AmericanTheaterWeb Original News & Reviews

The Public Theater
Announces
Complete Casting and Dates For
The New York Premiere of
ROAD SHOW
(formerly called Bounce)

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by John Weidman
Directed by John Doyle

ROAD SHOW Will Run October 28 – December 28, 2008

August 12, 2008 – The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Mara Manus) announced complete casting for the New York premiere of ROAD SHOW, a new musical featuring music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by John Weidman, and direction and scenic design by John Doyle. Road Show was originally titled Bounce. The cast of 15 will feature Michael Cerveris and Alexander Gemignani as the two Mizner brothers. ROAD SHOW will begin previews on Tuesday, October 28 and run through Sunday, December 28 with an official press opening on Tuesday, November 18. Tickets go on-sale to the general public on Sunday, October 12 but Public Theater memberships are available now.

“Over the last three years, John Weidman and Stephen Sondheim have done transformative work on the project we have now re-titled Road Show,” said Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. “John Doyle has assembled an extraordinary team of actor/singers, and I am confident that the result will be a revelation.”

Spanning 40 years from the Alaskan Gold Rush to the Florida real estate boom in the ‘30s, ROAD SHOW is the story of two brothers whose quest for the American dream turns into a test of morality and judgment that changes their lives in unexpected ways.

The cast of ROAD SHOW features Michael Cerveris (John Doyle’s Sweeney Todd on Broadway) as Wilson Mizner; Alma Cuervo (Wicked National Tour) as Mama; Aisha de Haas (Caroline, or Change on Broadway) in the Ensemble; Claybourne Elder (White Widow at Times Square Art Center) as Hollis; Colleen Fitzpatrick (Mother Courage and Her Children at Shakespeare in the Park) in the Ensemble; Alexander Gemignani (John Doyle’s Sweeney Todd on Broadway) as Addison Mizner; Mylinda Hull (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels on Broadway) in the Ensemble; Mel Johnson, Jr. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) in the Ensemble; Orville Mendoza (Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare in the Park) in the Ensemble; Anne L. Nathan (Sunday in the Park With George on Broadway) in the Ensemble; Tom Nelis (Iphigenia 2.0 at Signature) in the Ensemble; William Parry (Passion on Broadway) as Papa; Matt Stocke (The Wedding Singer on Broadway) in the Ensemble; William Youmans (The Farnsworth Invention on Broadway) in the Ensemble; and Kristine Zbornik (A Catered Affair on Broadway) in the Ensemble.

JOHN DOYLE (Director) recently directed A Catered Affair on Broadway (Drama Desk nominations for Best Director and Best Musical). He received the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics’ Circle Awards as Outstanding Director of a Musical for his Broadway debut, Sweeney Todd. His Broadway production of Company won the Tony for Best Musical Revival. Last season, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut with Peter Grimes. His other recent opera credits include The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (LA Opera) and Lucia de Lammermoor (Scottish Opera). He won UK Best Musical Awards for The Gondoliers (West End), Fiddler on the Roof and Moll Flanders with nominations for four other productions including Mack and Mabel (also West End). Doyle has been Artistic Director of four prestigious UK regional theatres and has directed numerous new and classic plays, most recently Amadeus at Wilton’s Music Hall.

STEPHEN SONDHEIM (Music and Lyrics) wrote the music and lyrics for Saturday Night, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, The Frogs, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park With George, Into the Woods, Assassins, and Passion, as well as lyrics for West Side Story, Gypsy, Do I Hear a Waltz? and additional lyrics for Candide. Side by Side by Sondheim, Marry Me A Little, You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow and Putting It Together are anthologies of his work as composer and lyricist. For films, he composed the score of Stavisky, co-composed Reds and wrote songs for Dick Tracy and the television production “Evening Primrose.” He co-authored the film The Last of Sheila and the play Getting Away With Murder. Sondheim is the winner of eight Tony Awards (including one for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre), the Pulitzer Prize in Drama, two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Kennedy Center Honor. He is on the Council of the Dramatists Guild and served as its President from 1973 to 1981.

JOHN WEIDMAN (Book) received a Tony nomination for Best Book for the original production of Pacific Overtures. He wrote the book for Assassins (2004 Tony Award, Best Musical Revival), score by Stephen Sondheim, and the book for Big (Tony nomination, Best Book), score by Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire. Weidman co-authored, with Timothy Crouse, the new book for Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes (Tony Award, Best Musical Revival; Olivier Award, Best Musical Production). He co-created Contact (Tony nomination, Best Book; Tony Award, Best Musical) with choreographer/director Susan Stroman. Since 1986, he has written for “Sesame Street,” receiving 11 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Children’s Program. Weidman is president of the Dramatists Guild of America.

