You can’t throw a stone, in this city, and not find a great theatrical treat! The holidays are especially packed with goodies and In Fields Where They Lay, with music by Ricardo Pérez González and directed by Brad Raimondo, is getting strong buzz!
The play playing at the New Ohio Theatre, (154 Christopher St) opened on 12/5 and runs until 12/27.
In Fields Where They Lay commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Christmas Truce, the spontaneous ceasefire that occurred all along the Western Front, during the first year of the war.
The casting is the result of director, Brad Raimondo’s keen vision.
That included selecting British born, Nigerian actor Equiano Mosieri, who we profiled last week.
In regard to the casting choices, Raimondo shared this: “In Fields Where They Lay has always been a very tricky play to cast because it's an epic story told on a very human scale. So we need an ensemble that can bring the intimacy and immediacy, while capturing a sense of the period and the grandeur of this incredible moment in time,” he says. “That's why I'm so pleased that we've assembled a cast with so much Shakespearean experience -- veterans from Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (Jeff Gonzalez), Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (Jeff Gonzalez), and Alabama Shakespeare (Joe Kolbow). Because although this play is very contemporary, it also asks a lot of the same things of an actor that Shakespeare does.”
The bright cast also includes Stephen James Anthony, who rose from puppeteer to assume the role of Billy Narracott, in the Tony-winning production of War Horse, playing Private Thomas Pfeiffer.
His character is loosely based on Harry Patch, Britain’s last surviving WWI soldier who passed away in 2009 at the ripe old age of 111. Spencer Davis Milford, who played Ronnie Winslow in the critically acclaimed Roundabout Theater revival of the Old Vic Production of The Winslow Boy, opposite Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Michael Rees, plays Private Theodore “Teddy” Jones, a 16-year-old who enlists for battle by falsifying his age.
The Christmas Truce, according to those who witnessed it, began with a spontaneous outbreak of Christmas Carols across “No Man’s Land”, five months into the War to End All Wars, on Christmas Eve 1914. Playwright Ricardo Pérez González has beautifully captured this singular moment in time, when the sounds of war were silenced.
In Fields Where They Lay will be presented as part of New Ohio Hosts, New Ohio Theatre’s curated rental program, which provides subsidized theatre space to innovative, not-for-profit theatre companies and independent theatre artists.
Tickets for In Fields Where They Lay are now on sale at www.dreamscapetheatre.org or by calling, 888-596-1027.
“ F U N H O M E ”
Fun Home, the acclaimed Broadway is coming this Spring!
It’s time for fun with the new musical Fun Home coming to Broadway this Spring. The performances begin at Circle in the Square on March 27, 2015 and the big opening day, with all it’s bells and whistles is April 19th.
The savvy producers, Fox Theatricals (Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson) and Barbara Whitman know the value of having a Tony® Award-winnesr on board, so they cast a few to make Fun Home — fun!
Tony® Award-winning Michael Cerveris (‘Bruce Bechdel’), three time Tony® Award nominee Judy Kuhn(‘Helen Bechdel’), join Beth Malone (‘Alison’), Obie Award-winner Sydney Lucas (‘Small Alison’),and Emily Skeggs (‘Medium Alison’)
Returning to the cast is Joel Perez and Roberta Colindrez with Zell Morrow and Oscar Williams joining the production as Alison’s brothers John and Christian respectively. With music by four-time Tony® Award nominee Jeanine Tesori, a book and lyrics by Tony® Award nominee Lisa Kron and direction by Drama Desk nominee Sam Gold.
Pronounced “a beautiful, heartbreaker of a musical” by the New York Times, Fun Home is the groundbreaking new Broadway musical based on Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic memoir.
Rummaging through a box of her father’s stuff, the memories of Alison’s uniquely dysfunctional family – her mother, brothers, and her volatile, brilliant, enigmatic father – connect with her in surprising, powerful and revealing new ways. Named “Best Musical of the Year” by the New York Times, New York Magazine, Daily News and more, Fun Home is a refreshingly honest coming-of-age story about seeing your parents through grown-up eyes.
Fun Home opened to rave reviews at The Public Theater in October 2013, and was quickly extended four times due to popular demand. It was named Best Musical by the New York Drama Critics Circle, and received the OBIE, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle and Off Broadway Alliance Awards in the 2013-2014 season; the musical was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The creative team of Fun Home also includes Danny Mefford (Choreography), David Zinn (Set and Costume Design), Ben Stanton (Lighting Design), Kai Harada (Sound Design) and Chris Fenwick (Music Direction).
Fun Home will be produced on Broadway by Fox Theatricals (Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson) and Barbara Whitman, along with Carole Shorenstein Hays, Tom Casserly, Paula Marie Black, Latitude Link, Terry Schnuck/Jack Lane, Nathan Vernon, Elizabeth Armstrong, JAM Theatricals and Scott M. Delman.
The Original Cast Recording of Fun Home is now available on PS Classics.
Critics’ Pick!
“A beautiful heartbreaker of a musical. Fun Home finds a shining clarity that lights up the night!
-- The New York Times
“Warm, Funny, Heartbreaking!”
-- Variety
“A collaboration to cherish! Lisa Kron knows precisely how to mix the demands of a musical and the brilliance of Bechdel’s memoir. Jeanine Tesori finds just the right voices.”
-- Newsday
