Brett Singer & Associates, LLC
New Musical
About Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas
Featuring
Historical Characters Galore - Respondez S'il Vous Plait!
Urban
Stages
(Frances
Hill, Artistic Director, Sonia Kozlova, Managing Director)
Presents
January 31, 2008 - Urban Stages is pleased to announce the final
production of their 2007/2008 season: 27 RUE DE FLEURUS, 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. 27 RUE DE FLEURUS will be
directed by Urban Stages Artistic Director Frances Hill. Performances will be at 259 West 30th
Street (between 7th and 8th). Previews will begin on Saturday, March 1st with the
opening date scheduled for Thursday, March 6th and will run through
Sunday, April 6th. Press is
invited beginning on Thursday, March 6th.
Unlike most of the stage works about
Gertrude and Alice, 27 RUE DE
FLEURUS is told from Alice's point of view. 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.
Ted Sod's
work has been primarily produced in Seattle, including Stealing (O'Neill
Theatre Center Music Theatre Conference; Seattle Group Theatre), Damaged
Goods and Not Sunset Boulevard (Alice B. Theatre), Conquest of
Fears (Seattle Rep); Make Me Pele For A Day (Seattle Children's
Theatre) and Crocodile Tears (Seattle International Film Festival). He
has directed many plays and readings; played villains on all three "Law
and Orders" and is currently dramaturge for the education department at
The Roundabout Theatre Company in NYC.
Lisa Koch is a Seattle songwriter/actor/comedian, and is the
composer/lyricist of The Bouffants Go to Hollywood (Cabaret de Paris), Ham
for the Holidays (Theatre Off-Jackson), Two's Company, I'm a Crowd (Oregon
Cabaret Theatre), and Glazing Saddles (Phoenix Theatre). She has released four solo recordings, is a
member of sketch-comedy duo Dos Fallopia, and is touring her one-woman show, Return
to Planet Lisa.
The cast of 27 RUE DE
FLEURUS will include a cast of Broadway regulars and
one notable newcomer: Sarah Chalfy (Annapolis Symphony, Baltimore Opera), Susan
Haefner (Thoroughly Modern Millie, 42nd Street, Damn
Yankees), Barbara Rosenblat (Talk Radio, The Secret Garden), Cheryl
Stern (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Women), Emily Zacharias (Jekyll
& Hyde, Social Security).
Since 1983,
director Frances Hill has overseen more than 600 staged readings and workshops,
plus over 75 productions of new work for the stage. Recent directing credits
include Jim Lehrer's Chili Queen (Urban Stages and The Kennedy Center),
John C. Picardi's Seven Rabbits on a Pole and The Sweepers (Urban
Stages and Capital Rep), Comfort Women by Chungmi Kim and last season's Apostasy
by Gino DiIorio. As Artistic Director
of Urban Stages, she has moved two plays to commercial off-Broadway runs: Minor
Demons and Men on the Verge of a His-Panic Breakdown, which won an
Outer Critics Circle Award.
The
creative team for 27 RUE DE FLEURUS will
be John Bell, as Musical Director, Jessica Hayden, choreography, Roman
Tatarowicz (Set Design), Carrie Robbins (Costume Design), Raquel Davis
(Lighting Design), Alex Koch (Video Design).
.
Urban Stages produces new
plays with themes that reflect our diverse society. Their most recent productions were the critically acclaimed Oxford Roof Climbers Rebellion by
Stephen Massicotte, Marion Bridge by Daniel MacIvor, the Pulitzer Prize
finalist Bulrusher by Eisa Davis and Apostasy by Gino DiIorio.
During the run of the show, there will be photographs and other artworks
featuring Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas on display in the theater lobby.
Pieces are from the Gertrude and Alice collection of San Francisco collector
Hans Gallas. Gallas coordinated events around the world last year to
commemorate the 100th anniversary of the meeting of Gertrude and Alice on
Alice’s first day in Paris. Works exhibited include original Carl Van Vechten
photographs, wood-block prints, caricatures, and mixed media pieces created by
artists from around the world. Gertrude and Alice have been the subjects of
visual artists from the beginning of the 20th century and continue to inspire
artists in all media.
The
schedule for 27 RUE DE FLEURUS will
be Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8PM, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at
3PM. There will be no matinee on Saturday, March 8th and an
additional Preview on Tuesday, March 4th, 8pm Tickets will be $25.00
for previews (March 1st through March 5th) and $40.00
beginning on March 6th. All Wednesday performances will be specially
priced at $25. Tickets may be purchased
by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444, or online at www.urbanstages.org. There will be
talkbacks every Wednesday and Saturday night, check www.urbanstages.org for schedule of
speakers.
At Urban
Stages, 259 West 30th Street (between 7th and 8th
avenues)
Previews:
Sat. 3/1 at 8pm, Sun. 3/2 at 3pm, Tues. 3/4 at 8pm, Wed. 3/5 at 8pm (all seats
$25.00)
Opening
night scheduled for Thursday, 3/6 at 8pm; Through Sunday, April 6th
(all seats $40.00)
Wednesdays
through Saturdays at 8PM, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 3PM. Extra Preview on
Tues. 3/4 @ 8pm. No matinee on Saturday 3/8.
TICKETS: $25
before 3/6, $40 after; College and High School Students, $15; Half-Price Wednesdays:
All seats $25.00
Call
212-868-4444, or order online at www.urbanstages.org
# # #
Phone: (212) 307-7181 Fax: (212) 813-9162