Musical Spoof Gutenberg! Gets Off-Broadway Commercial Run | Playbill

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News Musical Spoof Gutenberg! Gets Off-Broadway Commercial Run Gutenberg! The Musical!, hailed as one of the funniest showbiz musical spoofs this side of The Producers, will get a ten-week limited commercial engagement in Greenwich Village starting Jan. 16.

The musical comedy by Scott Brown and Anthony King that is directed by Obie Award winner Alex Timbers will transfer to Off-Broadway's The Actors' Playhouse, 100 Seventh Avenue South, following a critically acclaimed limited engagement at 59E59 Theaters, where it played from Nov. 21-Dec. 31, 2006.

Gutenberg! The Musical! will again star Christopher Fitzgerald and Jeremy Shamos, who also appeared in the New York Musical Theatre Festival run of the show earlier last fall. Opening at Actors' Playhouse is Jan. 21.

The production's commercial aspirations were fairly obvious: Major Broadway producers Ron Kastner and Terry Allen Kramer (with partners) were behind the commercial test run at 59E59 Theaters in November and December.

"In this two-man musical spoof, a pair of aspiring playwrights, Bud Davenport (Fitzgerald) and Doug Simon (Shamos), perform a backers' audition for their new project — a big, splashy musical about printing press inventor Johann Gutenberg," according to the producers. "With an unending supply of enthusiasm, Bud and Doug sing all the songs and play all the parts in their crass historical epic, with the hope that one of the producers in attendance will give them a Broadway contract — fulfilling their ill-advised dreams."

Gutenberg! The Musical! is presented Off-Broadway by Trevor Brown, Ron Kastner, Terry Allen Kramer and Joseph Smith in association with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. Gutenberg! The Musical! marks the first Off-Broadway transfer for the acclaimed Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, where it was originally developed in 2003. UCBT showcased an excerpt of the musical at the 2005 New York Musical Theatre Festival as part of the NYMF Comedy Series. The show subsequently had its world premiere in a critically acclaimed production at The Jermyn Street Theatre in London in January 2006. All of these presentations and productions were devised and performed by the authors, Scott Brown and Anthony King.

The U.S. premiere of Gutenberg! The Musical!, starring Christopher Fitzgerald and Jeremy Shamos, was presented in September 2006 as part of the third annual New York Musical Theatre Festival, where it received three NYMF Awards – one for Excellence in Musical Theatre Writing (Book) for Scott Brown and Anthony King, and two for Outstanding Individual Performances for both Fitzgerald and Shamos.

The company of Gutenberg! The Musical! also includes Ryan Karels. Gutenberg! The Musical! has musical direction and arrangements by T.O. Sterrett. The musical has lighting design by Tyler Micoleau and costume design by Emily Rebholz.

The performance schedule for Gutenberg! The Musical! will be Tuesday through Friday at 8 PM, Saturday at 7 and 10 PM, and Sunday at 3 and 7 PM.

Tickets for Gutenberg! The Musical! are scaled at $25-$50 and are now available via Telecharge.com at (212) 239-6200.

For more information, visit www.gutenbergthemusical.com.

 
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