Press Release: Scrooge in Rouge, an English Music Hall Christmas Carol

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ReVision Theatre in Asbury Park Announces

The East Coast Premiere of

Scrooge in Rouge

An English Music Hall Christmas Carol

3 actors play 23 roles in the fast paced, quick change musical

A Holiday Family Comedy

December 4^th-28^th

Asbury Park, New Jersey – ReVision Theatre kicks off  their 2008–2009 inaugural season with the holiday family musical comedy, Scrooge in Rouge, an English Music Hall Christmas Carol, is a fast paced, quick change musical version of the Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol, set in a Victorian music hall where three actors perform 23 characters.  Running December 4^th – 28^th, ReVision Theatre will present the East Coast Premiere of the show which was created last holiday season in New Orleans.  Directed by Michael Barakiva the cast features Linda Marie Larson (Broadway’s Jackie, Deuce, Morning’s at Seven), Katherine Pecevich (National Tour of Annie), and Doug Shapiro.  The show is choreographed by Mimi Quillin and music directed by Justin Stoney, who will also be at piano.  The creative team includes scenic design by Kip Marsh, costume design by Abby Walton, lighting design by Nick Francone, and sound design by Benjamin Furiga.

The show was created by a company of actors at the cabaret Le Chat Noir, with book and lyrics by Ricky Graham, additional material by Jeffery Roberson (aka Varla Jean Merman), other interesting bits by Yvette Hargis, and original music composed by Jefferson Turner.

A mixture of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Noises Off, Scrooge in Rouge is a Victorian-era music hall version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, in which 17 members of the Royal Music Hall 20-Member Variety Players have taken ill from the cast party the night before, leaving only Charlie Schmaltz (Shapiro), an animated character actor; Lottie Obligato (Larson), a bubbly, over-the-hill ingénue; and Vesta Virile (Pecevich), a male impersonating diva, to play and sing all the male and female parts in the show. The Gambit Weekly wrote, “Though we tend to associate this type of gender bending with our confused, postmodern world, it actually has a history on the stage that reaches back to music hall entertainment and beyond.”

Scrooge in Rouge, an English Music Hall Christmas Carol will preview on Thursday, December 4th and open on Friday, December 5th and run through Sunday, December 28.  Performance times are: Thursday at 8:00 pm, Friday & Saturday at 8:00 pm, and Sunday at 7:00 pm.  Scrooge in Rouge will be performed at the VFW Hall, 701 Lake Avenue, in Asbury Park.  ReVision Theatre will be transforming this 100 year old building into a 350 seat theatre.  Single adult tickets, priced $35 and $25, and half price tickets for children under 12 are now on sale.  Call the ReVision Theatre box office at 732-455-3059 or go on line at www.ReVisionTheatre.org for tickets and information.

                                                                                                                     

ReVision Theatre is a non-profit 501(c)3 professional regional theatre company dedicated to producing invigorating theatre with a fresh new perspective reaching the diverse community of Asbury Park and Monmouth County. ReVision Theatre produces reinventions of previously produced classics, overlooked or forgotten work in a new way, and new work with a fresh voice. The company serves as a home for local artists and writers. ReVision Theatre also believes in the importance of theatre education and teaches children and adult theatre classes. ReVision Theatre produces readings, workshops, cabarets, concerts, and mainstage productions.  ReVision Theatre’s 2008-2009 Season includes the new hip hop musical, Kingdom (April 16-May 3), a one night only benefit performance of Steven Brinberg as Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl (July 11), and the blockbuster musical, The Full Monty (August 12-September 6).

Visit www.RevisionTheatre.org or call 732-455-3059 for show calendars and more information.

Fast Facts:

Who:                ReVision Theatre

David E. Leidholdt, Thomas Morrissey, and Stephen Bishop Seely

Producing Artistic Directors

                        PO BOX 973, Asbury Park, New Jersey 07712

What:               Scrooge in Rouge, an English Music Hall Christmas Carol

                        East Coast Premiere

                        December 4^th – 28^th, 2008

                        Book & Lyrics by Ricky Graham

Additional Material by Jeffery Roberson

Other Interesting Bits by Yvette Hargis

Music by Jefferson Turner

Directed by Michael Barakiva

Choreographed by Mimi Quillin

Music Directed by Justin Stoney

Scenic Design by Kip Marsh

Lighting Design by Nick Francone

Sound Design by Benjamin Furiga

Costume Design by Abby Walton

Cast includes Lisa Marie Larson (Lottie), Katherine Pecevich (Vesta), &

Doug Shapiro (Charlie)

