Olney Theatre

OLNEY -- "Marry Me a Little" is the unconventional marriage of 17 Stephen Sondheim songs that were either cut from musicals or written for musicals that were never produced.Back in 1980, when playwright Craig Lucas and director Norman Rene asked Mr. Sondheim's permission to assemble the show, the composer reportedly replied, "I think it's a terrible idea, but go ahead."However, the structure they devised actually works -- for the most part. It's built around two single New Yorkers spending Saturday night alone in separate, but identical apartments.

The ring tone that breaks out periodically from the missionary's cell phone says a lot: The theme from "Mission: Impossible." But this bubbly blond evangelical named Melissa is nothing if not determined, and her targets — two sisters sharing a home and a lifelong commitment to Catholicism — present an irresistible challenge. Such is the premise of Evan Smith's smart, snappy comedy, "The Savannah Disputation," receiving its area premiere in a finely nuanced production from the Olney Theatre Center.

The persistent folly of us mortals when it comes to pursuing romance or power (or both) has provided abundant fuel for any number of theatrical works over the centuries. Among the entertaining examples is an early 18th-century play, Pierre Marivaux's "The Triumph of Love," sparked with cross-gender disguises and sexual-political complications. That piece found its way into our own time and place, thanks to a much-admired translation by James Magruder that was produced in 1993 at Center Stage, where he was dramaturg.

"It is so easy to convert others," Oscar Wilde observed. "It is so difficult to convert oneself." Something of both attempts is at the heart of "The Savannah Disputation," the comedy by Evan Smith receiving its area premiere at the Olney Theatre this week. The play, which had a successful production in New York last year, grabs a subject many people shy away from discussing — religion — and runs with it, finding humor as the dogma flies. Anyone who has ever answered a knock at the door to find an eager evangelical will, perhaps with a shiver, recognize the plot's set-up: Mary and Margaret, two sisters living together in Savannah, Ga., and content with their Catholic faith, find their lives put off balance when a Pentecostal missionary named Melissa shows up at their house, hell-bent on saving their souls.

For the first time in its history, Olney Theatre will produce a winter season of plays, including a world premiere and an off-Broadway drama. The plays and their dates follow:"For Reasons That Remain Unclear," a new play by Mart Crowley, author of "The Boys in the Band," concerns a confrontation between two men over a traumatic episode in their past. It runs Nov. 9-28 with actors Philip Anglim and Ken Ruta."Holiday Memories," a play adapted from two Truman Capote short stories about his childhood in rural Alabama, runs Dec. 7-26.

`Bye Bye Birdie' opens Olney Theatre season Olney Theatre Center opens its 2001 season tomorrow with "Bye Bye Birdie," the 1961 Adams and Strouse musical about a rock and roll star and his effect on the teens in small-town America. Continuing the practice instituted two seasons ago, the season opener showcases young musical-theater performers from the Washington area. Here's the rest of the Olney main-stage season: "The Rivals," by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (April 17-May 20); "Art," by Yasmina Reza (June 5-July 8)

Jim Petosa, who shepherded a troupe of actors from a summer theater to a regional company with a $5.2 million budget, has announced that he will step down as artistic director of the Olney Theatre Center. But he's not leaving until December 2008 and, even then, will remain on the board of directors. For years, Petosa has divided his responsibilities between Olney and Boston University, where he heads the theater program. "My life in Boston has been getting more and more complicated," Petosa said yesterday.

The biggest laugh in Olney Theatre's production of Alan Ayckbourn's "A Small Family Business" comes in the opening scene. The family of a British businessman named Jack McCracken is giving him a surprise party to celebrate his quitting his old job to run the family business.While his large, extended family waits in the living room to surprise him, Jack arrives home with something altogether different in mind. Determined to make love to his wife, he has undressed down to his drawers and is babbling lasciviously when he chases her into the living room.

Olney Theatre's summer season will include the area premiere of "Hot 'n' Cole," a new revue of the music of Cole Porter; the revival of Horton Foote's "The Trip to Bountiful" and the revival of Tennessee Williams' "The Night of the Iguana," the theater has announced. The season will begin May 3 and run through Oct. 23."Hot 'n' Cole," a production with more than 50 Cole Porter songs, will run May 3-29. "The Trip to Bountiful," the story of a widow's pilgrimage to her native hamlet, will run June 7-July 3. "A Small Family Business," a farce by Alan Ayckbourn that concerns a principled man modifying his ethics, will run July 12-Aug.

