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Delightful "The Musical of Musicals, the Musical" By Jay Handelman, Sarasota Herlad-Tribune
Golden Apple's 'Musical' shows both sides of coin By DEAN CLARK, Bradenton Herald
In the mood for a musical? How about five, with The Musical of Musicals: The Musical.
By Kay Kipling, Sarasota Magazine
'Musical' mayhem amuses at Golden Apple
By Karen Mamone, Pelican Press
Golden Apple offers a five-in-one musical
By Kim Cool, Venice Gondolier
Review
By Marie J. Kilker, TotalTheatre.com
Heard them all before? Not like this
By Susan Rife, Sarasota Herlad-Tribune
Delightful "The Musical of Musicals, the Musical"
By Jay Handelman, Sarasota Herlad-Tribune
View Article at http://www.heraldtribune.com
"The Musical of Musicals, the Musical" does more than most comedies to get audiences laughing.
This delightful Golden Apple Dinner Theatre show is a spoof of instantly recognizable Broadway musical styles fashioned into five one-act pieces.
In one respect, it comes off like a funny classroom assignment for aspiring musical theater writers who have been asked to write brief shows in the style of famous Broadway composers. And there are moments that are reminiscent of "Forbidden Broadway," a long-running spoof of specific Broadway shows and its stars, featuring new lyrics set to songs from those musicals. But "Musical of Musicals" takes a broader view of the genre with original words and music.
Composer Eric Rockwell and lyricist Joanne Bogart have built five little shows around the same story: An ingenue named June (or some variation) must pay the rent to a despicable landlord named Jidder (or Phantom Jitter), seeks advice from a worldly wise older woman named Abby or Auntie Abby, and is finally rescued by the hero named Billy or Villy.
Each segment is filled with witty lines and musical phrases that play off famous shows. For example, in the opening section "Corn," which fuses elements of "Oklahoma," "Carousel" and other Rodgers and Hammerstein shows, Big Willy repeatedly says "Okay," to which June responds, "Don't throw okays at me," a cheeky reference to a line from "People Will Say We're in Love."
"A Little Complex," a tribute to Stephen Sondheim, is about a group of mentally off-balance residents of an apartment complex called The Woods, where they deal with irony, ambiguity, and a Sweeney Todd-like artist, who wants to turn his neighbors into statues. You will hear the familiar "Sweeney" screaming whistle, references to "specific overtures" and lots of clever word play.
The upbeat nature of Jerry Herman comes out in "Dear Abby," a blend of "Mame" and "Hello, Dolly!" with snippets of the feathers from "La Cage aux Folles." Dear Abby is serenaded on a staircase, a la Dolly, with such lines as "your heart is made of pure gold lamé."
Andrew Lloyd Webber gets skewered in "Aspects of Junita," built around "Evita," but with lots of references to "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Joseph," "Sunset Boulevard" and "Phantom of the Opera."
The show closes with "Speakeasy," which is set in a cabaret in Chicago (get it), with shades of Kander and Ebb ditties, sexual innuendo, dark themes and jaunty melodies.
It is all neatly packaged by director Michael Newton-Brown and choreographer Dewayne Barrett to evoke as many staging and dance references as possible with a cast of four.
That strong and versatile cast features William Garon as the villain, Jessica Hanson as the ingenue, Kip Taisey as Billy and Cara Herman, who is often hilarious in her variations on Abby. Musical director John Visser provides an orchestra full of accompaniment from his on-stage piano.
Performances are intentionally broad to make the show as accessible as possible. You don't have to be an expert in musical theater to appreciate the stories, which are told in a most simplistic way with narration to help guide you along. But the more familiar you are with each composer's style, the louder and heartier the laughs.
In the mood for a musical? How about five, with The Musical of Musicals: The Musical.
By Kay Kipling, Sarasota Magazine
View Article at http://www.sarasotamagazine.com
In the mood for a musical? How about five, with The Musical of Musicals: The Musical.
By Kay Kipling
The more American theater musicals you know, the more you’ll probably enjoy the Golden Apple Dinner Theatre’s current production, The Musical of Musicals: The Musical. But anyone even remotely familiar with the works of some of the stage’s most acclaimed composers should find entertainment aplenty here.