When:              December 4^th – 28^th

                        Thursdays, Fridays, & Saturdays at 8:00 pm

Sundays at 7:00 pm

(No show on Christmas Day)

Friday, December 26th at 8:00 pm

Saturday, December 27th at 3:00 pm & 8:00 pm

Sunday, December 28th at 3:00 pm

Where:             VFW Hall

701 Lake Avenue

Asbury Park, New Jersey 07712

Entrance on Bond Street between Lake and Cookman Avenues

How:                Buy tickets online at www.ReVisionTheatre.org

                        Or call 732-455-3059. 

Adults $35.00 & $25.00

Children under 12 $17.50 & $12.50

Limited seating is available.

ReVision Theatre Announces 2008-2009 Season

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 

ReVision Theatre in Asbury Park Announces 

2008-2009 Premiere Season
4 MUSICALS --2 BRAND NEW AND 2 REVISIONED
A Christmas Family Musical Comedy, Scrooge in Rouge
Steven Brinberg as Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl

 

Asbury Park, New Jersey – After a successful run of Hair at the Carousel House, ReVision Theatre announces their 2008-2009 Premiere Season.  
 
The 2008 – 2009 inaugural season begins with the east coast premiere of the family musical comedy, Scrooge in Rouge, an English Music Hall Christmas Carol (written by Ricky Graham, Jeffery Roberson, Yvette Hargis, and Jefferson Turner).  Set in a British Music Hall in the 1800s, three actors perform 23 characters in the musical version of the Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol.  A mixture of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Noises Off, this fast paced comedy will be performed at VFW Hall, 701 Lake Avenue, on December 4th through December 28th in Asbury Park.  The show will be directed by Michael Barakiva, choreographed by Mimi Quillin, and music directed by Justin Stoney.  The cast includes Linda Marie Larson (Broadway’s Jackie, Deuce, Morning’s at Seven), Katherin Pecevich (National Tour of Annie), and Doug Shapiro.
 
A controversial new musical, Kingdom, is scheduled for ReVision Theatre’s Spring slot.  The music is by Ian Williams and the book and lyrics are by Aaron Jaferis. This hip hop style musical is inspired by the true stories of current and former gang members of the Latin Kings.  The show chronicles the journey of two kids from the barrio in a quest to belong and the power struggle that tears the two friends apart.  The show will be performed April 16th through May 3rd at the VFW Hall, 701 Lake Avenue in Asbury Park.
 
The Second Annual ReVision Theatre Benefit Concert is set for Saturday, July 11, 2009.  This season, the one night only performance will star Steven Brinberg as Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl.  Steven Brinberg, the premiere Barbra Streisand impressionist, will star in the lead role of Fanny Brice.  This will be the first time in history that a man will play the female lead.  This special performance will be directed and choreographed by Connor Gallagher and music directed by John Fischer.
 
The Full Monty will be the finale to ReVision Theatre’s season with performances August 12th through September 6that the Carousel on the Boardwalk, 700 Ocean Avenue in Asbury Park.  The story of unemployed steel workers frustrated with life, women, and work decide that regardless of looks or ability they are going to be the best male strippers anyone has ever seen! In the process they find renewed self-esteem, the importance of friendship and the ability to have fun.
 
Single tickets and season subscriptions are available online at www.ReVisionTheatre.org or by phone 732-455-3059.
 
ReVision Theatre is a non-profit 501(c)3 professional regional theatre company dedicated to producing invigorating theatre with a fresh new perspective reaching the diverse community of Asbury Park and Monmouth County. ReVision Theatre produces reinventions of previously produced classics, overlooked or forgotten work in a new way, and new work with a fresh voice. The company serves as a home for local artists and writers. ReVision Theatre also believes in the importance of theatre education and teaches children and adult theatre classes. ReVision Theatre produces readings, workshops, cabarets, concerts, and mainstage productions.  
 
Visit www.RevisionTheatre.org or call 732-455-3059 for show calendars and more information.
 

