ADRIFT IN MACAO
Receiving its New York premiere is the hilarious and irreverent new film noir musical parody, Adrift in Macao with book and lyrics by Christopher Durang (Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, The Marriage of Bette and Boo) and music by Peter Melnick. Mixing together farce, camp, and tongue-in-cheek wit, Adrift in Macao spins the tale of five quirky characters stranded in a Casablanca-like locale in the Far East. Complete with intrigue, silliness and a playfully melodic score, it is the newest work from a gifter theater composer and one of America's funniest playwrights.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
DRUMSTRUCK
Drumstruck is an original, interactive musical that is built upon traditionally South African drumming, rhythms, and songs. Drumstruck is unique in that the audience helps create the show - each audience member participates in the musical's rhythms and drumming sequences on their own traditional African djembe drum, which is provided as they enter the theater.
Drumstruck closed November 12, 2006.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL
Evil Dead: The Musical, a 'dis-arm-ingly' riotous musical comedy based on Sam Raimi's 80s cult-classic horror films, unearths the old familiar story: boy and his friends take a weekend getaway at abandoned cabin, boy expects to get lucky, boy unleashes ancient evil spirit, friends turn into Candarian Demons, boy fights until dawn to survive. As musical mayhem descends upon this sleepover in the woods, "camp" takes on a whole new meaning in uproarious numbers like "All the Men in my Life Keep Getting Killed by Candarian Demons," "Look Who's Evil Now" and "Do the Necronomicon." Buzzing chainsaws and dancing demons add to the frenzy, slaying audiences with this tale of lust, love and dismemberment.
Evil Dead: The Musical closed on February 17, 2007.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
FOOLS IN LOVE
A 1950's Rock 'n' Roll re-imagining of A Midsummer Night's Dream complete with Doo Wop music such as "Wake Up Little Susie," "Unchained Melody," "I Will Follow Him" and "Stop in the Name of Love." Pre-show activities include: Face Painting, Tattoos for children and adults, Stage Combat and Hula Hooping.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: THE ROAST OF UTOPIA
Forbidden Broadway: The Roast of Utopia "is a retrospective of the greatest hits from the shows? 25 years with additional parodies of Mary Poppins, Spring Awakening and LoveMusik," state press materials. This edition is created and written by Gerard Alessandrini and directed by Phillip George and Alessandrini. Featured in the cast are: Jared Bradshaw, Erin Crosby, Janet Dickinson and James Donegan with David Caldwell on piano.
Forbidden Broadway: The Roast of Utopia closed on August 26, 2007.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
FRANKENSTEIN
FRANKENSTEIN tells the epic story of the rebel doctor who challenges the laws of nature and morality when he breathes life into his inanimate creature. Faced with intolerance and adversity, the doctor's creation also learns to rebel against world around him, ultimately destroying the very man who gave him life.
Frankenstein closed on December 9, 2007.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
GUTENBERG: THE MUSICAL
In this two-man musical spoof, a pair of aspiring playwrights perform a backers’ audition for their new project - a big, splashy musical about printing press inventor Johann Gutenberg. With an unending supply of enthusiasm, Bud and Doug sing all the songs and play all the parts in their crass historical epic, with the hope that one of the producers in attendance will give them a Broadway contract - fulfilling their ill-advised dreams.
Gutenberg: The Musical closed on May 6, 2007.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
IDOL: THE MUSICAL
Idol: The Musical, according to press notes, is "a satirical musical comedy that focuses on the outrageous and delusional fan base of the hit television show. The musical takes place in Steubenville, Ohio where a group of misfit students are preparing for their high school graduation after which they are determined to drag themselves out of the dregs of the middle-of-nowhere. There are nine of them; all belonging to the same cult-like club that meets daily in a garage that doubles as a shrine to Clay Aiken. They are viciously ridiculed by the rest of Steubenville; a humiliating situation that doesn't deter their quest for all things Clay. They are victims of A.D.D., Ritalin, their misguided obsessions and their innocent longing for their elusive '15 minutes.' One of them pumps gas. One of them is home-schooled. One of them is a walking encyclopedia. And one of them is a basketball phenom who would rather be a Chippendale dancer. The other five have equally bizarre back-stories too complicated to tell here; but suffice it to know that the real bad-guy of the piece is a total harpy, prima donna named Adrienne. She gives new meaning to the word villain. The story heats up when the mid-American leg of the 'Idol Tour,' starring Clay Aiken, is announced to be playing Chicago, Memphis, Louisville, Scranton, Charleston, Greensboro, Roanoke and Steubenville. Steubenville! Let the worship begin." Idol: The Musical closed on August 12, 2007. (excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
IN THE HEIGHTS
In The Heights is a new musical about three days in the life of Washington Heights, a vibrant and tight knit community at the top of the island of Manhattan. It's a place where the coffee from the corner bodega is light and sweet, the windows are always open, and the breeze carries the rhythm of three generations of music. Find out what it takes to make a living, what it costs to have a dream, and what it means to be home.
