It looks as if Beach Haven’s Surflight Theatre, closed for two years after filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in February 2015, will reopen this summer.
A New York City producer has signed a contract to purchase the theater from TD Bank and hopes to close on the deal by the beginning of April. He will rent the theater to former Surflight Producing Artistic Director Steve Steiner.
The deal has been in the works for some time. Steiner was confident enough in it going through to rent a space in New York City for auditions and to line up a 2017 season, which will run from June to mid-September and also include a “Home for the Holidays: a Surflight Celebration” Christmas show.
Steiner said on Friday that the lineup of mainstage shows will include “Footloose,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Newsies,” “Hairspray” and “Million Dollar Quartet,” which tells the story of a Dec. 4, 1956 recording session at Sun Records in Memphis that brought together Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and rockabilly superstar Carl Perkins and features songs such as “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Fever,” “That’s All Right,” “Sixteen Tons,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Walk the Line,” Whole Lot of Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Who Do You Love,” “Matchbox,” “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Hound Dog.”
Steiner said he will also run a concert series and reopen the popular Show Place Ice Cream Parlour. Show Place, said Steiner, is scheduled to open on June 20, with children’s theater shows opening at Surflight on Jun 21 and mainstage shows set to open on June 23.
Steiner and the new owner of the theater, whose name will be revealed at a press event on Monday, had worked together before. Steiner directed shows the prospective Surflight buyer produced in an Atlantic City casino in 2004 and 2005. —R.M. TheSandPaper