SMITHFIELD – The Four Season Theatre Company here is soliciting input from its audience members for a show to be part of its 2025 season.
The theatre troupe, headed by brothers Jon and Kody Rash, has posted a survey on Facebook asking respondents to pick their favorite show from a field of eight possible musicals.
“Our Fall 2025 production is still up in the air,” the brothers admit in a post accompanying the survey. “We’d love your help deciding what show will be the final piece of that puzzle.”
The leaders of the Smithfield company are thinking well in advance. Following their recent triumph with their production of The 39 Steps in August, their 2024 season still has two productions in store – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in October and the tradition presentation of A Christmas Carol in December.
But the Four Seasons line-up for its 2025 season is still under wraps, although the company hopes to announce those shows when it debuts Joseph … in October.
According to the online survey, the musicals under consideration are 9 to 5, Disney’s Descendants, Footloose, Disney’s Freaky Friday, Legally Blonde, The Lightning Thief, Sister Act and Xanadu.
The Four Season survey can be found at https://forms.gle/BY6h2BSh9dM9CSaL8
Some of those potential productions listed in the survey are already familiar to local audiences.
The stage version of 9 to 5, based on the iconic 1980 movie where three female office workers unite to overthrow a monster boss, was produced by Utah State University in April 2022.
The Four Seasons company debuted Freaky Friday hereabouts in October of 2019, memorable for Celeste Baillio’s totally over-the-top performance, followed by a Lyric Repertory Company production of the same show in summer of 2022.
The Cache Theatre Company staged the marvelous estrogen-fueled Legally Blonde in November of 2021 and the Utah Festival Conservatory of the Performing Arts mounted a production of The Lightning Thief showcasing the talents of up-and-coming teens in spring of 2023.
The remaining four musicals in the proposed Four Seasons line-up for 2025 would be local debuts.
Disney’s Descendants is a musical based on a trilogy on the Disney Channel, starring the offspring of characters from previous animated features. Adapted for the stage as a one-act running about 90 minutes, the musical also comes with an optional intermission and entr’acte so that it can be performed as a two-act musical.
Footloose is a 1998 musical, based on the 1984 film of the same name. The show’s score was written by Tom Snow, but includes some catchy tunes by Kenny Loggins from the original film’s soundtrack. Lyrics are by Dean Pitchford (with Loggins). Pitchford also collaborated on the musical book with Walter Bobbie.
Sister Act is a 2006 musical based on the 1992 film of the same name starring Whoopie Goldberg. It’s story centers on a singing showgirl hiding out from gangsters in a Catholic convent. With music by Disney composer Alan Menken, Sister Act opened in London in 2009 and subsequently on Broadway and in regional theaters.
Xanadu is a stage version of the 1980 film, which was inspired by the 1947 Rita Hayworth movie Down to Earth. The more recent movie starred Olivia Newton John and Gene Kelly, notably performing on roller skates, an unlikely scenario that also translated to the musical.
The Four Seasons survey invites respondents to rank all eight of the potential musicals from first to last and also asks local theater-goers to list any preferences for other musicals.
The survey reminds Cache Valley audience members, however, that the rights for musicals like Wicked, Phantom of the Opera and other recent titles may not be available to license.
The Four Season Theatre Company performs at Sky View High School at 520 South, 250 East in Smithfield.