1981

The 47th season at the Bucks County Playhouse started a little earlier when the Playhouse joined with The Grand Opera House in Wilmington, Delaware to present Man of La Mancha. When the regular season continued at the Bucks County Playhouse, musicals dominated the schedule with the Neil Simon play, The Odd Couple finishing off the season.

Man of La Mancha played at the Grand Opera House from May 28 through June 7. It was greated with mixed reviews from the Delaware press. From left to right is Playhouse owner, Ralph Miller as Sancho Panza, Bob Bolsover as Don Quixote and Geri Tallone as Dulcinea.
The 1950's was revisited when Grease hit the Playhouse in May. The cast featured many actors who became Playhouse regulars in the early 1980's. Dennis Mathias, Kim Bantle, David Czarnecki, Carol Stretch, Paula Matthews, Kristine Maloney and Richard Akins. This production also featured two large video screens on either side of the stage that not only highlighted the musical numbers during the show but during the finale, gave a videotaped glimpse of what the kids of Rydell High did after the prom.
The regular season at the Bucks County Playhouse continued with a production of The Sound of Music. The musical had played to sold out audiences for two summers in a row. This time around, the cast featured several local children as well as Karen Spizzirri as Maria and audience favorite Robert Parrish as Captain von Trapp.
Oliver! continued the season and again featured many local children in the cast. The production was lauded by critics as "a smash" and starred David Whiteman as the evil Fagin and Karyl Leigh as Nancy. In the role of Oliver was Danny Amrich, seen standing in the back of this production shot.
Another Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, Carousel continued the season for a three week run. In the leading roles were Sharon Alexander as Julie Jordan and David Czarnecki as Billy Bigelow.
The team of Bolsover and Tallone returned to Bucks in the Fall of 1981 in Fiddler on the Roof. Bolsover portrayed Tevye opposite Tallone who played Golde. The cast was rounded out by Playhouse regulars, Kristine Maloney, David Czarnecki and Sharon Alexander.
Audience favorite, Buddy Rudolph returned to Bucks again to play Jesus in Godspell. Universally applauded by the critics, the cast again included Kim Bantle, David Czarnecki, Geri Tallone and Karyl Leigh. Tom Blackburn critic for the Trenton Times said of Rudolph, "as a dancer, he has what football punters would consider enviable "hang time". He leaped into the air and almost stayed up!"