The show will feature many of the duo’s most beloved songs, including “Shall We Dance,” “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Kansas City,” “Hello Young Lovers,” “Something Wonderful” and about 40 others.

“Songs, songs, songs,” is how Wood described the Rodgers and Hammerstein revue in a telephone conversation last week. “Two hours of music by these guys–it’s amazing. And my five singers have the most glorious voices.”

Under musical director Flora Mogerman, Wood is currently readying the show for its Nov. opening, rehearsing three female and two male singers. Mogerman carries the distinction of being nominated for a 2005‑06 AriZoni Theatre Award for her musical direction of Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” for the Fountain Hills Community Theater.

“I’m very excited to be working with Flora Mogerman,” says Wood, also a nominee for an AriZoni award for her direction of Desert Foothills Theater’s “Forever Plaid” last March.

Having provided choreography for such classic films as “Mary Poppins” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” in addition to her work on the Broadway stage, Wood will also lend her de‑lovely directing to “Hot ‘n Cole.” Performed by six singers, this production celebrates the Broadway master’s familiar songs, including “Too Darn Hot,” “In the Still of the Night,” “Let’s Do It,” “Can Can” and “Night & Day.”

“These two shows are elegant and simple and entertaining,” says Wood. “Pure music. It’s pure music.”

In addition to the two musical revues at Cactus Shadows, the theater has scheduled three smaller evenings of theater in more intimate venues, which they call “theatricales,” produced as fundraising events for the theater. A fourth theatricale is anticipated but is not yet scheduled.

“We are excited to bring a new type of theater to the Desert Foothills community,” says Diedre Kaye, the theater’s artistic committee chair. “We hope the theatricales will engage the audience and keep them smiling well after the shows end.”

One theatricale, “Shakespeare’s Love,” will feature some of the bard’s most popular love scenes performed on Feb 11 throughout the Carefree home of Jamie Drinkwater Buchanan, past president of theater and current planning and zoning commissioner for the Town of Carefree.

The evening of poetry, music, socializing and dining will include Spanish tapas and wine.

The other two theatricales, “Coyote Dreams: A VERY Arizona Christmas” (Dec. 7) and “Murder at the Savings & Loan Ballpark (S.Lo.B.)” (Mar 11) will be performed at The Satisfied Frog in Cave Creek and will include dinner. Both humorous plays will be directed by Kaye and were written by her husband Alexx Stuart. The couple runs a local theatrical company called Darknight Productions, which performs regularly at the Desert Rose Dinner Theater in Peoria.

The husband and wife, Kaye says, have been volunteering with the Desert Foothills Theater since 1997 when she and her husband started as ushers. Kaye managed the box office for a while and served as stage manager for many of the shows Wood has directed.

Stuart’s new play, “Coyote Dreams,” will have its premier at a Desert Foothills Theater theatricale. It tells the story of a Scandinavian couple from Minnesota (Stuart and Kaye are from Minnesota) who move to Arizona and encounter all the local idiosyncracies surrounding the Christmas holiday–all set to familiar holiday tunes with fresh farcical lyrics.

“S.Lo.B.,” which is currently playing to sell‑out houses in Peoria, is a parody of Arizona Diamondbacks baseball and provides “nine innings of audience interaction,” Kaye says. “The theatricales will provide a different kind of theater, something more intimate, something new.”

Stuart’s heartwarming comedy about senior softball players and their wives, “Buzzard Ball,” was performed as part of Desert Foothills Theater’s 2003‑04 season. The production is now in development as a movie with an anticipated release date in the fall of 2007, according to Darknight’s Web site.

Desert Foothills theater is always looking for volunteers to pitch in and help the company provide quality community theater to the area. A volunteer reception will be held Tues., Oct. 3, at 6:30 p.m. at Harris Bank, 34525 N Scottsdale Rd. in the el Pedregal Marketplace in Scottsdale. Specific volunteer job descriptions will be available at the event and volunteers will have an opportunity to meet those with whom they will work.

Desert Foothills Theater Main Stage Season Subscriptions are available, ranging from $28 to $35 depending on the day of performance. In addition to the discounted price, subscriptions include lost ticket replacement, ticket exchange privileges, additional single‑ticket purchase discounts, priority seating with the same seat from show to show, priority ticket sales to theatricales and other special events. Both Main Stage revues will open with a Thurs. evening “Preview Show” at discounted ticket prices. To purchase a subscription, order tickets, volunteer, or get information on times and prices, call (480) 488‑1981 or visit www.desertfoothillstheater.com.

Reach the reporter at cmoore@thedesertadvocate.com.