In The Heights closed on July 15, 2007.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS
Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris is a musical revival which originally opened off-Broadway at The Village Gate Theatre in 1968 and ran for more than four years, often playing to sold-out houses. Often referred to as the Bob Dylan of France, Jacques Brel wrote songs about people actively questioning their own values as well as the rising tide of conservatism around them. With a cast of four actors and four musicians, the show celebrates Brel's relevance and enduring passions. Translated from the French by American poet Eric Blau and lyricist Mort Shuman, the show is a blend of ballads, tangos, boleros, rock and classics. Each piece tells a story, examining themes of love, war, adventure, broken dreams, people from all classes, being young, growing old and death, but always remembering life has much humor in it.
Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris closed on February 25, 2007.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN
The Vortex Theater Company reinvents one of the most classic musicals of the last twenty years, Kander and Ebb's Kiss of the Spider Woman: The Musical. Based on the best-selling novel by Manuel Puig, this dark tale of torture and imprisonment has become a cult hit among musical theater fans since it opened in 1993 and won seven Tony Awards.
Kiss of the Spider Woman closed on October 6, 2007.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
NEXT TO NORMAL
In this over-stimulated and pharmaceutically-obsessed world, one seemingly normal suburban family comes to grips with a long buried secret in this haunting and darkly funny new musical. With provocative lyrics and an electrifying score, Next to Normal explores the lengths to which we'll go to keep ourselves sane and our families in place.
Next to Normal closed on March 16, 2008.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
SESSIONS
Dr. Peter Peterson listens, advises and tests his patients. What good therapist wouldn't? Particularly when your group includes: a bickering couple whose marriage just won't go away, a rich kid who found his voice in Bob Dylan, a reluctant man who has longed for the same woman for 15 years, a young woman who has spent so much time in therapy she might get out, a billionaire who finds no solace in his money, a strong willed woman with a dark secret, and a provocative siren in high heels...
At once a drama and a comedy with poignant and hilarious moments alike, Sessions is a new musical for a modern generation. After all, couldn't we all use a little therapy? Sessions closed on August 25, 2007. (excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
SUESSICAL
Based on works by beloved children's book author Dr. Seuss, SEUSSICAL - with a book by Ahrens and Flaherty, music by Flaherty and lyrics by Ahrens - will play a free, monthlong run at Off-Broadway's Lucille Lortel Theatre beginning on July 19.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
TAKE ME ALONG
"Take Me Along takes place in Centerville, Connecticut in a happy time. It's the Fourth of July and the flags are flying! Sid Davis, the profligate brother returns from Waterbury hiding a secret which will affect the whole Miller family. Richard, the seventeen year old self-named romantic poetry devotee pledges his troth to Muriel, his sixteen year-old swain with the cry, "Live, Muriel, Live!!!" That's before he is caught proposing not only marriage, but suggestions of a more immediate intimacy," explain press notes, "Mirroring the teenagers, a somewhat more mature relationship flounders when Sid arrives "high as a kite" and unable to keep his date with the beautiful Lily who broke off their troubled marriage plans a decade ago. The Miller family came to Eugene O'Neill in a dream...his words...a dream that O'Neill treasured as the family he always wished for. A far cry from the Tyrone's of Long Day's Journey Into Night, but with the same brilliant intensity turned crisp and bright instead of the nightmare of the real life he lived."
Take Me Along closed on May 4, 2008.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
10 MILLION MILES
This outstanding new work follows the story of Duane and Molly's road trip in a beat-up Chevy pick-up truck from the southern tip of Florida to the northwest corner of New York, with plenty of unexpected detours along the way. With a book by Keith Bunin and songs by Grammy-nominated singer songwriter Patty Griffin, this is an exhilarating new musical about the pursuit of love and family, and the geography of the American dream.
10 Million Miles closed on July 15, 2007.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
THE BIG VOICE: GOD OR MERMAN?
There's no business like show business, especially for two guys who meet in the Bermuda triangle, fall in love, work in the theater...and live to tell about it. The Big Voice: God or Merman? is the "hilarious" and "tuneful" new musical from the creators of The Last Session about a Baptist from Arkansas and a Catholic from Brooklyn who find Eternal Salvation in the Temple of Musical Theatre.
