Season of Love Kicks Off at Women's Theater Company

Looking for love? Parsippany resident Barbara Krajkowski plans to seduce her neighbors into attending the season opening performance of her Women’s Theater Company.

“I wanted to do a whole season about love, and we’re going to start with something different, a musical with two love stories,” said Krajkowski, whose formerly nomadic professional troupe took up permanent residence at the Parsippany Playhouse five years ago. “We had a great year last year, with bigger crowds than ever before, and we want to build on that.”

The building resumes Friday with the premiere of “Romance/Romance,” an unusual but charming musical that earned several Tony nominations in 1988. As an added treat, the show’s authors—composer Keith Herrmann and book-lyrics writer Barry Harman—will attend Friday’s opening-night performance and reception.

“It’s very exciting. One of our regulars knows Keith Herrmann and asked him to come,” Krajkowski said. “Next thing I know, both of them are coming. I’m so thrilled.”

Krajkowski, whose daughter Jane Krakowski is a Tony- and Emmy-winner (and currently a regular on television’s “30 Rock”), sees more than her share of Broadway shows, but missed the original run of “Romance/Romance.”

“I had not seen it and it was not on my radar,” she said. “This was something Warren (frequent WTC musical director and former Mount Tabor resident Warren Helms) had wanted to do for a long time and it fit in perfectly with our season.”

The production also calls for a small cast, another advantage for the WTC, which accomplishes its mission on a relatively small budget and performs on the small, intimate stage at the Parsippany Playhouse. Krajkowski frequently includes small, popular musicals in her seasons and part of last year’s success was staging two: “And the World Goes ‘Round” and “Side By Side By Sondheim.”

“Our audience loves musicals and will love this one, too,” Krajkowski said confidently.

Herrmann and Harman present two love stories, one in each act of “Romance/Romance.”  The first, “The Little Comedy,” is about a wealthy man and woman in 19th-century Vienna who find each other while both are posing as members of the lower class. The second, “Summer Share,” is a more modern tale as two couples intermingle in the Hamptons and engage in harmless flirtation that leads to romantic conflict.

“It’s a lot of fun, [with] a great cast and a lot of great songs,” Krajkowski said.

The cast includes Marc G. Dalio, previously seen on Broadway in “Beauty and the Beast” and in Parsippany in “And the World Goes ‘Round”; Marcia Sofley; Joe D’Angio and Ashkley Kowzun, who made her WTC debut last spring as Lady Caroline in “Enchanted April.”

The production is in the experienced hands of Lauren Moran Mills of Boonton, who frequently directs here when Krajkowski does not.

If "Romance/Romance" is not enough to make you feel the love, the season continues with “Crimes of the Heart,” Beth Henley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning black comedy (Nov. 18 to Dec. 4); “The Last Five Years,” a one-act musical by Jason Robert Brown (March 2 to 18) and “Southern Comforts” (May 4 to 20), a tender comedy about two mismatched seniors who make an unlikely connection, written by Mine Hill native Kathleen Clarke, who also wrote the popular “Secrets of a Soccer Mom,” which Krajkowski revived in 2009.

“We’ve got all kinds of love,” Krajkowski said. “Romantic love, bad love, old lovers finding each other. I saw ‘Southern Comforts’ a few years ago when the Bickford (the Bickford Theatre, a professional company in residence at the Morris Museum in Morris Township) did it and I loved it. And I thought it would be good to end the season with some senior citizens' love!”

Krajkowski, whose company promises “a little off-Broadway right here in Morris County,” also is holding the line on ticket prices, with regular admission at $20 or $18 for seniors. Even better, a four-show season plan is just $72, or $65 for seniors.

The Women’s Theater Company production of “Romance/Romance” runs Sept. 23 to Oct. 9 at the Parsippany Community Center’s Parsippany Playhouse, 1130 Knoll Road. Opening night tickets $25 (includes wine-and-cheese reception with composer Keith Herrmann and book-lyrics writer Barry Harman). Regular tickets $20, $18 seniors. For tickets or information, visit www.womenstheater.org or call 973-316-3033.