November 4th by the writer of Kingdom

Hip hop poem about the election. Words by Aaron Jafferis. Music by KronZilla. Thanks to Angela, April, Daniene, Derrick, Dexter, Dontae, Doug, Gabe, Hillary, Jay, Jessie, Joel, Kesa, Laki, Layla, Liz, Magalis, Mike, Red.

---------------------------

Lyrics:

My father was African, my mother American.
I have brothers blue-black, and cousins with fairer skin
who pale in comparison to Sarah Palin.
Like blues, my family trees roots shoot
deep through the earth, but only in America
could my parents have given birth to me.
Conceived when cultures
collided and made love, previously divided states
(of mind) united and gave blood and life.
Husband and wife split the difference between
hope and change, between cope and pain,
and even though they split, all of it their hope and pain
still fit in their sons open brain
and over time became his/my over-arching aim:
give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses,
give me liberty from war, lift, lift the underclasses,
and if this economy looks fundamentally strong,
your fundamentals are wrong
or youre looking through muddy glasses,
or your fundamental heads are stuck up your metaphorical...

Ask me who I am, and I will tell you true:
my name is not Barack, though this is his story too.
My name is hip hop. Its my history Im telling you:

My father was African, my mother American.
I have brothers blue-black, and cousins with fairer skin
who pale in comparison to Sarah Palin, who isnt
the only illustration of true-blooded Americanism.
Like blues, I am he whose family trees
roots shoot deep through the earth,
but only America could have given birth to me.
I was given the gift of speech, and I use it
to outreach and uplift the youth, and if you
wanna use me as a servant to you in order to form
a more perfect union, then do...organize

and do mobilize and open eyes to truth and show that lies
misled the poor and led to war and broken lives.
Do give the tools to cope and rise,
and as the movement grows in size
and breaks the ropes that hope defies,
and as the youth vote multiplies,
well break the race right open wide,
wide open eyes will vote
and take this nation by surprise. Surprise!

I am the native son, the bought and traded one,
the sometimes hated drum talking of change to come,
I am the underrated, the wonder-if-hell-make-it one,
the character-assassinated but still not jaded son,
even though over time I become the front-page-aided one,
the allegedly overrated, celebrity-associated one,
some people thought I blew up and went pop-
ular, grew up and then dropped the urban
working class who, from first to last, I have worked
to bring from last to first, and if you think my values
are in trouble...your (thought) bubble is burst.
I still cast my lot with the tired, the poor,
the huddled masses. Give me liberty from war,
lift, lift the underclasses, and if this economy
looks fundamentally strong, your fundamentals are wrong
or youre lookin through muddy glasses,
or your fundamental heads are stuck up your metaphorical...

As for us:
if hip hop is the entrance to what is in store
lit hot from the embers of what came before,
if Barack is the belief that God demands more
than a war in Iraq and abandoning the poor,
if America can stare itself in the face and be sure
we want to end poverty, and end endless war,
then we are the ones we have been waiting for.
You are the ones you have been waiting for.

Your name is...My name is...
Our name is...
Our name is America, our very existence, a miracle.
We survived insistent attempts to make our lives unbearable.
Dehumanize us, brutalize and downsize divide us,
still we rise through the work of the multitudes inside us.
Though generations have lived and died,
we pride ourselves on our youth
and keep our eyes on the prize of that self-evident truth
that we know is not a lie even though Americas broke:
Our birthright is equality. Our inheritance is hope.
Our name is America, and you better be ready,
cause on the 4th of November, we are going to vote.

ReVISIONIST HISTORY IN THE MAKING

by Tom Chesek
Red Bank Orbit

Steven Brinberg brings his uncanny and un-campy Streisand characterization back to Asbury Park, when ReVision Theatre Company presents a special performance of FUNNY GIRL.

Red Bank has the Two River Theater Company and its gleaming, glass-facade showplace of a home stage. Long Branch boasts the New Jersey Repertory Company, which works some pretty potent magic in its converted downtown storefront while they preparing for an eventual move to new custom-made digs.

There’s a third professional stage company headquartered in this neck of Monmouth County, and if you haven’t quite processed the name ReVision Theatre Company, don’t sweat it. The based-in-Asbury Park troupe is still really getting itself established, having set up shop in Asbury’s historic VFW building with a busy slate of classes, workshops and readings.

