The Maine State Music Theatre will kick off its summer season June 8 with “Swing.” All shows will be staged in Pickard Theater on the Bowdoin College campus in Brunswick. For ticket prices and reservations, call 725-8769 or go online to www.MSMT.org.

‘Swing’
Dedicated to the swing style of the 1930s and ’40s, this show features more than 30 dance numbers on a wide array of topics. This Broadway big band song and dance fest celebrates the diversity of music. Music includes compositions by such famous composers as Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Jerome Kern.

Awards: Six Tony nominations in 2000

Score highlights: “It Don’t Mean A Thing,” “I’ll Be Seeing You,” “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” “In The Mood,” “Stompin’ at the Savoy”

Performances: June 8-25
‘Miss Saigon’

This play relates the story of Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly” set during the Vietnam War. As the war turns against the Americans, villagers rush to Saigon for refuge. One of them is Kim, a 17-year-old girl whose family was killed. She becomes a stripper at the Dreamland Club where she meets and falls in love with a young American GI, Chris. It’s an intimate story about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

Awards: Tony Awards in 1991 for Best Actor, Actress, Featured Actor

Score highlights: “The Movie in My Mind,” “The Last Night of the World,” “The Heat Is On In Saigon,” “The American Dream”

Performances: June 29-July 16

‘Cats’

The longest running Broadway show in the history of musical theater, “Cats” is based on “Old Possum’s Books of Practical Cats,” a collection of poems by T.S. Eliot. The play, which contains little spoken dialogue, revolves around the antics of such feline characters as Old Deuteronomy, Jennyanydots, Mr. Mistoffelees, Rum Tum Tugger, Skimbleshanks, Griddlebone and Grizabella, who sings the hit son “Memory.”

Awards: Seven Tony Awards in 1983, including the award for Best Musical. T.S. Eliot received a posthumous Tony Award.

Score highlights: “The Jellicle Ball,” “The Naming of the Cats,” “Mr. Mistoffelees,” “The Rum Tum Tugger,” and “Memory”

Performances: July 20-Aug. 6

‘Mame’

This timeless classic boasts a feel-good story and splashy production numbers. Flash back to the roaring ’20s as a 10-year-old orphan boy is delivered to his swinging, eccentric Auntie Mame while she is hosting a cocktail party for her wildly flamboyant friends. Thus begins 18 years of fantastic adventures as she proves that life can be a banquet.

Awards: Three Tony Awards in 1966

Score highlights: “If He Walked Into My Life,” “We Need A Little Christmas,” “It’s Today,” “Bosom Buddies,” and “Mame”

Performances: Aug. 10-27

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