Trolls to Close at Actors Playhouse; Joy Will Be Next Tenant

The off-Broadway musical Trolls will end its run at the Actors Playhouse on July 17. At the time it closes, it will have played 17 previews and 71 regular performances.

Trolls explores the lives of middle-aged gay men who realize that "growing old isn't for sissies." Through song and dance, these men not only celebrate a departed friend's life but also rediscover the ability to celebrate their own as they address the universal themes of aging, relationships and the undying kinship of true friends. The tuner features a book and lyrics by Bill Dyer and music by Richard DeBenedictis.

Trolls, directed by Pamela Hall, officially opened off-Broadway on May 19. In his Broadway.com review of the tuner, Ron Lasko wrote: "Trolls is quite amiable, even charming at times, despite its liberal use of gay clichés. But it is also sadly afflicted with multiple personality disorder. It wants desperately to be a musical comedy, and its biggest successes are in this department. Richard DeBenedictis' music recalls those old Hollywood musicals with a touch of disco thrown in for good measure… Bill Dyer has written some amusing lyrics and his book is generously peppered with all of the bitchy witticism and one-liners that we've grown to expect from gay theater. All the musical comedy trappings are in deep conflict with a play that is set at a memorial service."

The next tenant at the Actors Playhouse will be John Fisher's Joy, which ran at the Producers Club earlier this year. The play centers on a group of college friends as they fall in and out of love in San Francisco over the course of a year. Ken Barnett, Michael Busillo, Ben Curtis, January LaVoy, Brooke Sunny Moriber, Christopher Sloan and Paul Whitthorne star. Ben Rimalower directs the piece, which is scheduled to begin performances on July 31 in preparation for an August 14 opening.