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27 Rue de Fleurus (My Life with Gertrude)
[20719]

$9.95

ISBN 978-0-573-66360-4

Ted Sod & Lisa Koch

Musical

Unit Set

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.

“27 Rue de Fleurus gets its sweetness from a genuine love of its subject, the “marriage” of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. The music is well handled by John Bell; and the all-female cast sings excellently.” – The Village Voice

”What we have here is a love story, fraught with jealousy and passion like others, but most of all, it celebrates the incredible bond between two women who decided to share their lives, even during a time when it was relatively unheard of. That alone makes 27 Rue de Fleurus worth an evening of your time.” – GO Magazine

“Ms. Rosenblat, who, seated, resembles portraits of Stein, plays Gertrude as a commanding bully. And Ms. Stern’s Alice is a bright, attractive creature. (“Everyone is entitled to a bit of fantasy,” she says.) They’re strong, plausible performances.” – The New York Times

“Credit Ted Sod and Lisa Koch, writers of 27 Rue de Fleurus, with the provocative notion of fashioning a revisionist musical from Alice B. Toklas’ corrective version of her life with literary giant Gertrude Stein. Name-dropping opening number “Salon (Let’s Talk)” sets the smart tone for the musical’s mise en scene -- the Parisian apartment at 27 Rue de Fleurus where Gertrude (Barbara Rosenblat) and her companion Alice (Cheryl Stern) preside over a fashionable literary salon that attracts artists and writers of international renown, as well as the occasional American feminist and Hollywood movie star. It’s an inviting scene, to be sure.” – Variety

“This is Alice’s turn, Alice’s attempt to put herself center stage and give her version of being “the woman behind the woman.” The show’s opening has a genuine brightness as Alice introduces herself as a transformed glamorous creature, the Alice she wanted to see in the mirror. We enter the salon of 27 Rue de Fleurus, where Alice has come to live and Gertrude bluntly sings, “Be my wife, Alice/Give up your life, Alice.” The two opening songs — “Salon (Let’s Talk)” and “Genius” — glow with good humor and witty lyrics and set the salon as the place to be. As well as Picasso and Fitzgerald, it’s also the scene for Mabel Dodge, Sylvia Beach, Marian Walker, and even Jean Harlow.” - Backstage

“Bookwriter Ted Sod, who collaborated on the lyrics with Lisa Koch, have both done the most important thing right: They’ve made Stein and Toklas human beings who are struggling through the confines of a marriage, with Stein “playing” the husband, and Toklas the wife. Koch sure likes to write waltzes; not since Night Music has a score contained so many. But they’re all lovely-to-beautiful. The opening is a good deal of fun, because the waltz plays against all the ungainly subjects Gertrude, Alice, and their guests discuss.” – Theatremania

Terms quoted on application. Music available on rental.

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