Jeff Buckley @ WTF? WTF?

The Williamstown Theater Festival (WTF) has announced its full summer 2010 season – the final year of Nicholas Martin’s brief tenure as WTF artistic director. And it certainly looks like a wild ride – all the way from Stephen Sondheim’s wacky romp through ancient Rome to Jeff Buckley’s insertion into the all-time classic tragic love story.

Hey, we can’t make this stuff up…

Here’s the low-down on the Main Stage productions:

Jessica Stone directs an all-male cast in a new production of the Tony Award-winning musical “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” by Burt Shevelove, Larry Gelbart and Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Sondheim. Tony nominee Christopher Fitzgerald stars in the role of Pseudolous in the zany romp through ancient Rome. (June 30–July 11).

Up next is John Guare’s Olivier Award-winning play “Six Degrees of Separation.” (July 14–July 25).

In his farewell to WTF, Nicholas Martin directs Thornton Wilder’s quintessentially American play, “Our Town,” featuring a solid cast that includes Becky Ann Baker, Dylan Baker, Jessica Hecht, Campbell Scott and Tony Award winner John Rubenstein. (July 28-August 8).

Directed by Tony nominee Terry Kinney, Lanford Wilson’s comic drama “Fifth of July” will wrap up the Main Stage season. (August 11 – 22).

But wait, there’s more…

As usual, however, there’s plenty of intriguing activity going on next door at the WTF “secondary” performance space, the Nikos Stage.

Funny-woman Judy Gold stars in her new new, one-woman, multi-media play with music, “It’s Jewdy’s Show: My Life as a Sitcom,” directed by Amanda Charlton. (June 23 – July 4).

After its success in WTF’s Fridays @ 3 play-reading series last summer, the hard-charging play “Samuel J. and K.” by Mat Smart tackles the notion of family. Directed by Justin Waldman. (July 7–July 18).

Amy Herzog’s provocative new play, “After the Revolution,” lands on the Nikos Stage after being part of WTF’s Fellowship Project last summer. Carolyn Cantor directs the tale of love, family secrets and the American Left. (July 21 – August 1).

Perhaps most intriguing of all on the WTF summer slate of shows is “The Last Goodbye,” and we’ll let the WTF folks tell you about it in their own words:

“A legendary love. A transcendent artist. Shakespeare’s classic verse meets the driving, passionate rock of iconic singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley in the world premiere of ‘The Last Goodbye’ (August 5 – August 20), the final show on the Nikos Stage. Conceived and adapted from Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by Michael Kimmel (‘The Secret Agenda of Trees’) with the music and lyrics of Jeff Buckley (‘Grace’) arranged by Kris Kukul (‘Kasper Hauser,’ as well as WTF’s Cabaret Director), an ensemble of fourteen singer/actors bring to life the lyrical beauty of two great poets set in a world of youthful angst, grandeur and grit. Fall for Romeo and Juliet all over again in this incendiary new musical.”

Online ticket sales for WTF’s 2010 season launch on Saturday, May 29.