The meta-theatrical tale of four friends collaborating to create a new musical plays Signature's intimate 110-seat ARK Theatre. It continues to June 27.
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The musical was launched at the New York Musical Theatre Festival prior to Off-Broadway and then Broadway. A cast album preserves the work of composer-lyricist Jeff Bowen and Tony-nominated book writer Hunter Bell, who starred in the New York City incarnations of the musical.
The Signature cast also includes music director Gabriel Mangiante as onstage pianist Larry.
"When two struggling writers, Jeff and Hunter, decide to submit their own musical to a festival, they find the process of writing a musical itself more interesting than any play or movie they could adapt," according to Signature notes. "So assisted by actress friends Susan and Heidi (and Larry on the piano), they chose their subject — two friends writing about what to write about. [title of show] puts the audience right in the middle of the creative process — dizzy, unpredictable, and uproarious." Helen Hayes Award winner Matthew Gardiner directs the "love letter to musical theatre — a uniquely American art form — and to the joys of collaboration."
(In an ironic piece of casting, actor-writer James Gardiner, who wrote the book to the short-lived original Broadway musical Glory Days, which began at Signature, plays Hunter.)
The creative team includes scenic designer Adam Koch, costume designer Kristopher Castle, lighting designer Mark Lanks and sound designer Matt Rowe.
Tickets for [title of show] range from $52-$76 and are available by calling Ticketmaster at (703) 573-SEAT (7328) or visiting www.signature-theatre.org.
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Signature won the 2010 Tony Award for Regional Theatre.