As the title suggests, this show, written by Eric Rockwell and Joanne Bogart and a long-running hit both at the York Theatre Company and off-Broadway, pokes clever fun at many of the genre’s staples, from overused plotlines to bombastic production numbers to star turns that literally stop the show. Using the old melodrama setup of a young woman who “can’t pay the rent” to a villainous landlord but finds help from a stalwart hero, The Musical presents five little mini-musicals on the theme, ranging from the old-fashioned Americana of Rodgers and Hammerstein to the often dark style of Stephen Sondheim, the rock musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber, the splashy kitsch of Jerry Herman and the slick noirish qualities of Kander and Ebb.
It’s all very funny, and you’ll find yourself, certainly at the outset anyway, trying to keep track of just how many song/musical references there are to original pieces by the composers being parodied, from slices of The King and I and Carousel to Starlight Express to Cabaret and Chicago. But after a while, just let yourself go and enjoy the way a talented cast swiftly switches gears from one version to the next.
Kip Taisey, Cara Herman, Jessica Hanson, William Garon and musical director John Visser in the Golden Apple’s The Musical of Musicals: The Musical.
Among some favorite moments: Kip Taisey doing a roundup of R&H soliloquies; William Garon, a la Sweeney Todd, wielding both a palette and a sharp weapon as an artist/landlord who likes to cover his victims in papier mache; Jessica Hanson spoofing Evita’s thrusting arm movements in Aspects of Junita; and Cara Herman as a Mame/Dolly combo dubbed Auntie Abby, who belts, “I can’t sing or dance, but I’m the star of the show,” as she gives this treasured advice to those around her: “Live.” She’s also a hoot dressed up and growling out lyrics like Marlene Dietrich in the Kander/Ebb segment, but I won’t give away her best lines here.
The show is excellently directed and designed by Michael Newton-Brown, with sterling support from musical director John Visser and choreography by Dewayne Barrett that successfully encompasses the different styles so important to each type of musical, from a dream ballet sequence out of Oklahoma to those Bob Fosse moves complete with black hats and canes.
All in all, The Musical of Musicals: The Musical is just the right-sized package of summer entertainment. It continues at the Golden Apple through Aug. 13; call 366-5454 or go to thegoldenapple.com.
Golden Apple's 'Musical' shows both sides of coin
By DEAN CLARK, Bradenton Herald
View Article at http://www.bradenton.com
Every coin has two sides. Yin has its yang, and white has its black; this show is a perfect example of such opposites.
Written by Joanne Bogart and Eric Rockwell, "Musical of Musicals - the Musical" first opened Dec. 16, 2003, at the York Theater Company. The York is the only theater in New York dedicated to developing and fully producing new musicals. "Musical" was nominated for five Drama Desk Awards in 2004, including Best Musical. In 2005, it was nominated for Best Musical by the Drama League.
The basic theme of the show is the age-old complaint "I can't pay the rent." This idea is repeated five times through the course of the show, with each repetition being rendered in the style of a different composer.
Scene One is called "Corn" and is done in the wide, rolling style of Rogers and Hammerstein. This particular scene is where Kip Taisey really shines, but more on him later.
Scene Two is called "A Little Complex," but should have been called "Sweeney Todd meets Rent." This was, of course, modeled after Stephen Sondheim.
"Dear Abby" was done in parody of "Mame" and "Hello, Dolly!" by Jerry Herman.
"Evita" by Andrew Lloyd Webber becomes "Aspects of Junita" in the fourth scene and "Speakeasy" is a remodeled "Cabaret" by John Kander and Fred Ebb.
The cast is definitely the heads-up side of this coin. All of them are positively wonderful. Each of them performs with energy, style and a range of expression rarely required in other shows.
William Garon opens the show with the background for the play. Garon's warm, charismatic style in the opening belies his part as the piece's villain. From beginning to end. he plays a 1930s dustbowl landlord, a mad painter, a misguided transvestite, a manipulative composer and a twisted club owner. He plays all his parts well.
The young female lead is played by Jessica Hanson. I really believe she has the hardest visual part in the show. Each part she plays is as diverse as Garon's, and she handles them all with grace and skill. She is a wonderful heroine, alternately an innocent country girl, a neurotic flake, the debutante in training, a self-absorbed "princess," and a young dancer about to find out what a dark place the world really is.
