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Lewisville Summer Musicals brings 'The Foreigner' to MCL Grand
From staff reports
The second season of Lewisville Summer Musicals continues June 15-16 at Medical Center of Lewisville Grand Theater with three performances of "The Foreigner" starring Johnny Crawford.
The series is presented by Texas Family Musicals, which debuted the summer musicals in Lewisville last year.
Show times are 7:30 p.m. on Friday, 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Ticket prices for individual shows are $26, $28 or $30, depending on the seating. Discounts are available for seniors, or for groups of 12 or more. Season ticket packages are further discounted.
"The Foreigner" is a comedy by American playwright Larry Shue. Following its premiere in Milwaukee, the play opened in New York in November 1984 where it ran for nearly 700 performances. It eventually won two Obie Awards and two Outer Critics Circle Awards, including Best New American Play and Best Off-Broadway Production.
The story is set in a resort-style fishing lodge in rural Georgia and revolves around two resort guests, Englishman Charlie Baker (played by Crawford) and Staff Sergeant Froggy LeSuer. Charlie is so pathologically shy that he is unable to speak, which Froggy explains away by saying that his companion is from an exotic country and does not understand a word of English.
Before long, Charlie finds himself privy to assorted secrets and scandals freely discussed in front of him by the resort staff and visitors that include spoiled but introspective heiress and southern belle Catherine Simms; the man to whom she is somewhat reluctantly engaged, the Reverend David Lee, a seemingly humble preacher with a dark underside; her youngest brother, Ellard, a chubby and somewhat "slow" boy who tries to teach Charlie how to speak English; and Owen Musser, the racist county property inspector who plans to oust property owner Betty Meeks and convert the lodge into a meeting place for the Ku Klux Klan.
This unlikely mix results in a series of hilarious misunderstandings, accidental revelations and unexpected discoveries that will keep the audience laughing from the opening curtain through the final bow.
Crawford first performed for the national audience as a Mouseketeer, but achieved television stardom and teen heart-throb status with his role as Mark McCain on "The Rifleman," which ran on ABC from 1958 to 1963.
Crawford was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1959 when he was 13 years old (his brother and father also were nominated for Emmy Awards that year). He moved on to movies, where his roles included being shot by John Wayne in the 1966 Western "El Dorado." After a stint in the U.S. Army, he returned to acting in multiple roles for television, film and stage. Since 1992, Crawford also has led a California-based vintage dance orchestra.
The cast, including Crawford, will greet audience members in the MCL Grand lobby after each performance.
Lewisville Summer Musicals will continue in July with "America the Beautiful" and "A Chorus Line," and in August with "The Night the Music Died," "British Invasion" and "Rocky Mountain High."
For information visit www.MCLGrand.com or call 972-219-8446 or 800-547-4697.
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