La Jolla Playhouse, renowned for sending musicals to Broadway, has revealed titles and dates of all but two musicals of the 2011-12 season. A total of six will be shown. Announced thus far are a co-commissioned production of Kirsten Greenidge’s “Milk Like Sugar;” the world premiere of Arthur Kopit and Anton Dudley’s “A Dram of Drumchhicit;” an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s “Peer Gynt;” and Richard Montoya’s “American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose,” created for Culture Clash. Playhouse artistic director Christopher Ashley said he’s delighted to stage Kopit’s Playhouse debut. The playwright is the author of “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad” and “Wings.” He also wrote “Nine” and “Phantom,” both of which feature music by Maury Yeston. Kopit and Dudley’s “A Dram of Drumchhicit,” however, is not a musical. It’s a comedy about an American entrepreneur who sets off to build a golf course on a Scottish island, only to discover the land is rife with secrets of the supernatural kind. In Greenidge’s play, the protagonist is a 16-year-old who enters into a pregnancy pact with two classmates. A graduate of Wesleyan University and recipient of an MFA from the fabled Playwrights Workshop at the University of Iowa, Greenidge is author of numerous plays that have enjoyed development in prominent places. Currently she is working on commissions from Huntington Theatre Company and CompanyOne. Before “Milk Like Sugar,” opens at the Playhouse, her play “Bossa Nova” will premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre. Called the father of modern drama, Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is author of “A Doll’s House,” “Hedda Gabler” and “An Enemy of the People,” among others. “Peer Gynt” is a co-production with Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Schweizer’s adaptation (he also directs) uses just five actors to play forty characters in the epic work. Culture Clash — Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas and Herbert Siguenza — created the 2006 production, “Culture Clash’s Zorro in Hell.” Their most recent work, “American Night: The Ballad of Juan José” promises a whirlwind and irreverent tour through American history as Juan studies for his citizenship exam.