The Hero is Kip Tainey. He does a great job as Garon's opposite number. He's just as versatile, always offering the particular white to Garon's black.
Cara Herman plays the knowing woman, Auntie Mame, the one Hanson goes to for advice when Garon's wickedness is revealed. As with the others, her character is eternal, but her characterization changes with every scene.
The last, but definitely not least, member of the cast is John Visser, who is all but invisible for most of the show. However, don't think that his part is minimal, because without him there would be no show. There can't be a musical without music, and Visser is the music man. He plays it all, from the tender to the terrifying without pause from beginning to end.
The cast is wonderful, but as I mentioned before a coin does have two sides. The tails side, in my opinion, is the show itself. It wasn't as funny as it could have been.
It seemed as though the writing team had subtle axes to grind against Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim in particular, denigrating their commercial successes and suggested that "Music of the Night" was taken from Puccini. I wanted to say that without commercial success a writer doesn't get to make new shows.
Ultimately, it's a fair show, not a great one. The actors are great and do their best, but the writing didn't.
What: "The Musical of Musicals, the Musical"
When: The show continues various times with dinner at 6 p.m., show at 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. Lunch at noon, show at 1:30 p.m. Saturdays. Dinner at 4 p.m. and show at 6 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 31
Where: Golden Apple Dinner Theatre, 25 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota
Tickets: $35-$45.
Information: 366-5454 or www.thegoldenapple.com
'Musical' mayhem amuses at Golden Apple
By Karen Mamone, Pelican Press
Kip Taisey, William Garon, Jessica Hanson and Cara Herman in “The Musical of Musicals” at Golden Apple Dinner Theatre.
You don't have to be an avid musical theatre fan to appreciate "The Musical of Musicals - The Musical!," but it helps.
Golden Apple Dinner Theatre's new production of the 2003 off-Broadway hit is a clever take-off on five major musical composers/stylists who, between them, encompass a majority of the lexicon of greatest Broadway hits of the past 50 years or so.
The comedic musical review features music and book by Eric Rockwell and lyrics and book by Joanne Bogart.
With only a pianist and a four-person cast, "...Musical" takes the audience on a satirical journey through the eyes of five different composers all using the same time-honored conceit: "When little Nell (or Julie, or Mary or Sue) falls on hard times and is harassed by her evil landlord, he demands with a licentious sneer 'Who will pay the rent?' Enter our hero."
The five composers are: Rodgers and Hammerstein, Jerry Herman, Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Kander and Ebb, who between them take credit for such stellar presentations as "South Pacific," "The King and I," "A Little Night Music," "Sweeney Todd," "Hello Dolly," "Mame," "Cats," "Evita," "Chicago" and "New York, New York."
Rockwell and Bogart have brilliantly captured bits of the musical essence of each of the five composers, and written songs in that style. Naturally, some of the songs have deliberate musical imitations, and the lyrics should keep you on your toes as they continually tie in bits of the writers' lyrics (there's even a contest if you want to see how many show references you can spot). Each segment also lambastes the broader elements of each, reflects on the stars (No more Minnelli, please, begs one song) made famous by the shows, and dishes out plenty of just plain old cheap jokes.
The set for this production is the most basic of cabaret settings, with a lone piano (ably played by musical director John Visser) and a few props called into service. The real stars are the hilarious lyrics, and the very capable performers who embody the four archetypes of ingénue (Jessica Hanson), hero (Kip Taisey), Auntie (Cara Herman), and villain (William Garon, who would have stolen the show if his coworkers were not so talented).
From "Corn" ie, "Oklahoma," our bumpkin hero sings... "Oh, What a Beautiful Corn" - instead of the usual "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning." Later, he continues "I'm in love with a beautiful hoe," which comes out sounding a lot like "ho."
In Sondheim style, "A Little (apartment) Complex, "all of our tenants are a little neurotic."
Skewering the composer in the "Aspects of Junita" segment on Andrew Lloyd Webber shows, they sing "I've heard that song before. It sounds a little teensy, weensy bit like Puccini."
With direction by Michael Newton-Brown, and choreography by Dewayne Barrett, here is the Golden Apple in fine form, a delightful little treat to lure you away from home on a summer evening.
Golden Apple offers a five-in-one musical
By Kim Cool, Venice Gondolier
“The Musical of Musicals: the Musical!” is more than a musical — it is an event.
