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Fans of UC's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) await the annual announcement of musicals, dramas and operas to be produced on the main stages with eager anticipation, and I suspect they weren't disappointed this year. Although the three programs don't coordinate their selections in terms of content, it seems that this year they've converged in a season of award winners. Up first will be the zany backstage British farce, NOISES OFF, by Michael Frayn (Oct. 27-30 in Patricia Corbett Theater). Next is the big Gershwin-tune musical CRAZY FOR YOU (Nov. 17-20 in Corbett Auditor-ium), winner of the 1992 Tony Award for Best Musical. The comic opera ALBERT HERRING by Benjamin Britten will be the first big production of 2006 (Feb. 9-12 in Patricia Corbett Theater), followed closely by Gilbert & Sullivan's witty comic operetta, THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE (Feb. 23-March 5, 2006, in Patricia Corbett Theater). Things turn serious in the spring with the presentation of Bernard Pomerance's THE ELEPHANT MAN (April 20-23, 2006), the tale of JohnMerrick, a severely deformed man in Victorian England who became a celebrity; it won the 1979 Tony Award for Best Play. The season will conclude with Mozart's operatic masterpiece, DON GIOVANNI (May 11-14). The tale of the amoral playboy is one of the most beloved of world operas, and one of the most melodic of all time. Single tickets are not yet on sale; subscription information: 513-556-4813. ...
Speaking of things happeningat UC, this year's commencementspeaker is KEVIN MCCOLLUM, a 1984 CCM graduate, who has achieved significant success as an award-winning Broadway producer. His production of the musical Rent was one of the best received shows in recent Broadway history. He's the producer of the current hit, Avenue Q, which won the 2004 Tony Award for Best Musical. McCollum, whose wife, Broadway actress Lynette Perry-McCollum is also a CCM grad (class of 1985), will receive an honorary doctorate in performing arts at the UC commencement on June 10 at Shoemaker Center.