“12 Angry Men,” the jury room suspense classic, will be the final show of the Cutler Brother’s 2017 summer theatre season and will run August 3rd to August 13th on the Deer Lodge stage.  The story is by Reginald Rose and is adapted from the 1954 teleplay of the same title.  The Broadway debut came 50 years after CBS aired the play, on October 28th, 2004.

​The entire setting of “12 Angry Men” takes place in a jury room on one set.  Twelve jurors convene to figure out the verdict of a young teenager who is on trial for allegedly stabbing his father to death.  At first they all seem to agree on a guilty judgment, until one juror has other ideas.  Through some intense discussion and reenactment one by one each juror switches their vote to not guilty, even the most bullheaded of the men. 

​“Finding 12 men that could act this drama in a town as small as Deer Lodge was the real challenge,” said the show’s director Kelly Cutler.  He managed to do just that.  Josh Pentland, who was last seen in “Beauty and the Beast” as the role of Lefou, will play the Foreman who leads the common jury duties.  Other familiar Cutler Brother faces in the play include Kyle Gillette, Paul Chapman, Tristan Marjerison, Jim Cameron, Marquis Archuleta, Marik Chrisman, and Kelly and Matthew Cutler.  Daryll Barton, who hosted Comedy Night 33 last summer, took the role of flashy juror number 4 while Tom Gomola, a newbie to the theatre troupe, will play the soft-hearted juror number 10. 

​“12 Angry Men” runs Thursdays to Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sunday matinees at 2:00 pm.  Reservations are recommended and may be made by calling the Cutler Bros. box office at (406) 846-4096.  The Cutler Bros. Theatre is located at 301 Main Street in Deer Lodge.  For directions, questions, or more info visit cutlerbros.com or call the number listed above.  

The Cutler Brother’s 3rd show of the 2017 Deer Lodge theatre season “The 39 Steps” comes on the heels of the entertainment company’s highly successful “Beauty and the Beast” which was staged in June.  “The 39 Steps” is a melodrama adapted from the 1915 novel by John Buchan and the 1935 film by Alfred Hitchcock.  It is a four-actor production that requires the team to play upwards of 150 roles.

​The play shares the plot and characters from the film, but in a more comedic manner in the style of “Monty Python” and Barlow’s own “National Theatre of Brent.”  Deer Lodge local Anthony Savalla plays the hero (Richard Hannay) while University of Montana theatre major Tiana Albery plays 3 women with whom he has romantic entanglements.  Deer Lodge comedians Stuart Jewell and Kyle Gillette play all the other roles in the show from villains to children to sometimes even the occasional inanimate objects.  

The cast and crew have been busy rehearsing this quick comedy since early June.  Gillette, who has ties to Improv Olympic in Chicago, was last seen as crazy old Maurice in “Beauty and the Beast” and will take on the directing duties of this Hitchcock classic.  Tiana Albery starred in Cutler Bros. 2016 smash hit “Jesus Chris Superstar” as the emotive Mary Magdalane while Stuart Jewell is a crowd favorite among the theatre’s comedies.

​“The 39 Steps” will play on the Cutler stage from July 14th – 23rd with performances Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 pm and Sunday matinees at 2:00 pm.  Tickets are $15 general admission and reservations are recommended by calling the Cutler Bros. Box Office at (406) 846-4096.  For more information or directions call the box office or visit cutlerbros.com.    

“Beauty and the Beast,” the Disney-Broadway musical version, will play at the Cutler Brother’s Theatre in Deer Lodge from June 16th to July 2nd marking the entertainment company’s second major musical of the 2017 theatre season.  The popular children’s show has music written by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tom Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton.  It plays Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sunday matinees at 2:00 pm.

​The stage version of “Beauty and the Beast” implements several facets from the world renown Disney cartoon, which was produced in 1991, as well as a few new songs to beef it up for Broadway.  The ever-popular “Be Our Guest” will entertain audiences for nearly ten minutes straight with intricate dance moves and enough comedy to last the rest of the show.  Other popular songs from the Disney cartoon include “Gaston,” “Belle,” “Kill the Beast,” and the heartstrings puppeteer “Tale as Old as Time.”

