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Inverse Theater Company

Presents

The Banger’s Flopera – A Musical Perversion

Book and Lyrics by Kirk Wood Bromley
Music by John Gideon

Directed by Ben Yalom

Performances Begin Sunday, August 14th

At The Village Theatre, 158 Bleecker @ Thompson

Inverse Theater Company will present The Banger’s Flopera – A Musical Perversion at The Village Theatre, 158 Bleecker at Thompson and will begin Sunday, August 14th.  This will be Inverse’s much-awaited return to fringeNYC after its show, Lost – The Musical (“The Best Musical in the Fringe” - Time Out NY) was the only production to win Excellence in Music and Lyrics at the Fringe Awards. With The Banger’s Flopera, Inverse continues its legacy of creating top-notch musical production teams, having worked with Urinetown’s Mark Hollman for On the Origin of Darwin, Avenue Q’s Robert Lopez for The American Revolution, and the late Jessica Grace Wing for Lost.

The Banger’s Flopera is an update (or “perversion”) of the infamous Beggar’s Opera (the 18th century play which is also the source for Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera).  Where the original featured a cast of beggars, hookers and crooks, this new version features “gangstaz, pornstaz, and popstaz,” depicting the many ways in which our captivatingly corrupt culture idolizes and gives political influence to its own destructive elements. With a 16 song score, in styles ranging from rock and rap to torch songs and psychedelic power ballads, Banger’s offers a full rock musical experience along with a quintessentially mind-spinning Bromley script deeply steeped in “sex, thugs, and rock-n-roll.”  True to its source in its ghetto and sleaze themes, it stars the infamous Mac the Knife, who in this version is morphed into a professional pornographer and consummate New York Gangsta, as he cheats, robs and murders his way to the electric chair, only to be pardoned last minute by a criminal-friendly President.

Kirk Wood Bromley is a NYC-based playwright, actor, theater writer, musician and Artistic Director of Inverse Theater Company.  His plays have been produced in New York, Los Angeles, London, San Francisco, Cleveland and various college campuses around the country.  Inverse Theater, the company he founded, won Best Downtown Theater in the New York Press in 2001.  Bromley was the recipient of the 2001 Berrilla Kerr Foundation Playwrights Award and his plays won two Fringe Awards – Excellence in Playwrighting (The American Revolution, 2002) and Excellence in Music and Lyrics (Lost, 2003).

Composer John Gideon has worked as a musician in over 30 musicals including national Broadway tours, as well as performing at such venues as Joe’s Pub, The Knitting Factory, and The Bitter End.  The director of The Banger’s Flopera – A Musical Perversion is Ben Yalom, who is the Artistic Director of foolsFURY, an ensemble based experimental theater company in San Francisco.  He recently directed Naomi Newman’s one-woman show Fall Down Get Up for A Traveling Jewish Theater and a New York tour and has worked and trained with Anne Bogart and SITI Company.

Set designer Jane Stein has worked on many Broadway shows including Lenny, Jesus Christ Superstar, Pippin, Chicago, The Magic Show, Equus, and Bette Midler’s Clams on the Half Shell Review. Costume designer Karen Flood did the original costumes for Urinetown. And lighting designer Jeff Nash has worked with artists as diverse and renowned as Ellen Stewart, Frank Corsaro, Stuart Sherman, Natsu Nakajima, Sin Cha Hong, John Vaccaro, Robert Wilson, and Gian Carlo Menotti.

The cast of The Banger’s Flopera – A Musical Perversion includes Joe Pindelski, April Vidal, Anni Bruno, Dan Renkin, Dalane Mason, Brian Kelly, Catherine McNelis, Kelly Spitko, Randall Middleton, Chris McCutchen, Timothy McCown Reynolds, Bob Laine, Hank Wagner, Saaarah@gmail.com, John McConnel, Lydia Burns and Josh Hartung. 

The Banger’s Flopera – A Musical Perversion will begin performances on Sunday, August 14th and the schedule will be as follows:           


Sunday, August 14th @ 3:45PM                Friday, August 26th @ 9:45PM

Thursday, August 18th @ 2:00PM                Saturday, August 27th @ 11:00PM

Sunday, August 21st @ 2:15PM


Tickets will be $15 and can be purchased by calling (212) 279-4488 or visit www.fringenyc.org.  Photos will be available for download at www.brettsinger.com/clients/bangers.html. To learn more about the company, visit www.inversetheater.org.

The Banger’s Flopera – A Musical Perversion

Books & Lyrics by Kirk Wood Bromley, Music by John Gideon, Directed by Ben Yalom

At The Village Theatre, 158 Bleecker Street @ Thompson

SCHEDULE:                                  Sunday, August 14th @ 3:45PM; Thursday, August 18th @ 2:00PM; Sunday, August 21st @ 2:15PM;

                                Friday, August 26th @ 9:45PM; Saturday, August 27th @ 11:00PM

TICKETS: $15.00; Call (212) 279-4488 or visit www.fringenyc.org

311 West 43rd Street Suite #1107                                                              phone:        (212) 307-7181

New York, NY 10036                                                                                            Fax:               (212) 307-7178