Theater runs Broadway gamut

Friday, Aug. 2, 2002 | 8:54 a.m.

The Reid Shelton Theatre Company will present "Broadway 2002" beginning tonight at Las Vegas Little Theatre.

The fully staged production composed of local performers will take audiences on an educational romp through past and present Broadway musicals.

Selections include songs ranging from Mel Brooks' multi-Tony Award-winning musical "The Producers" to "The Full Monty," to a sampling of Stephen Sondheim favorites.

Songs from "Dream Girls," "Mamma Mia!" and Disney's "The Lion King" will also be performed. The cast of 18 community and professional performers will be in full costume.

The production is a fund-raising event for the Garold Gardner Scholarship Foundation, a program providing financial assistance for youth who want to study dance or musical theater at professional conservatories throughout the country.

A former Broadway dancer, local teacher and director, Gardner began the scholarship foundation 10 years ago. Scholarships are for students in need and help one student at a time, Gardner said.

The midsummer Broadway review, directed by Dan Frank, is one of two fund-raising performances the theater company does each year. Additional funds come from crafts fairs and private donations.

Other music from "Broadway 2002" includes Irving Berlin's "An Old Fashioned Wedding" from "Annie Get Your Gun," "I Dreamed a Dream" from "Les Miserables" and Kander & Ebb's "Cell Block Tango" from "Chicago."