Santa Maria Sun / Art

Great American Melodrama brings 'Lumberjacks in Love' to the stage

By Caleb Wiseblood

The Great American Melodrama’s first production of 2023, Lumberjacks in Love, is scheduled to premiere on Feb. 3. Performances of the upcoming show are slated to run through March 26. 

Written by Fred Alley and James Kaplan (who also penned the show’s lyrics and music, respectively), Lumberjacks in Love is set in Minnesota during the early 1900s. The show’s plot follows a group of five bachelor lumberjacks: Slim, Muskrat, Dirty Bob, Moonlight, and The Kid. After Slim accidentally orders a mail-order bride named Rose, the lumberjacks’ “simple, shanty lives are turned upside down,” according to press materials. 

IMAGE COURTESY OF THE GREAT AMERICAN MELODRAMA

The show’s cast includes Antwon Mason, Toby Tropper, Mia Mekjian, Sydney Ennis, Garret Haven, and Nathan Miklas. To find out more about the production or purchase tickets, visit americanmelodrama.com. Discounted tickets for seniors, students, and children are available for purchase.

The Great American Melodrama’s popular snack bar will open 30 minutes before each performance of Lumberjacks in Love and will reopen during the intermission breaks between each act. 

For additional details on Lumberjacks in Love, call the Great American Melodrama’s box office at (805) 489-2499. Other upcoming productions in the theater’s 2023 season include Sherlock Holmes and the Final Problem (March 31 through May 21), Under the Boardwalk (May 26 through July 16), Gold Fever at the Rough and Ready (July 21 through Sept. 10), and more.

The Great American Melodrama is located at 1863 Front St., Oceano.