The Vineyard Theatre has added the musical [title of show] to its season. The tuner, by Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell, is scheduled to begin performances in February.
[title of show] centers on two struggling writers, Jeff and Hunter, who race to write and submit a show to a theatre festival in just weeks away. When they enlist two of their friends to be in it, all four embark on a breathless, sweat-drenched journey. Will they finish in time? Will they keep their friendships intact? Will they get over their negative Broadway.com review? Chronicling the story of its own creation, [title of show] is a glimpse behind-the-scenes into just what it takes to get a new musical from conception to opening night.
The show, directed and choreographed by Michael Berresse, was featured as part of the 2004 New York Musical Theatre Festival. It also recently played for several days at Ars Nova. In his Broadway.com Review of the New York Musical Theatre Festival mounting, Kevin Manganaro wrote: "It is basically a study of the four characters, so everything rests on whether or not the audience likes spending an hour and a half with them. But these aren't characters; these are real people, which are just like characters, only much less interesting. Bowen and Bell are both gifted performers, and many of Bell's book scenes capture an accurate conversational tone, but they never really connect with the audience. But, to their credit, it's not for lack of trying. They put an admirable effort into their work, but in the end the show isn't very strong, and too many jokes about moving downstage to express emotion grow very, very tiring."
The addition of [title of show] has caused a shift in the Vineyard schedule. Mary Pat Gleason's one-woman piece Between Seconds, which was scheduled to occupy the Vineyard's winter slot, will now begin performances in May. Lonny Price directs.
