A world premiere musical comedy joins returning Northern Sky favorites, including “Guys on Ice.”
FISH CREEK – Northern Sky Theater will stage five shows and a concert series during its 2023 summer and fall seasons on its outdoor amphitheater stage in Peninsula State Park and its indoor Gould Theater in Fish Creek.
The summer shows in the park amphitheater are the world premiere of “The Fish Whisperer” and the return of “Cheeseheads! The Musical.” They will run in repertory six nights a week, including a two-show night on Mondays.
The summer shows in the Gould are the company’s hugely popular “Guys on Ice,” celebrating its 25th anniversary, and “Guys & Does,” both also running in repertory six nights a week. The same cast of Northern Sky favorite performers is expected to be used in both shows.
The fall season will feature the return of Northern Sky’s fall concerts in the park with Lipstick Optional, featuring the women of Northern Sky in concert on the first three weekends of September. The indoor fall season at the Gould has the show “When Pigs Fly” on stage six nights a week.
“Our upcoming season will offer a great variety of Northern Sky flavor,” artistic director Jeff Herbst said. “With another world premiere this coming summer, we will be at 80 original shows. Everything at Northern Sky, since the company began in 1990, has been developed entirely by us with our Door County audience in mind.”
Making its premiere, “The Fish Whisperer” by Scott Guy, Robin Share, Dan Wessels and Ron Barnett is a musical comedy that looks at what happens in a small Wisconsin community when the fish aren’t biting and a stranger shows up promising a fix.
The show also is part of World Premiere Wisconsin, a statewide new works festival taking place from March 1 to June 30 that celebrates new plays and musicals to raise awareness nationwide that Wisconsin has a thriving and diverse theater ecosystem. Northern Sky will host the festival’s finale party in June during the run of “The Fish Whisperer.”
“Cheeseheads! The Musical” is inspired by the true story of how 100 Wisconsin cheese factory workers won more than $200 million in the lottery. It was written by Paul Libman and Dave Hudson, who have penned five original shows together for the company, and premiered in 2009. “Cheeseheads” last played at Northern Sky in 2012.
“Guys on Ice” has been one of Northern Sky’s most popular shows since its premiere in 1998, playing not just on its stage but also to sold-out houses coast to coast and for a PBS-TV special. The Fred Alley-James Kaplan musical comedy has ice fishing buddies Marvin and Lloyd spending a winter’s day in their shanty talking about life, love and Leinie’s. It’s been on the Northern Sky stage five times, but not since 2014.
“Guys & Does,” by Frederick Heide, Lee Becker and Libman, is a whimsical musical excursion into the world of Wisconsin deer hunting that premiered in 2009. It also has been a touring production for the company and has played at Northern Sky four times, most recently in 2016.
Heide and Becker also wrote “When Pigs Fly,” which weaves together tall tales, folk songs and the question of who will win a Door County custard pie contest.
A date for tickets to go on sale will be announced early in 2023, with the casts, exact show times and dates also to be announced later. However, tickets are currently on sale for “Home for the Holidays,” the company’s annual show taking place the last week of December in the Gould Theater, this year featuring Katie Dahl, Jeff Herbst, Claudia Russell and Colin Welford.
Northern Sky Theater is a nonprofit professional organization that produces original musical shows in repertory from mid-June through the end of summer on its stages outdoors at Peninsula State Park and indoors at its Gould Theater, then continues with shows in the fall and over the Christmas holiday season at the Gould. For “Home for the Holidays” tickets or more information, call 920-854-6117 or visit northernskytheater.com.
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.
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