Orville Mendoza (He was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Adrift In Macao this past year. He cracked me up. I can't wait to see him in this!)
THE 2007 NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL FRINGE FESTIVAL
and
14 HUSKY PRODUCTIONS
PRESENT
BYE, BYE BIG GUY
A NEW MUSICAL BY DAVID EVANS,
FAYE GREENBERG AND
MICHAEL SLADE
DIRECTED AND
CHOREOGRAPHED BY DEVANAND JANKI
AUGUST 20TH – 25TH
AT THE LUCILLE LORTEL THEATRE
The 2007 New York International Fringe Festival and 14 Husky Productions present Bye, Bye Big Guy (http://byebyebigguy.com), a new musical with music by David Evans (Birds of Paradise, A...My Name is Alice), lyrics by Faye Greenberg (High School Musical) and book by Michael Slade (Thanksgiving at MCC). Directed and choreographed by Devanand Janki (Zanna, Don’t), Bye, Bye Big Guy plays at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher St. (between Bleecker St. and Hudson St.) on Monday, August 20th at 11:00 p.m.; Tuesday, August 21st at 8:15 p.m.; Thursday, August 23rd at 3:45 p.m.; Friday, August 24th at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday August 25th at noon.
An irreverent musical satire, Bye, Bye, Big Guy, is a memorial to the late, great, gold-spinner, Rumplestiltskin. Snow White, Dr. Jack Sprat, Goldilocks and a multitude of dwarfs are just a few of the guests who gather to pay their last respects and find out if they might win the Stiltskin fortune. Be forewarned, this is not a musical for children...
The cast features Danielle Lee Greaves (Hairspray, Rent); Carly Jibson (Hairspray); Jill Abramovitz (Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me); Orville Mendoza (Pacific Overtures, Adrift in Macao); Christopher Youngsman (Grease) and Michael Gerrard. Musical direction is by Torquil Munro (Blood Brothers), set designs are by David Newell with costuming by Karen Ann Ledger.
After attending one too many celebrity memorial services whose sole purpose seemed to be to entertain and had precious little to do with the dearly departed, the creators began writing Bye, Bye Big Guy as a comment on our national obsession with celebrity.
Tickets for Bye, Bye Big Guy are $15. Bye, Bye Big Guy plays August 20th – 25th at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher St. (between Bleecker St. and Hudson St.). For tickets, call (212) 279-4488 or visit www.fringeNYC.org. For more information, please visit http://byebyebigguy.com.
About the Creative Team
David Evans (Music) As a composer, Off-Broadway productions of Birds of Paradise (Drama Desk nomination) and Children’s Letters To God have been followed by many regional productions of those shows. Another, Love Comics, has had several regional productions, and he has written songs for several Off-Broadway revues, including A...My Name is Alice, and for television shows, including "Sesame Street" and "Square One TV." Also, nine family musicals for Theatreworks/USA and two for Tada. Currently Associate Conductor of Wicked, his piano/conducting credits include recent revivals of Flower Drum Song and Bells Are Ringing, Marie Christine and Hello Again at Lincoln Center, and As Thousands Cheer at the Drama Dept.
Faye Greenberg (Lyrics) was part of Disney”s enormously successful television musical “High School Musical” as well as a contributor to “Cheetah Girls 2”. She has worked extensively in television and theater and her songs have been performed by Eric McCormack, Ann-Margaret, Rebecca Luker, Randy Graff, Earth, Wind & Fire and Loretta Devine to name but a few. She and long time collaborators David Evans & Michael Slade have written many shows for Theatreworks/USA and she is currently working with Blake Edwards and composer/orchestrator David Lawrence on the musical Big Rosemary as well as completing new songs for “High School Musical 2” and Hallmark’s “Bert & Becca”.
Michael Slade (Book) is a playwright, librettist, children’s author, Emmy and Writer’s Guild Award-nominated writer. Plays includes: Thanksgiving (MCC, EST, Edinburgh Festival); Christmas, New Years (2nd Street Theater, Bend, OR); And A Child Shall Lead (Lamb’s Theatre, NYC; Tower Theatre, Bend, OR); Gingerbread Children (Lark Theatre, NYC); Pokemon Live (Radio City, National/International Tours); Nine Theatreworks/USA musicals. His novel, The Horses of Central Park was awarded the Isar Children’s Literature Award. Television credits include: “Charles Schulz: A Charlie Brown Life” for A&E’s biography for kids. He is currently working with composer Melissa Manchester and lyricist Sharon Vaughn on a new musical, Blue.
Devanand Janki (Director/Choreographer) directed and choreographed the Off- B’way hit Zanna, Don't! winner of the Lortel, Callaway & GLAAD Media Awards. Other credits: Junie B. Jones (Lortel nomination), Cupid & Psyche and Henry & Mudge (Lortel nomination). Broadway concerts of Funny Girl featuring 16 Fanny Brices including Whoopi Goldberg, Bebe Neuwirth and Jane Krakowski; the Grammy nominated Hair with Jennifer Hudson and the 20th Anniversary production of Dreamgirls. He conceived and directed the 25th anniversary original cast reunion of A Chorus Line at the Palace Theatre and created the opening number for BC/EFA's Nothing Like a Dame VI, featuring Chita Rivera and 24 other Anitas. Lincoln Center credits: Amahl and the Night Visitors and Babes in Toyland at Avery Fisher Hall; Anything Goes in concert at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. Regional: Man of La Mancha (Maltz Jupiter Theatre), The Full Monty (Foothills Theatre), The Scarlet Pimpernel (Gateway Playhouse), How Can You Run with a Shell on Your Back? (Chicago Shakespeare) and the World Premiere of Andrew Lippa’s Asphalt Beach (AMPT); One Man's Dream II for Tokyo Disney; 9 years as artistic associate for Broadway Bares. Corporate industrials for Coca-Cola, MAC Cosmetics, Ben Moore Paints and Dove. Most recently, he directed Annie: The Concert starring Andrea McArdle and Rosie O’Donnell for R family Cruises. As a performer Dev has appeared on Broadway in Miss Saigon, Cats, The King & I, Side Show and tours of A Chorus Line and West Side Story. www.devanandjanki.com
