APPLAUSE >>>

As part of its drive to recruit new subscribers (and repay $75,000 to the IRS), Capital Playhouse announced its 2012-2013 season via curtain speeches for Hello, Dolly! "Season in a Box" will host five shows, plus additional projects to be named down the road. While it's unlikely an "Act II" program of straight plays will return in its previous form, there's a possibility that original works will be performed instead. This is welcome news for South Sound playwrights.

The first show of Capital Playhouse's season is Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story. If you love rock ‘n' roll from any era, Buddy Holly should be among your patron saints. Singles like "Oh Boy," "Peggy Sue," and "That'll Be the Day" changed the sound of radio forever. Alan Janes's jukebox bio includes all three, plus hits by Holly's iconic contemporaries. It ran for 12 years in London's West End, and I suspect - based on standing ovations for Always: The Patsy Cline Story last year - it'll kill at CP.

I confess I'm the only theater professional in America who has yet to see a production of Nunsense. I'm obliged to address that deficiency post haste, as Capital Playhouse fills its holiday slot with Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical. I loved Scrooge: the Musical last year, but the gift of irreverent snark will be a welcome addition to this year's barrage of yuletide classics. Expect parody numbers like "We Three Kings of Orient Are Us," plus a rioutous riff on the Nutcracker Suite.

Lust for novelty is a defining trait of modern critics, so there's no show from anyone's season I'm looking forward to more than Next to Normal, the Pulitzer winner that "expands the scope of subject matter for musicals" (quoth the Pulitzer Board) by chronicling the story of a mother with bipolar disorder. Even the song title "My Psychopharmacologist and I" piques my interest. Normal rose from Issaquah all the way to Broadway, where it added three Tonys to its mantle. I can't imagine a more coveted lead role.

Lionel Bart's Oliver! was a holiday favorite at Lakewood Playhouse in 2011. This season, it earns its exclamation point at CP, where its in-your-face Dickensian gusto should feel equally "at ‘ome." Such tunes as "Food, Glorious Food" and "Consider Yourself" are irresistible. The late Davy Jones, best known as one of the Monkees, came to fame as the Artful Dodger in London; it's one of several juicy roles for child actors in the show. Meanwhile, one very lucky adult actor will sink his greedy fangs into Fagin.

"All those opposed to chafing, please say ‘aye.'" If you recognize that as one of Elle Woods's lines from Legally Blonde, then you're probably chafing at the bit for Legally Blonde: The Musical. If not, the fact that its first "stage" appearance was on MTV may give you pause. Well, relax, fellow snob, The Musical earned raves including "ridiculously enjoyable from start to finish" (the Independent). Who doesn't like ridiculous enjoyment? CP hasn't announced casting, but there's one perky in-house regular who'd be perfect for the lead...

All five shows have tremendous potential, so I feel safe expecting greatness.

[Capital Playhouse, 612 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.943.2744]

LINK: Capital Playhouse season tickets