from the 2009 Broadway season

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN
a musical comedy

by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan

September 2012

IT'S ALIVE! This monster musical comedy is a wickedly inspired re-imagining of the Frankenstein legend based on Mel Brooks' classic 1974 comedy film masterpiece. Bright young Dr. Frankenstein (that's Fronkensteen) attempts to complete his grandfather's masterwork and bring a corpse to life. Together with his oddly shaped and endearing helper Igor (that's Eye-gor), his curvaceous lab assistant Inga (that's Inga), and in spite of his incredibly self-involved madcap fiancé, Elizabeth, Frankenstein succeeds in creating a monster -- but not without scary and quite often hilarious complications. With such memorable tunes as "The Transylvania Mania," "He Vas My Boyfriend" and "Puttin' On The Ritz," this Mel Brooks musical is scientifically-proven, monstrously good entertainment ... and the only place you'll witness a singing and dancing laboratory experiment in the largest tuxedo ever made.

The show won the Outer Critics Circle Award for "Best Musical" in 2008.

from the 2009 Broadway season

SPEED THE PLOW

a dramatic comedy

by David Mamet

November 2012

Revived on Broadway in 2008/9, this is a hilarious satire of Hollywood, a culture as corrupt as the society it claims to reflect. Charlie Fox has a terrific vehicle for a currently hot client. Bringing the script to his friend Bobby Gould, the newly appointed Head of Production at a major studio, both see the work as their ticket to the Big Time. The star wants to do it; as they prepare their pitch to the studio boss, Bobby wagers Charlie that he can seduce the temp/secretary, Karen. As a ruse, he gives her a novel by "some Eastern sissy" writer that needs a courtesy read before being dismissed out of hand. Karen slyly determines the novel, not the movie-star script, should be the company's next film. She sleeps with Bobby who is so smitten with Karen and her ideals that he pleads with Charlie to drop the star project and pitch the "Eastern sissy" writer's book.

The show received a Tony Award nomination for "Best Play" in 1988.

from the 2008 Broadway season

BOEING, BOEING
a farce

by Marc Camoletti


January 2013

Revived on Broadway in 2008, this 1960's French farce adapted for the English-speaking stage features self-styled Parisian Lothario Bernard, who has French, German and American fiancees, each beautiful airline hostesses with frequent "layovers". He keeps "one up, one down and one pending" until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris and Bernard's apartment at the same time.

The show received a Tony Award for "Best Revival of a Play" in 2008.

from the 2011 Broadway season

NEXT TO NORMAL
a musical drama

by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey

March 2013

This acclaimed, groundbreaking musical with a thrilling contemporary score is an emotional powerhouse of a musical about a family trying to take care of themselves and each other. Its story concerns a mother who struggles with worsening bipolar disorder and the effect that her illness has on her family. The musical also addresses such issues as grieving a loss, suicide, drug abuse, ethics in modern psychiatry, and suburban life.

The show was nominated for eleven 2009 Tony Awards and won three. It also won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, becoming just the eighth musical in history to receive the honor.

from American regional theatre

BLOODY MURDER
a mystery/farce

by Ed Sala

May 2013

This twisted, fourth-wall-breaking, whodunit/spoof turns the murder-mystery genre on its head. The wealthy Lady Somerset has assembled an unlikely group of guests for a weekend at her lavish countryside estate. The attendees represent the usual murder-mystery suspects; we meet a middle-aged maid, a far-too innocent ingenue, an enigmatic and well-preserved countess, a self-glorifying Major, the ne'er-do-well nephew and an actor of former acclaim. Sure enough, one of these people meets a mysterious and violent end. But Lady Somerset takes an unusual turn by refusing to call the authorities (although the bumbling police chief eventually arrives) and she insists that she and her guests are simply characters in a mystery story who must rebel against their author. The players and their writer enter into a wild battle of wills that delivers plenty of laughter and a surprising end!

from the 1991 Broadway season

BUDDY:
THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY
a play with music

by Alan Janes

July 2013

This musical roof-raiser tells the story of the three years in which a thick-rimmed glasses wearing kid from Lubbock, Texas, became the world's top recording artist with a show that features over 20 of Buddy Holly's greatest hits including Peggy Sue, That'll Be The Day, Oh Boy, Not Fade Away, Everyday, Rave On, Maybe Baby, Raining In My Heart, Ritchie Valens' La Bamba, and the Big Bopper's Chantilly Lace. The incredible legacy of the young man with glasses, whose musical career spanned an all-too-brief period during the golden days of rock 'n' roll, lives on in this rock-n-roll extravaganza.