TICKET INFORMATION

ROAD SHOW will begin previews on Tuesday, October 28 and will run through Sunday, December 28 with an official press opening on Tuesday, November 18 at 7 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesdays at 7 PM; Wednesdays thru Fridays at 8 PM; Saturdays at 2 PM and 8 PM; and Sundays at 2 PM and 7 PM.

The Public Theater is located at 425 Lafayette Street. Tickets are $80 for Saturday evening performances and $70 for all other performances. Student tickets are available in advance, at the box office only, for $25 (1 per ID). There are a limited number of Rush Tickets sold an hour before curtain at every performance available to the general public (Two per person, $20 each, cash only).

To purchase tickets, please call (212) 967-7555 or visit www.publictheater.org.

# # #

Sony BMG Masterworks is proud to announce the release of Stephen Sondheim: The Story So Far, a comprehensive four CD box set with a playing time of over four and a half hours devoted to the entire career of the legendary Broadway songwriter. The box, the first of its kind, will be released on Tuesday, September 30.

The box set will highlight Sondheim's work from its earliest incarnations through his most current project - the musical Bounce. Sondheim work for films and television will also be represented on "So Far."

Stephen Sondheim: The Story So Far will feature 81 tracks over four CDs. Previously released recordings will be complemented by a large number of demo recordings from his private collection of songs cut from his shows or written for aborted staged and film projects.

Sondheim served as Executive Producer for Stephen Sondheim: The Story So Far with Steve Berkowitz, head of A&R at Legacy Records. The set was prepared for release by veteran producers Didier C. Deutsch and Darcy M. Proper.

“For show buffs, this will be a treasure trove. I say that with no immodesty,” Stephen Sondheim commented. “True buffs love nothing more than demos, out-of-print and private recordings, particularly of cut songs and especially when sung by the composer. This compendium has all of the above and more, due to the enthusiasm and diligence of Didier Deutsch and archivist Peter E. Jones. Although I am listed as co-producer of this set, all the work and choices were theirs. On behalf of all us musical theater fanatics, I thank them both, not to mention Sony BMG, who have packaged these buried and not-so-buried nuggets with such care and lavish elegance.”

Of particular interest to collectors and fans, the box includes 28 previously unreleased tracks and many rarities, including “Evening Primrose,” the 1966 television musical starring Anthony Perkins and Charmain Carr and demo recordings from Saturday Night, the 1955 Broadway musical that would have marked Sondheim’s debut as a composer-lyricist.

Other previously unreleased tracks include demo selections from Do I Hear a Waltz?; discarded songs from Company, Follies, A Little Night Music and Pacific Overtures; songs for an intended TV production for Into the Woods in 1992; incidental music composed for the plays Invitation to a March and The Enclave; “I Never Do Anything Twice,” written for the film The Seven-Per-Cent Solution and the original film versions of the songs performed in Dick Tracy by Madonna and Mandy Patinkin.

Presented in a lavish long box set, Stephen Sondheim: The Story So Far features an introduction by Harold Prince, in-depth liner notes from Mark Horowitz, Senior Music Specialist from the Library of Congress, as well as personal notes from the songwriter himself on some of the selections from his personal sound archives. It is illustrated throughout with pictures from the shows, the recording sessions and rare photographs from Sondheim’s private collection.

Conjointly with the release of the box, Sony BMG will make available a free podcast series dedicated to Sondheim’s career. The podcasts, part of Sony’s Masterworks Broadway series, will include interviews and intimate stories with Sondheim, Bernadette Peters, Angela Lansbury, Hal Prince, Mandy Patinkin, Frank Rich, Laura Benanti and many other musical theater personalities, all discussing their experiences with Sondheim and his works. The podcasts will be found on iTunes by searching Masterworks Broadway and on Sony BMG’s website at www.masterworksbroadway.com.

For more information on Stephen Sondheim: The Story So Far, visit: www.masterworksbroadway.com/sondheim.

Complete track list on page 2

Pages: 1 · 2

From ATW - we have a second new voice on the site - Lori Laster - another writer from the O'Neill's Critic Institute - and writer for American Theater Magazine.

FringeNYC Review - Playing with Gothic Gargoyles
Gargoyle Garden

There are also two more from Lauren that were posted mid-yesterday:

FringeNYC Review - The Ties that Bind Strangle This Family
The Darling Children

FringeNYC Review - Emotions Never Rain; They Pour
The Umbrella Plays

You'll find two reviews from me in The Village Voice section.

