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Book and lyrics by Christopher Durang Score by Mel Marvin Musical 9m, 6f Various sets Recently revised--now with an updated ending! A hilarious take off on American films, especially from the 1930s through the 1950s. The principals play a variety of characters. There is a Cagney/Bogart/Dean/Brando type-and a Fonda/Stewart/ Peck/Perkins type. The women, too, are types-basically Bette Davis, Loretta Young and Eve Arden. The parts they play are wild parodies from many Hollywood genres; a silent tearjerker, slum idyll, gangster epic, courtroom melodrama, chain gang social justice thriller, screwball comedy, Busby Berkeley backstage musical, war propaganda canteen musical-not to forget "Casablanca," "Citizen Kane" and a variety of minor genres. "The special gifts Durang brings to this work, apart from a sharp eye for genre parody are a sense of the misguided way we watch movies-making stars, ignoring the character in favor of the actor, wallowing in the kitschier moments-and an equally lethal sense of how Hollywood played on our sentimentalities by using the actor and the kitsch forms to put junky ideas across."-Village Voice "Authentic, inspired and possessed comedy...A very funny carnival."-The New York Times Terms quoted on application. Music available on rental. Standard rental package includes: 2 Piano/Conductor’s Scores Reed I (Flute, Piccolo, Clarinet, Soprano & Alto Saxophones) Reed II (Flute, Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone) Reed III (Bass Clarinet, Alto & Baritone Saxophones) Trumpets I & II Trombone Percussion Auxiliary Percussion Drums Violin I Violin II Viola Cello Bass Guitar (No Chorus Books available.) Other Christopher Durang titles available from Samuel French include:
Adrift in MacaoBeyond Therapy A History of the American Film Laugh Lines: Short Comic Plays Miss Witherspoon Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge
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