Spoofing great American musicals of the past, “The Musical of Musicals: The Musical!” uses four talented performers to deliver one classic story five ways at Sarasota’s Golden Apple Dinner Theatre. In this case the story is about a single girl (Jessica Hanson as June, Jeune, Junie Faye, Junita and Juny) who “can’t pay the rent,” her evil landlord (William Garon as Jidder, Jitter, Mr. Jitter Phantom Jitter and Jutter), a hero (Kip Taisy as Big Willy, Billy, William, Bill and Villy) and a matron (Cara Herman as Mother Abby, Abby, Auntie Abby, Abigail von Schtarr, Fraulein Abby)).
The music is in the style of Rogers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Andrew Lloyd Webber and John Kander and Fred Ebb, Part of the fun of the show is that one recognizes the music and, sometimes the words, but there is always something about the way the words and music and spoofed and delivered that makes this show both funny and fun. Adding to the adventure, Apple producers invite those in the audience to figure out the musical source of the songs. There is even a mystery show. Answers can be found within the program.
Based on the show “Oklahoma,” and featuring the song “Corn,” the opening number offers Herman the chance to shine as Mother Abby singing “The rainbow is your dream” to the tune of “Climb Every Mountain” from the “Sound of Music” as set in the “South Pacific.” This musical is as packed with parodies as the previous sentence is packed with nonsensical descriptive phrases.
The storyline of Scene 2 is “A Little Complex,“ presented in the often-neurotic manner of Stephen Sondheim, as even the musical’s subtitles become spoofs of the various composers’ works.
And so it goes, parody after parody, laugh after laugh as the four players change characters without needing to change costumes or sets — except for a certain bench, which needs some special handling at least twice, earning applause each time.
Garon is the villainous landlord who will have his way with poor June if she doesn’t pay the rent. As the show progresses, Garon manages to turn himself into just about every type of villain known to film and theater. In a spoof on “Cabaret” he is more like Joel Gray than Grey himself. The villain is the meatiest character in the show, and Garon has no trouble rising to the occasion in each and every scene. Nor do his fellow actors who each turn in fine performances of their own individual lists of characters.
Musical director John Visser also becomes a performer in this show, changing hats and personalities for each scene while providing the piano music that ties everything together.
Choreographed by Dewayne Barrett, the show is directed and designed by Michael Newton-Brown. Costumes are by Dee Richards.
A funny thing may have happened on the road to Decorum but not nearly as funny as all the schticks that happen in this production with its spoofs of “Sweeney Todd,” “The Phantom,” “Flower Drum Song,” “Evita,” “Chicago,” “Carousel,” Assassins,” and other Broadway shows.
“The Musical of Musicals! The Musical!” runs through August 31.
The Sarasota Golden Apple Dinner Theatre is at 25 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota. Tickets include a buffet lunch, supper or dinner preceding the show. Four- and threeshow packages are $134-$162 or $100-$121.50 per person, respectively for the coming season. For prices, times and reservations for one or more shows, call the box office at 941-366-5454 or toll free at 800-652-0920 or visit www.thegoldenapple.com.
Review
By Marie J. Kilker, TotalTheatre.com
With its emphasis on presenting Broadway musicals on the Suncoast, Golden Apple is just the right home for The Musical of Musicals (The Musical). Spoofing the scores, scripts, and styles of musical greats makes a little plot go a long way. Five long ways, to be exact, via as many short plays.
Using the theme of Rent, the story finds a heroine who can’t pay hers to her landlord villain unless she weds or beds him. Or she may be out of danger if, mostly owing to advice from a sage older woman, heroine gets together with a hero who’ll pay the rent for her.
Under a proscenium arch, lined with parodies of familiar musical titles, are trunks, stools, a ladder, chairs, clothes racks. Changes of hats and accessories await to suggest complete costume variations. To one side, vaudeville-like “act” posters on an easel get changed with each playlet and its caricatured creators.
Though each of the mini-musicals is original, they capture the essence of the works of Rogers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Kander and Ebb. “Corn” is immediately recognizable as a variation on Oklahoma! with sub-themes mainly from The King and I, Carousel and South Pacific.
