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‘Seven Deadly Sins’ opens WCU theater season

A unique evening featuring an array of songs from musical theater’s most infamous cads and adored scoundrels — combined with a performance of composer Kurt Weill’s rarely staged masterwork “The Seven Deadly Sins” — will open Western Carolina University’s 2010-11 Mainstage season.

The University Theatre production will stage for two shows only, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10, and a 3 p.m. matinee Sunday, Sept. 12, in WCU’s Fine and Performing Arts Center. The show is recommended for mature audiences because of its content.

The first half of the program will spotlight musical theater selections representing the seven deadly sins of sloth, greed, lust, pride, gluttony, anger and envy.

Performed by students from WCU’s School of Stage and Screen and accompanied by a live orchestra, songs will include “Lazy” from “Holiday Inn,” “I Want It Now” from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “I Love to Go Swimmin’ with Wimmen” from “Love Birds,” “A Little Priest” from “Sweeney Todd,” and “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from “Les Miserables.”

The second half of the production is a performance of Weill’s haunting mix of ballet and opera, “The Seven Deadly Sins.” Written on the eve of World War II in Europe, the one-act opera is an exploration of good and evil that tells the story of two sisters, Anna I (the singer) and Anna II (the dancer). The sisters leave their small-town roots to seek their fortune in various big cities, where they encounter the titular seven deadly sins.

Western Carolina’s version of the show is set in contemporary Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Coast oil spill.

$20 for the general public; $15 for senior citizens and WCU faculty and staff; and $5 for students.

Season tickets also are still available.

828.227.2479 or  www.wcu.edu/fapac. Contact the School of Stage and Screen at 828.227.7491.