy dose of rock’n’roll.
Joe DiPietro (book), award-winning author and lyricist, received two Tony Awards and an Outer Critics Circle Award for his recent creation of the book and lyrics for Memphis, the explosive musical that took Broadway by storm, winning the 2010 Tony for Best Musical. He also wrote the book and lyrics to the musical comedy hit I Love you, You’re Perfect, Now Change, the longest running musical revue in Off-Broadway history. The author of several celebrated plays, DiPietro penned scripts for Over the River and Through the Woods, The Kiss at City Hall, The Virgin Weeps, and the comic thriller The Art of Murder (winner of the 2000 Edgar Award), additionally writing the books to the Gershwin musical They All Laughed! and a new adaptation of Rodgers & Hart’s Babes in Arms. DiPietro is the recipient of the William Inge Theater Festival New Voices In American Theater Award, and won the O’Neill National Playwright’s Conference MacArthur Award for comic writing.
The Foothill Music Theatre cast for ALL SHOOK UP includes Tony Di Corti (Chad), Katherine Goldman (Natalie), Amanda Andrews (Miss Sandra), Molly Thornton (Mayor Mathilda), Todd Wright (Jim), Leslie Ivy (Lorraine), Warren Wernick (Dean), Anthony Chan (Dennis), and Vic Prosak (Earl). Other cast members include Emily Bliss, Justin Basl, Megan Coomans, Jonathan Fitzpatrick, Nique Genelle, Jeremy Griffith, Joshua Krumbein, Nathan Lindley, Carissa McElravy, Sara Renee Morris, Eri Nakamura, James Neal, Leslie Newport, Jeremy Ryan, Taylor Sanders, and Hayley Thirlwall.
Director Milissa Carey joined the Foothill faculty in 2003 and teaches in the both the Theatre and Music Departments. She has performed with Foothill Music Theatre as “Kate” in Kiss Me Kate, “Golde” in Fiddler on the Roof, and “Lily” in Twentieth Century, directed by Jay Manley, and directed last winter’s production of Working. She is also on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as an acting teacher and stage director in the Opera Department. She has directed projects at American Musical Theatre of San Jose and the A.C.T. Young Conservatory. An award-winning Bay Area actress, Carey has performed leading roles with many Bay Area Theatre companies including American Musical Theatre of San Jose, TheatreWorks, Center Repertory Theater of Walnut Creek, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Pacific Alliance Stage Company, 42nd Street Moon, San Francisco Playhouse, Thick Description and Theatrefirst. She was in the cast of the 25th Anniversary Broadway National Tour of Evita under the direction of Hal Prince.
