Bay Street Theater Goes to the Ballyhoo This Summer

Bay Street Theater and Sag Harbor Center for the Performing Arts has announced that Alfred Uhry’s The Last Night of Ballyhoo will complete its upcoming 2016 summer season. This crowd-pleasing romantic drama won the 1997 Tony Award for Best Play.

The Last Night of Ballyhoo tells the story of the Freitags, a Jewish family living in Atlanta, Georgia in December 1939. The Freitags have largely abandoned Jewish tradition, instead assimilating to fit in with other upper crust families in their community. The widowed Boo and her daughters, intellectual Sunny and starry-eyed Lala, are looking forward to their country club’s annual Ballyhoo, a fancy cotillion ball. When Sunny meets and falls for Joe, a proud Jewish man who is taken aback by the family’s self-racism, she begins to explore what her Jewish identity means to her and her family. The themes of religious prejudice and racism drive much of the action in The Last Night of Ballyhoo, but the play is romantic, light and witty and should prove to be a hit with the East End theater crowd.

The play runs from June 28–July 24. Bay Street Theater will also present the world premiere of The Forgotten Woman by Jonathan Tolins from May 31–June 19 and a special, two-piano arrangement of Lerner and Lowe’s My Fair Lady from August 2–28.

“I am thrilled to announce the three Mainstage productions of the 25th Anniversary Summer Season at Bay Street,” Artistic Director Scott Schwartz says. “In this inspiring and important year, Bay Street will offer a broad range of work that embraces all that theater can be—a world premiere, a bold new interpretation of a beloved classic musical, and a contemporary masterpiece. I am delighted to welcome three visionary directors to our stage: Noah Himmelstein, Will Pomerantz and Michael Arden. These are exciting artists who will create dazzling, unique productions for our audience,” Schwartz continues. “In our 25th year, Bay Street will continue to be the place to experience cutting edge, entertaining live theater that the East End will be talking about all summer long.”

For more information or to purchase a 2016 Mainstage Season subscription, visit baystreet.org or call the box office Tuesday–Saturday 11 a.m.–5 p.m. at 631-725-9500.