Broadway Bound?
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Light Opera Works seems more determined than ever to trade in its musty operettas for Broadway razzle-dazzle. After dumping Philip Kraus as artistic director in February, the board of directors for the Evanston-based company has replaced him with Lara Teeter, a confirmed song-and-dance man whose Broadway performance in On Your Toes earned him a Tony Award nomination in 1983. A native of Oklahoma, Teeter spent six years teaching musical theater at California State University, Fullerton (he choreographed the Cal State revival of Hair, which the musical’s original Broadway producer, Michael Butler, brought to the Athenaeum Theatre three summers ago). He’s also directed and choreographed productions at the Dayton Opera and a number of light opera companies on the west coast. In 1996 he returned to New York to perform again, and recently he played the Scarecrow in the touring version of The Wizard of Oz, alongside Mickey Rooney and Eartha Kitt. This will be his first time helming a nonprofit arts organization, with its tight budgets and fund-raising pressures. But Bridget McDonough, general manager of LOW, says the board chose Teeter from among 80 applicants, citing his “broad background in directing and choreographing, his connections in the business, and his personality.”
Tough Nut to Crack
