Featuring Tim Caldwell, Elizabeth Kaatz, Vince Miller, Ali Smith, Aubrey Smith, Jody Smith and Shawn Teague
When Percy Talbott, a young woman with an uncertain past, becomes resident of tiny Gilead, Wisconsin, the town welcomes her with suspicion and distrust. Determined to start anew, Percy takes a job at Gilead’s only eatery the Spitfire Grill and soon devises a scheme to breathe life into the dying backwater country. But it’s going to take more than good will, she finds, to overcome the unchanging ways of Gilead, a town still haunted by tragedies of the past. The Spitfire Grill is a tender, funny, and uplifting musical that was honored with the Richard Rodgers Award. Springfield area premiere.

As Billie Holiday steps up to the microphone, her life story pours out through the songs that made her famous. In Philadelphia, 1959, in a small intimate bar, Holiday puts on a show that unbeknownst to the audience, will leave them witnesses to one of the last performances of her lifetime. Through her poignant voice and moving songs, one of the greatest jazz singers of all-time shares her loves and her losses. This haunting and remarkable musical evening features “God Bless the Child,” “What a Little Moonlight Can Do,” “Strange Fruit” and “T’aint Nobody’s Biz-ness” and many more Lady Day hits. Springfield area premiere. This production contains adult language and subject matter.

Springfield Contemporary Theatre will continue its music series on August 17, 2014 with Canto 17. Canto 17 is a four-piece acoustic rock/funk/jazz/jam band hailing from Springfield, MO. All four members bring their diverse but extensive musical background together to create a blended sound all their own. Canto 17 is Todd Osbern (vocals/guitar/mojo), Greg Marshall (lead guitar/bass/back vocals/funk), Ryan Dunn (saxophone/soul) and Mike Gomez (lead guitar/back vocals/atmosphere).

Springfield Contemporary Theatre’s Sunday Songbook Series (typically the second Sunday evening of each mainstage performance run) presents members of our greater theatre community in intimate concert evenings. With music styles as varied as the performers themselves, audiences can expect presentations of musical theatre, jazz, rock and much more.