The Big Voice: God or Merman? closed on May 13, 2007.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
THE DONKEY SHOW
You'll feel like dancin' during this incredible adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Set in a '70s disco, the story of nightclub impresario Oberon and disco queen Titania plays out to such disco hits as "I Love The Nightlife," "You Sexy Thing," and of course "Stayin' Alive." After the show, the party continues so you can shake your groove thing all night long.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
THE FANTASTICKS
The musical tells the story of a young boy and girl who fall madly in love at the hands of their meddling fathers, but soon grow restless and stray from one another. Will their separation provide a deeper appreciation for the love they once shared or create a permanent gulf between them? The Fantasticks is the quintessential celebration of love, in all its gorgeous simplicity and heartbreaking complexities, and features such classic tunes as "Try To Remember," "Much More," and "I Can See It."
The Fantasticks closed on February 24, 2008.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
THE GLORIOUS ONES
"The Glorious Ones is a backstage musical about the lives, loves, ambitions, and art of the performers in a 16th-century commedia dell'arte troupe in Italy of the late Renaissance. Based on the novel by Francine Prose, the musical tells how the troupe came to be and how it captured the public's adoration with its bawdy comedy and raunchiness, before changing artistic fashion altered its way of life. Its seven archetypal characters are: the charismatic leading man (Marc Kudisch), the sly harlequin (Jeremy Webb), the quack-dottore (John Kassir), the old miser (David Patrick Kelly), the earthy maidservant (Natalie Venetia Belcon), the devoted dwarf (Julyana Soelistyo), and the beautiful maiden (Erin Davie)," state press notes.
The Glorious Ones closed on January 6, 2008.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
THE PEOPLE VS. MONA
A new musical comedy bustin' out from the composer of Pump Boys and Dinettes!
Set in Tippo, Georgia (population 8,000), The People vs. Mona is "a love story, courtroom drama, musical comedy and fate of a small-town hanging in the balance all rolled into one. Mona Mae Katt, owner of the wildly popular musical hangout, The Frog Pad, stands accused of killing her husband on their wedding day. If convicted, Mona will go to jail, and her beloved Frog Pad will be turned over to developers. Mona's fate (and the Frog Pad's) rests in the hands of everyman local defense attorney Jim Summerford, who has never won a case against charismatic prosecutor and majoral candidate Mavis Frye?who also happens to be his fianc?e. As the trial unfolds amid a rollicking Southern roots score, the town's many secrets are revealed, and Jim and Mona recognize a budding attraction between them," as the show is described in production notes.
The People vs. Mona closed on August 4, 2007.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
THE SLUG BEARERS OF KAYROL ISLAND
Ben Katchor's drawings form the animated background for The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island, set in and around Manhattan and on a tropical factory-island of exploited workers. For this unique new musical, Mr. Katchor was inspired by the tradition of the 'picture reciter,' a form of live entertainment from 17th-century India. Updating and exploring this tradition, he has created original, hand-drawn still and animated sequences which complement Mark Mulcahy's indie-rock score.
The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island closed on March 16, 2008.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
27 RUE DE FLEURUS
27 rue de Fleurus is a new musical derived from the imagination of Alice B. Toklas. Alice tries to set the record straight about being Gertrude Stein's "wife" for nearly 40 years.
Gertrude grows tired of Alice's lack of panache for telling her perspective of their story and attempts to hijack the play as only the author of such lines as "sugar is not a vegetable" can.
But Alice has secrets to share with the audience that silence the famously verbose Gertrude. This celebrated couple confronts each other about love, marriage, jealousy, genius and a few other delicious topics while Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mabel Dodge, Sylvia Beach and even Jean Harlow drop by for a visit.
27 rue de Fleurus closed on April 13, 2008.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
WALMARTOPIA
It's MOM vs. MART! Walmartopia tells the hilarious and timely tale of Vicki Latrell, a single mom and Wal-Mart employee who speaks out against her company's working conditions and finds herself and her young daughter jettisoned to 2036, into a future where Wal-Mart dominates the entire world.
Walmartopia closed on December 30, 2007.
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)
WANDA'S WORLD
Wanda's World is a new family musical, especially designed for 'tweens,' that generation of emerging, almost adolescents. Wanda Butternut is the popular host of the hit TV talk show, Wanda's World, where kids call in to get help solving their problems. She is beautiful, confident and always knows what to say?in her fantasy. In real life, Wanda has a unique problem of her own and is dreading her first day of school in a new town.
Wanda's World closed on February 10, 2008
(excerpt credited to www.broadwayworld.com)