#jeffrey lippa

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[glimeres]

"The Wild Party by Joseph Moncure March was published as a narrative poem in 1928. The poem tells the story of Queenie and her actor lover Burrs, who decide to have a party, complete with illegal bathtub gin and the couple’s colorful, eccentric and egocentric friends. But the party unfolds with more tumultuous goings-on than planned. Art Spiegelman revived interest in the poem when he published a newly illustrated version in 1999. Around the same time, two musical productions were in the works. Andrew Lippa wrote the book, music and lyrics for a 2000 off-Broadway version while Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe launched another musical starring Toni Collette in her Broadway debut. Producer Jeffrey Seller planned on bringing the award-winning off-Broadway production uptown to the Great White Way. He contacted Drew Hodges and Mark Burdett of SpotCo, creator of posters for RENT, Avenue Q, In The Heights and more, to do the graphic design. The ambitious result, art directed by Kevin Brainard and photographed in luscious black and white by Ellen von Unwerth, involved showing the entire cast acting out the debauchery of the poem. “It was the best photoshoot Spot has ever done,” said Hodges. It was “the sexist Broadway cast shoot that never saw the light of day,” added Brainard, who has made an online archive of the full set of 29 images. "

The Daily Heller: One Helluva Wild Party

[frankenpagie]

8.3.20

[rndyounghowze]

The Addams Family Musical by Timber Creek Drama at Timber Creek High School in Sicklerville, NJ

By Ricky and Dana Young-Howze Timber Creek Drama’s performance of The Addams Family, a musical comedy with book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, was a chilling good time. This production directed by Carolyn Hand brings the timeless characters from the mind of Charles Addams back from the crypt and onto the stage. Gomez Addams’ (played by Geoffrey Collins) little daughter is all grown up and wants to get married. Wednesday (played by Katie Fox ) has asked that he keep her engagement to her normal fiancé, Lucas (played by Jeffrey Redwanowaki), a secret from Morticia (played by Courtney LeMasney). Add Lucas’s plain Jane parents (played by Lucy Fleiscann and Eric Rothenhofer) into the mix of the Addams household and you have a familial whirlwind threatening to blow everyone over. Pugsley (played by Elise Farrar) schemes to break up his sister and her new beau. If she marries him she may never torture Pugsley again. So he brews up a scheme with one of Grandmama’s special potions. Grandmama (played by Bianca Gray) has a mouth that goes a thousand times faster than she walks. She may be old but her snark always hits home. Then we have the narration of Uncle Fester (Taylor Nelson) who serves as our liaison between ancestors, family, and audience and actors. He spouts one liners just as much as he tells us his love for the moon. And let's not forget Lurch (played by Donovan Jones), the family butler. He's a being on a pit stop on his slow shuffle off this mortal coil. A giant with an even bigger heart. But what would a musical about the Addams Family be without Gomez and Morticia? If you said “dark and dismal” you would be right! The show isn't complete without them. Carolyn Hand’s direction was character focused and spot on. The characters were clear in their motivations and in their actions. As I always say you can tell where a director invests their time and I could really tell that she spent quality time with this cast to make these characters work. And when the characters work we’ll go wherever the lead us. Choreography by Niki Williams was simple yet great with nothing too over the top or complicated. However with a couple of great group numbers like “Around the Corner”, “When you're an Addams” and “Tango Amor” there was some tight group and partner work that really shone. The set which was built under the supervision of stage crew advisor Jack Campbell was beautiful and detailed. Each set was elaborate without overpowering the stage. I did notice that the set changes took a bit longer but the payoff was worth it. I bet a lot of the delays were opening night gremlins and that they will work much more smoothly in tonight's performance. John Perkis’s vocal direction was the key to making a great play amazing. The cast was loud, clear, and energetic and it really paid off. You'd be surprised how much being able to hear the cast clearly makes the play even better and these guys started at “amazing”. Since they used an accompaniment track over a live band they could really make sure that their singing “went to eleven” and wasn't overpowered. Costume designer Julia Incarvite’s work really shined in terms of the ancestors. Each ancestor had a unique ghostly personality that immediately shown through their clothes. That's where all the little touches came alive and made the play for me. All of the cast was great but Collins’ portrayal of Gomez and Fox’s Wednesday really stood out to me. Fox’s Wednesday is the perfect balance of the dark and gothic Wednesday we all grew up with and the bubbly love sick young woman she is in this show. The actors handled a few tiny stage mishaps like Broadway pros. A prime example of this is Collins still in full Gomez mode commenting about an exposed beam (in theatre it's called a fly rail) that was late on its cue to raise a swing for him to sit on. He even thanked the ancestors as it was being fixed. So even the stage became a fun character with their little adlibs. Two supporting shoutouts were Jones as Lurch and Nelson as Fester. Simply put these two characters are the glue that hold the play together. Fester is our handhold through the entire show and the one who helps guide the story from scene to scene. What made Jones’s Lurch a standout was his voice. The boy can sing! No spoilers but there's a moment at the end of the play when Lurch finally sings and Jones blew the roof off the place. Two background standouts were Alexxis Tswago and Arriea Wilson as Gangster Guy and Gangster Gal respectively. Their energy was contagious! To have two people in the background having so much fun you can't help but notice them makes a play even more special. I want to give a special shoutout to the actors playing Lucas’s family. They sat near us in the back before their big entrance and pretended to be normal theater patrons. At first I thought they were annoying late guests. But when I figured it out I was pleasantly surprised. I wonder if they would have sat near us if they knew the two of us were reviewers. All in all it's a great show made even better by an energetic cast. They were so energetic it spilled out onto their social media and they had one of the best grassroots marketing campaigns I've ever seen. They shared pics and moments and made anyone paying attention really excited for the show. Shoutout to Katie Fox who hunted me down and asked me to come out. This whole cast had just that kind of moxie and that's what put the show over the top. The Addams Family is a creepy and a kooky, hilarious and spooky good time. You should check it out! Running Time: Two and a half hours with a 15 minute intermission. The Addams Family opened on April 6th at and plays through Sunday April 9th at the You can get tickets at the door.

[deadpan-searcher]

American Pop (1981) - Directed by. Ralph Bakshi

And remember folks, Safe Sex is Great Sex.