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New York Post

Fringe darts target tart
It hardly comes as a sur prise that Britney Spears is a character in not one but two of the offerings in this year's Fringe Festival...

Village Voice

Fringe Festival 2008 Reviews!
The Pantyhose Grid, Becoming Britney, and more
[Includes two by yours truly]

Back Stage - FringeNYC Reviews

Hot Cripple reviewed by Tom Penketh
In Hot Cripple, Hogan Gorman details how, in one tragic moment, she lost everything.

George the Fourth reviewed by Mark Peikert
Michael T. Middleton's new play George the Fourth feels like a fifth-rate version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.

Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising reviewed by Ronni Reich
Both dramatically and socially compelling, the 1993 Lucasville prison uprising is an ideal subject for activist drama.

Too Much Memory reviewed by Gwen Orel
Keith Reddin was one of the hottest playwrights of the 1990s, and it's a treat to find a world premiere play of his at the Fringe.

Talkin' Broadway

FringeNYC Review: Perez Hilton Saves the Universe

FringeNYC Review: Becoming Britney

FringeNYC Review: America 20XX

FringeNYC Review: The Johnny

nytheatre.com

FRINGENYC REVIEWS #3
CLONE · All Hail the Great Serpent! · Heaven Forbid(s)! · Lucila's Story

FRINGENYC REVIEWS #2
Anais Nin Goes to Hell · Woodhull · The Gay No More Telethon · ZOMBIE · A December's Eve Visit with Frederick Demuth · Lecture, with Cello · Eagle Squadron GO! · Eggs and the Rebound Guy · The Boy in the Basement · Baby Cow · Mirrors of Chartres Street · Cruising to Croatia

TheaterMania

FringeNYC 2008: Roundup #1
Reports on The Umbrella Plays, See How Beautiful I Am: The Return of Jackie Susann, and The Legislative Process.

Gargoyle Garden, featuring sunken-eyed, spiky-haired 11-year-old protagonist Edgar Allen Desmond (played by the charmingly awkward Patrick Henney), is a young audience musical that breaks away from the standard sleeping princesses and cute dancing animals (except for one bug-eyed “atomic hamster”).

Lonely wayward Edgar finds solace and escape in his school’s forbidden rooftop gargoyle garden. Caught there by the school’s cruel headmaster, he’s banished to the “get right room,” where he meets melancholy Anabell Lee (the adorable Emily Bordonaro). Sharing rat jerky and a somber duet, the two discover they both hold mysterious invites to a magical party in the gothic garden where for one night the gargoyles (played by a dynamic ensemble of five) come alive.

B. Allen Schulz' rousing and diverse score might be marred occasionally by a clunky lyric, but missteps are offset by Jeff LaGreca's endearing book. It's both morbidly touching and non-saccharine, and perfectly complemented by eye-captivating art design (Charlie LaGreca) in the vein of Edward Gorey and Tim Burton.

---- Lori Laster

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Presented by Burgerboy Productions as part of The New York International Fringe Festival at THE BLEECKER STREET THEATER, 45 BLEECKER STREET, NYC. [remaining performances Aug. 13 5:15p.m..; Aug. 17 2:30p.m.; Aug. 20 8:00p.m.]

866-468-7619 www.ticketweb.com

Relationships, traditions and rules knit the family together after Peter Pan leaves for Neverland, but in Ivan Faute’s The Darling Children, the ties that bind weave a noose that chokes out normalcy and hope.

Director Stephen F. Murray draws out an assortment of characters that redefine “dysfunctional” as they choose to remain tethered in an unhealthy world while passing up opportunities to cut the cord and escape.

Father (Dan Taube) is bound, literally, in the corner; Mother (Erin Robinson) is chillingly perky. Peter's sisters weave a web of unhappiness: Kathleen (Tiffani Moore) passes up a chance for love with Michel (Nick Lake) who inexplicably gets roped in to the darkness; Aurora (Carrie Hardin) shows a spark of rebellion, but demurs; Marianne (Lindsay Weisberg) drips with venom. Mother (Erin Robinson) is chillingly perky.

Faute doesn’t define reality. Will Peter return? Will he be able to fix everything? Does Peter even exist or are his letters forgeries written in a sadistic effort to enflame, then snuff out hope? Nothing is certain except that we understand why Peter would have run away.

---- Lauren Yarger

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Presented by Ivan Faute/Stephen F. Murray as part of The New York International Fringe Festival at CSV CULTURAL AND EDUCATION CENTER- FLAMBOYAN, 107 SUFFOLK STREET, NYC. [remaining performances Aug. 13 3:15p.m.; Aug. 16 6:45p.m.; Aug. 17 noon]

866-468-7619 www.ticketweb.com