Like much of Sondheim’s output, even the title of “A Little Complex” has a double meaning: The play’s laid in a multiplex called “The Woods” where live a mess of mental defectives.Pseudo-sophisticated Abby screams atonally the end of every song line, especially when drunk.
As for the rest, “que Seurat, Seurat.” Abby’s really a Dear, though, on various staircases just meant for Jerry Herman ladies with all the answers, plus headgear and boas. Aspects of Juanita shows the heroine menaced by a Phantom (who can’t write opera). He uses a piano bench as a boat while maintaining “everything I do is a big production.” This time the staircase is for a Gloria Swanson type of Abby, and the hero is one Cats’ meow.
Perhaps the audience’s favorite skit, “Speakeasy” presents a scene that looks pretty much like the Kit Kat Klub transferred to “Chicago.” William Garon, a slick song-and-dance man who plays the villain (Jidder, Jitters, Phantom Jitter) in most of the pieces, is the consummate Jutter, greeting in various languages including pig Latin. Sweet ingenue Jessica Hanson trades her previous pink chiffon for a slick black chorus girl’s outfit. This time Billy, her would-be savior (wonderfully strong-voiced Kip Taisey), is Villy and can’t pay Juny’s rent very quickly because he’s in jail. Sensational Cara Herman’s Fraulein Abby’s advice is “Sell your body.” Nothing phases John Visser, making music onstage throughout (except for one time as Roller-Skating Pianist).
Luckily, all the characters come together finally in a salute to another musical as “(d)One,” done by the very able chorus of four stars in golden high hats. Major musical fans may want to see the show more than once to “get” all the references and humor.
Heard them all before? Not like this
By Susan Rife, Sarasota Herlad-Tribune
View Article at http://www.heraldtribune.com
IThe finest parody emerges from a deep and abiding love for the original material. That's what Joanne Bogart and Eric Rockwell have crafted in "The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!)" which opens this week at the Golden Apple Dinner Theatre.
The couple takes some of the best-known writers of musicals and gives their styles a comedic spin that both pays homage to their genius and skewers that which is worth skewering.
Musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Kander and Ebb have been fused into five acts that turn the melodies inside out and the stories upside down.
The Off-Broadway satire was nominated for five Drama Desk awards and best musical by the Drama League.
Michael Newton-Brown is directing the Golden Apple production, which stars newcomers Jessica Hanson and Kip Taisey and Golden Apple veterans Cara Herman and William Garon.
There is a melodramatic plotline to be followed: An ingenue can't pay her rent; her villainous landlord expects payment in some form.
Each of the five musical styles tells the story differently. In "Corn," the Rodgers and Hammerstein section, "Oklahoma!" meets "South Pacific" meets "Carousel" meets "The Sound of Music."
In "A Little Complex," Bogart and Rockwell take on Sondheim. "Dear Abby" spoofs the work of Jerry Herman, composer of "Hello, Dolly" and "Mame." "Aspects of Junita" makes fun of Andrew Lloyd Webber's blockbusters, while "Speakeasy" parodies Kander and Ebb's "Chicago" and "Cabaret."
Although the melodies will sound familiar and the lyrics will pun outrageously on the originals, what is most striking about each segment is the instantly recognizable visual style, said Newton-Brown, who designed sets for the Golden Apple productions of "Funny Girl" and "Evita" earlier this year.
"There are certain groupings in the way you do things in Rodgers and Hammerstein that you don't do in Sondheim or Kander and Ebb," Newton-Brown said. "There are certain stagings that are very signature."
The show provides real challenges to its cast, who will have to shift accents and styles on a moment's notice.
"One of the best things about getting to do this show is that you get to play all the roles and all the styles that you like to do in one show," said Cara Herman, who played Jack's mother in the Venice Little Theatre production of "Into the Woods" in 2007.
Cast member Garon expects each performance of the show to be different, because each audience will have different levels of comprehension and familiarity with the shows being spoofed.
"If a patron were to come to the show three different times, they would probably see a very different show each time," said Garon, who spent three years with the national company of "Forbidden Broadway," another show that skewers Broadway shows.
Garon said the impulse to parody musicals springs from inventing lyrics amid backstage boredom when a cast has been performing a show for a long time.
"This is what we do in dressing rooms," he said. "If you do a show for three months or two years, you become so blasted bored backstage. You start making up your own. This is sort of a realization of what dressing rooms have been doing all along."
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