RAISE YOUR MUSICAL TEMPERATURE WITH “SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER”

When you think of “Saturday Night Fever,” the first and foremost image that comes to mind is an iconic vanilla white suited John Travolta doing a dance jive like no other.  You have the opportunity to relive and recreate that transforming moment when the classic rock stage musical, with a book by Nan Knighton, in collaboration with Arlene Phillips, Paul Nicholas and Robert Stigwood, invades Waterbury’s Palace Theater.

For three performances, Friday, February 19 and Saturday, February 20, you’ll have the opportunity to enter the drab black and white and gray world of Tony Manero, a kid from Brooklyn who has a job at a paint story with no future and a crowd of deadbeat pals who aren’t going to win any prizes in the game of life.  When the workweek ends, however, Tony crosses into a technicolor world when he struts into the local disco.

At the discotheque, he is morphed from a lowly frog into the worshiped prince and suddenly he owns the musical world.  Here he is admired.  All things are possible, even a courtship with the much appreciated Stephanie Mangano.

Will Tony’s smooth and groovy dance floor moves help him win Stephanie’s heart?  Could they even be the magic gold ticket that will launch him out of Brooklyn into the big time?

The great tunes from the Bee Gees' repertoire, starting with the smart and savvy lyrics of “Stayin’ Alive,” pulsate compellingly to aid the story’s advance.  Other tunes like “How Deep Is Your Love,” “If I Can’t Have Him” and “Top of Your Game” stroke the momentum, especially with impressive choreography.

For tickets ($50-75), call the Palace, 100 East Main Street, Waterbury at 203-346-2000 or online at www.palacetheaterct.org.  Performances are Friday, February 19 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, February 20 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.  Special added bonuses on Friday and Saturday nights are a Post-Show Disco Dance Party from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. with DJ Jim O’Rourke from YMCA. Follow the glittering disco ball in your leisure suit and platform shoes while imbibing signature 70’s cocktails available for purchase to go with provided finger foods.  Tickets ($30) include one complimentary cocktail, like a snakebite or screwdriver.

Watch temperatures rise to an explosive pitch as “Saturday Night Fever” raises the Palace roof.