'Mary Poppins' and the mayhem of 'Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder' headline Naples Players season

A flying nanny and a larcenous lover are on the way to Naples.

The Naples Players announced its 2020-21 season Sunday, and two recent Broadway hits headline its musicals: "Mary Poppins" (March 3-April 3, 2021) and "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" (Nov. 25-Dec. 20). Both have been multiple Tony winners, and both are in the wheelhouse of what Executive Artistic Director Bryce Alexander promised the crowd at a Sugden Community Theatre reception would be a season of challenging roles, contemporary musicals and cutting-edge plays.

"I think it's one of the key elements of the success Naples Players: taking people who are curious about theater and giving them the best possible experience with it," Alexander said.

The two musicals they've chosen promise to do that. Somehow Mary Poppins will need to fly around Blackburn Hall. A river will need to flow across its stage so murderous Monty Navarro can bump off another relative ahead of him in line for the family fortune.

"There are couple of famous stunts in show we could replicate and this one will have all of them," Alexander said. The entire group of sets for "Gentleman's Guide" is also being built here. "That also will all be built in house by Naples Players production team, using our technical skills and advice from experts around the country.

"It's a real testament to the talent in Naples that we can duplicate the fantastic moments of 'Mary Poppins' and kill eight characters in dramatic ways all in one season."

Another promise for The Naples Players, according to Alexander, would be new works. In collaboration with Artis—Naples, the organization has chosen "Yours, Truly" (Oct. 21-Nov. 22) a cabaret-style musical written by local resident Gary Kelson. Kelson's story, based on his father's life and music, brings back bittersweet memories of post-World War II years and the needs to balance love of music and love of family.

An abbreviated concert version will be at the Daniels Pavilion, and the Players will offer the fully staged version in its own Tobye Studio Theatre. 

"It's got good comedy, and it's the kind of story that we think Naples will appreciate," Alexander said. The challenge for this one will be creating a black-box theater musical: "This is the first one we've ever done in the Tobye," he said.

The theater is rolling out its Blackburn Hall season with "The Wedding Singer," a stage version of the popular Adam Sandler movie, as its summer musical June 24-July 26. "Boeing Boeing" (Sept. 30-Oct. 25) is also on the schedule. It's a whacky look at the tangled web that threatens to choke Bernard, the bachelor who has been entertaining three stewardesses in his flat. They've been blissfully unaware of each other until a series of airline snafus brings them to Bernard's the same day.

Among the other plays are two fairly new, thought-provoking entries: 

• "The Cake" (Feb. 3-28), the dilemma of a fundamentalist Christian star baker who's been asked to bake a wedding cake for her former ward, who is planning a gay wedding. 
• "When We Were Young and Unafraid" (March 31-April 25), which returns to the 1970s to explore the ramifications of a woman's kindness that brings a radical refugee into her home — and into her daughter's world views.

"Associate Artistic Director Jessica Walck and I are constantly looking at plays that our community in Naples will appreciate and will be thought provoking at the same time," he said.  "We try to look at plays that are generating conversations. These are two that don't necessarily take political sides. But they don't allow you to jump to an easy conclusion."

The theater is planning talkback opportunities, and are even bringing in a dramaturge to lead some discussions around the plays. 

"They're uplifting plays that I think will bring a lot of conversation, which in this era of division, can bring people together."

The season schedule also includes:

"The Savannah Sipping Society," Jan. 13-Feb. 7, a story of a women's afternoon happy hour that brings them together through the joys, the tragedies and the mysteries of their lives.

"An Ideal Husband," a classic Oscar Wilde study of what happens when the model citizen has one flaw that, after decades, could ruin everything he's built.  April 28-May 23

Season subscriptions are on sale now at naplesplayers.org or 239-263-7990.

Harriet Howard Heithaus covers arts and entertainment for the Naples Daily News/naplesnews.com. Reach her at 239-213-6091.