Pygmalion Adds Five Songs and Delays Workshops Until January | Playbill

Related Articles
News Pygmalion Adds Five Songs and Delays Workshops Until January Following a reading of her rock 'n' roll version of Shaw's Pygmalion at the Westbeth Theatre Center in New York City, theatre publicist and impresario Judy Jacksina has added five songs to the show and bumped the next two workshops into January, Playbill On-Line has learned.

Following a reading of her rock 'n' roll version of Shaw's Pygmalion at the Westbeth Theatre Center in New York City, theatre publicist and impresario Judy Jacksina has added five songs to the show and bumped the next two workshops into January, Playbill On-Line has learned.

Jacksina said the workshops originally planned for the Westbeth Nov. 29 have been tentatively rescheduled for Jan. 28 and 29.

Four songs have also been added to the show, with a fifth additional song pending clearance by the publisher. Pygmalion will now feature Roy Orbison's "Mean Woman Blues" and "It's Over," Maurice Williams' "Stay," and Toy Caldwell's "Can't You See," which was popularized by the Marshall Tucker Band.

Private readings for Pygmalion took place Sept. 23 and Sept. 24 with cast members Gordon Joseph Weiss, Stephen Byers, Jessica Merritt, Sarah K. Lippman, Terria Joseph, Christian Johnstone, Celia Montgomery, Paul Lee, Jake Myers, Rosie McGuire, Michael Worth and Ellen Barber. The choir comprises Albert Christmas, Enrique Cruz DeJesus, Kevin Michael Kennedy, Jackie Patterson, Miron Lockett, Maurice Wright and the four divas, Daria Hardeman, Adrienne Hurd, La Toya Brown and Alyson Williams as the archangel. Jacksina indicated that this cast would be doing the January workshop.

With the additional numbers, the musical will feature as many as 50 songs from the '60s as performed by the Heavenly Choir (all male) and the Devastating Divas (all female). As reported earlier, Jacksina told Playbill On-Line that she set Pygmalion on London's Carnaby Street, circa 1962, in part because it was "one of the last times you could tell what people were thinking from what they were wearing."

"You had the Mods and the Rockers, as well as the upper, middle and lower society," Jacksina said. "The music of the day evened the social playing field and when the Beatles started making all that money, people took notice. I think a lot of that represents what's happening in Pygmalion, both socially and sexually, so I combined it. You know that feeling when a rock concert takes flight? Well, imagine that with Pygmalion and that's what we have."

For information on Pygmalion, call (212) 221-8361.

-- By Murdoch McBride

 
RELATED:
Today’s Most Popular News:
 X

Blocking belongs
on the stage,
not on websites.

Our website is made possible by
displaying online advertisements to our visitors.

Please consider supporting us by
whitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.
Thank you!