“Hello Dolly!,” Agatha Christie Mark Debut of UMaine Summer Theater Festival

Contact: Tom Mikotowicz (tom.mikotowicz@umit.maine.edu)

ORONO — The University of Maine School of Performing Arts presents one of the most beloved theater musicals of all time, followed by an Agatha Christie murder mystery, when the first UMaine SPA Summer Music Theater Festival opens Friday, July 30.

A group made up primarily of community members will perform “Hello Dolly!” the next two weekends, and “The Mousetrap” will be held the following two weekends. All performances will be held in Hauck Auditorium.

The Tony Award-winning “Hello Dolly!” will run July 30-31 and Aug. 6-7 with 7;30 p.m. showtimes all four days. There will be 2 p.m. showings Aug. 1 and Aug. 8.

“The Mousetrap” will open with 7:30 p.m. showings Aug. 13-14 and Aug. 20-21. The showtimes for Aug. 15 and Aug. 22 are 2 p.m.

Based on Thornton Wilder’s play “The Matchmaker,” composer Jerry Herman’s “Hello Dolly!” tells the story of matchmaker Dolly Levi, who decides to win over wealthy client Horace Vandergelder for herself. “Hello Dolly!” was made in 1969 into an Academy Award-winning movie starring Barbra Streisand and Walter Matthau.

Christie’s renowned mystery “The Mousetrap” is about Mollie and Gilles Ralston, who recently opened a new hotel but soon find themselves snowed in with their guests and a murderer.

Tickets are $14 for “Hello Dolly!” and $10 for “The Mousetrap,” with a special price of $20 for those who buy tickets for both shows at the same time. Tickets can be purchased through the box office at the Collins Center for the Arts. To buy tickets call 581-1755 or visit the box office in the lobby of the Collins Center. The box office is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday.

The UMaine SPA Summer Music Theater Festival is supported in part by a grant from the Class of 1934 Fund.