1956

Considered by Mike Ellis to be a "mediocre season", the highlight of the season was a production of The Magnificent Yankee starring Jerome Cowan and Margaret Mullen. Ellis had considered Cowan's performance to be one of the great performances during his tenure at Bucks.
Billie Burke opened the season with Solid Gold Cadillac by Howard Teichmann and George S. Kaufman. Described as a play about a minority stockholder and how she pyramids to success, Burke made her first appearance at the Playhouse.
Billie Burke
The second production of the season was Anastasia. The plot centered on the now infamous story of the youngest daughter of the czar who was thought to be murdered with the rest of the royal family, but seemingly survived the massacre.
Mary Sinclair

The Rainmaker was the third entry in the season and starred Frank McHugh and Nancy Marchand. Marchand went on to become well known to audiences for roles she played in television series like Lou Grant and the H.B.O. hit, The Sopranos.
Frank McHugh
Donald Cook starred in the next production, The Seven Year Itch. The story concerned "a summer bachelor suffering pangs of conscience over his fall into dalliance during his wife's absence." Donald Cook had appeared previously at the Playhouse in 1955 in the season opener, King Of Hearts.
Donald Cook
The Lesser Comores played for one week in June. Described as a romantic comedy about a scientist who has insufficient time to devote to his marriage, the play had its world premiere at the Playhouse and starred Jerome Cowan, Herbert Berghof and Howard da Silva. The question among audiences was "What's a Comores?" The answer was a group of small islands where the scientist and his neglected wife lived.
Jerome Cowan
The World of Sholom Aleichem was presented in late June and again teamed up Jerome Cowan and Howard da Silva. The play retold the stories of the great humorist.
Howard da Silva

The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker returned in 1956 starring old friends Philip Bourneuf and Frances Reid. The show was performed a year after the great flood of 1955 and Bourneuf and Reid were credited with doing much to help save the town of New Hope in the aftermath of the flood.
Frances Reid and Philip Bourneuf

Bus Stop ran in late August and starred Glenn Anders, Norma Crane and Mark Miller. Bus Stop told the story of a beligerant cowboy snowbound in a diner between Kansas City and Topeka.
Glenn Anders
Russell Nype starred with Jane Morgan in the comedy, Anniversary Waltz. The two had teamed up previously in a production of Paris seen at Bucks a few months earlier. Nype had made a name for himself when he appeared on Broadway with Ethel Merman in Call Me Madam.
Russell Nype and Jane Morgan
Miriam Hopkins starred in the second to last show of the season entitled, A Roomful of Roses. Hopkins was described in the program as "one of the most glamorous figures of the stage and screen."
Miriam Hopkins
The final show of the season was Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit. The cast was headed by Margaret Phillips, Enid Markey, Mary McCarty and Erik Rhodes.
Mary McCarty (left) and Margaret Phillips