In George M. Cohan's "The Tavern," a young woman repeatedly refers to the main character as "quaint." The description doesn't really fit the flamboyant character, but it definitely fits this 1920 script, which is so hopelessly quaint, it's practically creaky.In fact, Cohan's chestnut has become such a staple of summer stock that seeing it at Olney Theatre is almost a cliche. This is not to say that Olney doesn't do a good job with it. To the contrary, from designer Thomas F. Donahue's rough-hewn tavern set -- complete with a bevy of mounted animal heads -- to the slightly satirical tone of Bill Graham Jr.'s direction, this "Tavern" in Olney is a most pleasant place to visit.

The persistent folly of us mortals when it comes to pursuing romance or power (or both) has provided abundant fuel for any number of theatrical works over the centuries. Among the entertaining examples is an early 18th-century play, Pierre Marivaux's "The Triumph of Love," sparked with cross-gender disguises and sexual-political complications. That piece found its way into our own time and place, thanks to a much-admired translation by James Magruder that was produced in 1993 at Center Stage, where he was dramaturg.

When Amanda Yuan of Clarksville was 3 years old, she would often hide under the tables at preschool, too shy to play with the other kids. Her parents decided to get her involved in anything that would bolster her social skills, and signed her up at a drama learning center. Now, you would never know that the 11-year-old budding actress ever struggled to assert herself . On Thursday, she will be one of the youngest among a group of child performers - including three from Maryland - to take part in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade finale in New York City.

Mark Twain's sadness and worries about money are all right there - hidden under the cross-dressing plot that puts a cigar-chomping gent in hoop skirts and hair bows, beneath the satirical swipes at the French, the art world and Limburger cheese. Is He Dead?, a recently discovered 1898 comedy by the great humorist and adapted by David Ives, has all the sparkle and brilliance of a shooting star. But it leaves behind a trail of dust, stones and space debris. In the farce, currently receiving a solid production at Olney Theatre Center, Twain cheekily placed a beloved, recent painter, Jean Francois Millet, in stage center.

TV 'Dancing with the Stars': You may be ashamed to admit it, but judging from the ratings, someone's watching this hokey hoedown. Look for a three-way race among former boy-band singer Lance Bass (above), retired NFL star Warren Sapp and E! channel eye-candy Brooke Burke. The final performances air at 8 p.m. tomorrow, and the winner is crowned at 9 p.m. Tuesday on WMAR, Channel 2. BOOKS 'Panic: The Story : : of Modern Financial Insanity: ': In his latest book, Michael Lewis explores the roots and ruin of five recent financial debacles - including our current one. While Lewis gives the requisite history lesson, he also gives us a glimpse of what the talking heads were saying in the heat of the crisis.

The thought-provoking production of Doubt running at the Olney Theatre Center explores the gory, tragic, frustrating and ultimately futile ramifications of "hunting" for the truth. Sister Aloysius, the principal of a Catholic elementary school in the Bronx in 1964, treats the truth as though it were her prey. She pounces upon it like a cat stalking a mouse. She tracks the truth to its lair, sticks a shotgun in the hole and blasts away. When the answer she seeks is unearthed and laid at her feet, she finds that her own actions have mangled it beyond recognition.

Of Mice and Men is about the specific loneliness afflicting the inhabitants of hardscrabble landscapes, the kind that hollows you out and crushes you in the middle like a discarded aluminum can. Different manifestations of this isolation come poignantly to life in an affecting production at Olney Theatre Center. If you go Of Mice and Men runs through Oct. 28 at the Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road. Showtimes vary. Tickets are $25-$46. Call 301-924-3400 or go to olneytheatre.

"It is so easy to convert others," Oscar Wilde observed. "It is so difficult to convert oneself." Something of both attempts is at the heart of "The Savannah Disputation," the comedy by Evan Smith receiving its area premiere at the Olney Theatre this week. The play, which had a successful production in New York last year, grabs a subject many people shy away from discussing — religion — and runs with it, finding humor as the dogma flies. Anyone who has ever answered a knock at the door to find an eager evangelical will, perhaps with a shiver, recognize the plot's set-up: Mary and Margaret, two sisters living together in Savannah, Ga., and content with their Catholic faith, find their lives put off balance when a Pentecostal missionary named Melissa shows up at their house, hell-bent on saving their souls.

George Bernard Shaw's "Mrs. Warren's Profession" doesn't shock anymore -- and that's the most shocking thing of all.Shaw dubbed "Mrs. Warren's Profession" one of his "plays unpleasant," but as Olney Theatre Center's solid production proves, far from being unpleasant, it now seems mild -- even quaint.At the turn of the century, when Shaw wrote this play about the world's oldest profession, the censors went wild. With the exception of a private performance in 1902, the play wasn't produced in London until 1925.