Allentown, Pa. (March 19, 2020) — Muhlenberg College announced today that it will postpone the 40th season of its Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre festival until summer of 2021.

The season, scheduled to run June 11 through July 26, was to have featured “Legally Blonde,” the world premiere of “The Legend of New York,” and a new all-ages circus musical, “The Comedy of Wizards.”

A celebration of the annual festival’s 40th season, including an alumni cabaret and late-night show-tune karaoke, has also been postponed until next summer.

Directors had held auditions for this summer’s productions, but had not yet finalized their casting decisions, according to Artistic Director Charles Richter.

“It was a difficult, heartbreaking decision, but we felt it was in everyone’s best interest to make the call now, before our production process had gotten too far along,” Richter says. ““I’m sure that many more of our patrons will be able to help us celebrate our 40th season next summer than would have been there this year.”

Muhlenberg’s Theatre & Dance Department produces the annual festival, which attracts more than 11,000 patrons and employs more than 150 artists, technicians, and administrators each summer.

The last three productions in the department’s mainstage series have also been cancelled. At present, the Theatre & Dance Department is planning to resume public performances this fall.

No decision has been made about the lineup for the 2021 season. Richter says he’s hoping to include some or all of the shows selected for 2020 — but it will depend on whether they are available, and on what else might open up.

Patrons who hold tickets to the 2020 MSMT season will be contacted individually by the box office.

Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg is a highly selective, private, four-year residential, liberal arts college located in Allentown, Pa., approximately 90 miles west of New York City. With an undergraduate enrollment of approximately 2,200 students, Muhlenberg College is dedicated to shaping creative, compassionate, collaborative leaders through rigorous academic programs in the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences as well as selected pre-professional programs, including accounting, business, education and public health. A member of the Centennial Conference, Muhlenberg competes in 22 varsity sports. Muhlenberg is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Muhlenberg offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in theater and dance. The Princeton Review ranked Muhlenberg’s theater program in the top twelve in the nation for eight years in a row, and Fiske Guide to Colleges lists both the theater and dance programs among the top small college programs in the United States. Muhlenberg is one of only eight colleges to be listed in Fiske for both theater and dance. The department was founded in 1983; the theater major was established in 1978, and the dance major was established in 1993.

 

 
Information Provided By:
Scott Snyder
Marketing Manager
Muhlenberg College Department of Theatre & Dance

 

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