The Fall Berkshire season will get off to a great start when a new musical opens at Pittsfield’s Colonial Thatre. It’s called S Wonderful: The New Gershwin Musical and it is an all-singing, all-dancing celebration of the brilliant and breathtaking music and lyrics of brothers George and Ira Gershwin.

It was born earlier this year as a project of the renowned Pittsburgh CLO (Civic Light Opera) and quickly became the hit of the summer right though this past Labor Day Weekend. It is being recast and refurbished for a national tour, with Pittsfield’s Colonial Theatre as one of the first stops on September 30.

This summer's CLO production was a hit. Photo: Robin Rombach, Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Summary: ’S Wonderful: The New Gershwin Musical will be coming to the Colonial on September 30 at 7:30PM. Tickets are $55 and $35 and can be purchased in person at the Colonial Ticket Office at 111 South Street Monday-Friday 10AM-5PM, performance Saturdays 10AM-2PM, by calling (413) 997-4444 or online at www.thecolonialtheatre.org.

Five mini-musicals take audiences on a ride to the different places, times and styles that made the Gershwin brothers the most successful songwriting team in musical history. First it’s New York City in 1916 and Paris in the 1930s, followed by Hollywood in the ’40s and New Orleans in the ’50s. ’S Wonderful pays a nostalgic tribute to the incomparable songbook of George and Ira Gershwin, featuring nearly 30 classic hits such as “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” “Shall We Dance,” “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “Rhapsody in Blue.”

George and Ira Gershwin

Here’s a partial list of the great songs included:

“’S Wonderful!”
“Looking for a Boy”
“Yankee Doodle Rhythm”
“You’ve Got What Gets Me”
“Isn’t it a Pity”
“Swanee”
“Rhapsody in Blue”
“Somebody from Somewhere”
“Somebody Loves Me”
“Fascinating Rhythm”
“Strike Up The Band”
“Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off”
“Love is Here to Stay”
“An American in Paris” (a ballet)
“I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise”
“Shall We Dance”
“My One and Only”
“Nice Work if You Can Get It”
“The Man I Love”
“Summertime”
“Oh, Lady Be Good”
“Love is Sweeping the Country”
“I’ve Got Rhythm”
“I’ve Got a Crush On You”
“Funny Face”
“Boy What Love Has Done to Me”
“Someone to Watch Over Me”
“Of Thee I Sing”

It’s a pretty safe bet that if you like Gershwin’s music you are going to enjoy this show a lot.

'S Wonderful Poster

RAY RODERICK (Director) was an associate director for The Music Man, directed by Susan Stroman, and for A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden where he had the privilege of working with director Mike Ockrent. Ray directed and co-wrote the revues I Love New York (Bistro Award) and A Christmas Survival Guide (CD on Car- Jam.com) and wrote and directed a The Prince and the Pauper, a new musical.

RICK HIP-FLORES (Musical Director) has written music and lyrics to Neon Mirage (Humana Festival, 2006), My New York (Vital Theater), Dido and Aeneas (Prospect Theater), and the Columbia Varsity Show. He has also composed scores for Tartuffe and As You Like It (Worth Street Players). He is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Workshop in New York. As a musical director, recent credits include Jacques Brel is Alive and Well… (Off-Broadway revival), Singin’ in the Rain (Northshore Music Theatre), and the Neil Sedaka musical Breaking Up is Hard to Do (Actors Playhouse.)