The Deer Lodge cast boasts nearly forty people.  Maggie Chrisman, a long time Cutler Brother player since 5th grade, will play the lead role of Belle while her brother Marik, last seen as Oliver Twist in Cutler Brother’s “Oliver!” will steamroll the comedy side of things playing Lumiere the French candlestick.  Lumiere’s sidekick, the ever cautious Cogsworth, will be played by Deer Lodge youth Louis Savalla.  Louis has taken part in Rising Star Academy theatre camps for the past three years and his sister Izzy was last seen as the star child role in “A Miracle on 34th Street.”  Izzy will play the role of Chip.
           
Other castle characters include Elizabeth Cozby as Mrs. Potts, Solveig Munson as Wardrobe, Kamryn Johnson as Babette, and Jake Nachtigal as the Beast.  Cozby is the co-founder of Stage Left Productions in Deer Lodge while Solveig Munson is the drama coach at Powell County High School.  Kamryn Johnson was last seen as the lead role of Audrey in PCHS’s “Little Shop of Horrors” produced this past spring.  Jake Nachtigal is a newcomer to Cutler Bros. Productions.  He was discovered in Missoula’s “Urinetown” this past January when he performed side by side with Kelly Cutler, the director of Deer Lodge’s entertainment venture.

Cutler will take the villainous role of Gaston and will be joined side by side with Josh Pentland (Lefou) and his brother Patrick who plays the asylum director Monsieur D’Arque.  The last show Patrick performed in was “Thoroughly Modern Millie” in the 2012 season.  The other 25 people in the cast will make up the huge ensemble of villagers, flat wear, and dancers.  Kyle Gillette will play Belle’s crazy inventor father Maurice and the show will be accompanied by an eight piece live orchestra.
           
​Reservations for Cutler Brother’s “Beauty and the Beast” are highly recommended and may be made by calling the Box Office at (406) 846-4096.  Tickets are $15 general admission and theatre space is limited to 120 seats.  Visit cutlerbros.com for more information or follow the theatre troupe on Facebook.  

​Cutler Brothers Productions in Deer Lodge present the 1977 American romantic comedy “The Goodbye Girl” which starred Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason in Neil Simon’s original screenplay.  The entertainment group will produce the musical version of the show which ran on Broadway in 1993 starring Martin Short and Bernadette Peters.  The music is written by legendary Marvin Hamlisch, who wrote “A Chorus Line,” with lyrics by David Zippel.

​Follow headstrong Paula (Mariann Cameron), a struggling and aging dancer in New York City, and her precocious daughter Lucy (Izzy Hunter) as they are duped time and time again by the opposite sex.  When Elliot Garfield (John Knispel), an actor, moves into the same apartment, Paula has had enough of her bad luck.  The eccentric duo hate each other at first, like a scene from “The Odd Couple,” but as their time together grows they both realize they’re more alike than different.  Romance mists from this unhealthy cesspool and the two end up falling for one another.  

​“The Goodbye Girl” in Deer Lodge has a strong cast of 25 singers and dancers who bring this great Mother’s Day show alive.  John Knispel returns from a theatre bout in the middle east and South America to play the role of Elliot before he moves on to Fort Peck Summer Theatre where he will be musically directing “Million Dollar Quartet” as well as playing the role of Elvis.  “I’m really excited to be back in Deer Lodge for this show,” said Knispel.  “The people in this company have a lot of energy and I enjoy the freedom they give me to hone my craft,” he added.  Other roles in the show include the pretentious director Mark (Kelly Cutler), Billy the dance instructor (Matthew Cutler), Mrs. Crozby the building caretaker (Gloria Blue-Earth Highley), and many more.

​Tickets for “The Goodbye Girl” are $15 general admission and may be reserved by calling the Cutler Bros. Box Office at (406) 846-4096.  Show dates are April 27th – May 14th, Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sunday matinees at 2:00 pm.  April 27th is the only Thursday showing and there will be no show on Saturday, April 29th.  Reservations are highly recommended.  Visit cutlerbros.com for more info.