Part pop concert, part story theatre, part meta-musical, the show has a cult following due to its live concert cast recording on the PS Classics label, and earlier Manhattan and regional bookings.
This year's engagement Striking 12 will be videotaped for an upcoming DVD release. It will play seven performances at The Zipper Factory Theater (336 West 37th Street) Dec. 26-31.
The holiday-themed show centers on a handful of lost urban souls — modern and 19th-century — on New Year's Eve. Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Match Girl" is a central spark in the tale, which tugs at a traditionalist's heart but also prompts laughter from the most jaded of hipsters.
The collaborators are Tony Award winner Rachel Sheinkin (book), Brendan Milburn (book, music, lyrics) and Valerie Vigoda (book, music, lyrics). The tale is told and sung by GrooveLily's Milburn (keyboards), Vigoda (electric violin) and drummer Gene Lewin.
Here's how the Zipper bills it: "Combining pop-rock, musical comedy and old-fashioned uplift with a healthy dose of 21st-century skepticism, Striking 12 is the story of a Grumpy Guy who decides to avoid the hectic, loveless world on New Year's Eve, until he’s visited by an incandescent salesgirl with the promise to chase away his winter doldrums." Sheinkin wrote the book to The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (winning a Tony for her work) and the book to the new Little House on the Prairie musical.
Milburn and Vigoda's new musical, Long Story Short, will premiere at Pittsburgh's City Theatre Oct. 23.
Vigoda and Milburn are the winners of a 2006 Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award for Excellence in Writing for the Theater.
The New York City trio GrooveLily creates music that draws on traditions of rock, folk, jazz, pop and theatre.
Striking 12 was nominated for a 2007 Lucille Lortel Award For Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical.
The Striking 12 script and score are also available in a larger-cast "theatrical" version that does not rely on multi-tasking pop singers, though critics have embraced GrooveLily's approach; their less-is-more storytelling stimulates the imagination.
The critically acclaimed Striking 12 will play the following schedule: Friday, Dec. 26 at 8 PM; Saturday, Dec. 27 at 3 & 8 PM; Monday, Dec. 29 at 8 PM; Tuesday, Dec. 30 at 3 & 8 PM, Wednesday, Dec. 31 at 8 PM.
For more information, visit www.groovelily.com. Tickets for Striking 12 are $35 and are available in advance by phone (212) 352-3101 or online at www.thezipperfactory.com.