And when we say it’s “based in Asbury,” we do mean that its members use the whole city as their canvas; inhabiting historic halls, rejuvenated business buildings and long-vacant boardwalk structures like a bunch of wondrous hermit crabs.

These are the guys, after all, who famously teamed with boardwalk developers Madison Marquette to convert the amazing Carousel building into a viable venue for live performance — something it had never managed to be in its long history — when they mounted their smash revival of Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical last summer. And to think they almost considered moving to Paducah.

An actual season’s worth of entertainments was always on the drawing board for ReVision’s triad of Producing Artistic Directors (Thomas Morrissey, David Leidholdt and Stephen Bishop Seely; all veterans of Manhattan’s Genesius Theatre), and this past Saturday night, the partners and board president Bob Angelini convened a special season announcement party at Mattison Park Restaurant, itself a re-visioned bank building. Red Bank oRBit, as you probably figured, was on the scene, working the room and knocking back rootbeer martinis.

The cast of ReVision Theatre’s HAIR posed with the groundbreaking show’s co-creator James Rado, when he took in one of their sold-out performances last August.

Cast members of Hair were on hand, performing numbers from the 1967 show as well as from a couple of the new projects announced onstage by the producing partners. As Liedholdt, Morrissey and Seely revealed to the packed house, the ReVision company’s inaugural season begins in earnest on December 4, with the East Coast premiere of Scrooge in Rouge, a “British music hall Christmas Carol” that puts a manic spin on the well-roasted holiday chestnut.

In the comic piece conceived and adapted by book writer and lyricist Ricky Graham, a circa-1900 theatrical troupe is in the midst of preparations for their Christmas Carol show when seventeen of the twenty actors take ill — leaving three intrepid players to perform 23 Dickensian characters in what can only be described as a tour de farce. Presented at Asbury’s VFW Post 1333 on Lake Avenue and Bond Street, the show offers sixteen performances through December 28.

ReVision returns in 2009 with Kingdom, a “Hip Hop musical” study of two friends from the barrio whose need to belong — in this case, to the Nation of the Latin Kings — tears them apart. Featuring a score by Aaron Jafferis and Ian Williams, the show runs from April 16 to May 3 at the VFW building.

Last summer, the ReVision crew presented a one-shot fundraiser event at the historic Paramount Theatre; a revival of Hello Dolly! starring Carol Channing tribute artist Richard Skipper in the role made famous by Channing herself. “In the spirit of Dolly,” ReVision takes over the Paramount once again on July 11 for a benefit performance of the Jule Styne-Bob Merrill musical Funny Girl. Steven Brinberg, an actor-vocalist whose celebrated portrayal of Barbra Streisand has won him raves throughout the cabaret circuit (including Tim McLoone’s Supper Club) channels Babs as Fanny Brice in the show that made her a star.

Still coming together as we post this, ReVision’s summer-show production of The Full Monty comes to a location that’s yet to be determined, on the confirmed dates of August 12 through September 6. Acclaimed playwright Terrence McNally wrote the book to David Yazbek’s musicalization of the hit British film, in which a group of unemployed steelworkers find a new sense of purpose as male strippers. Doing this show in the round at the Carousel would make it the Full Monty and then some.

Info on single-ticket prices and subscription plans can be found right here. Watch Red Bank oRBit for updates; and we’ll let David Leidholdt have the last word.

“We have three specific challenges,” says the veteran director. “To find pieces that represent us, to develop shows that are able to be produced anywhere — and to get people off the beach and into the theatre!”

James Rado with the Cast of ReVision Theatre's Production of HAIR

Newsflash: Hippies Spotted In Asbury Park "Hair" on the Boardwalk

By Philip Dorian
Two River Times
August 22nd 2008

On opening night of Hair at the Carousel on the Asbury Park boardwalk, heavy rain (precipitation) fell during the song about snow (not precipitation). Dripping through the roof in several spots, including onto the stage, the rain did not dampen the spirits of the show's anti-Vietnam War protesters or of their adoring capacity audience. The particular scene is a hippie be-in, and the downpour brought us all, audience and cast, together for a precious two hours.
That's what Hair was supposed to do, before we traded tie-dye for navy blue and activism for going-along-to-get-along. Two years ago I wrote that Hair, 40 years after emerging as the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, had become passe and that its relevance might be mainly historical. Dated Hair is, but despite some valid criticisms, ReVision's quality re-vision makes for a valid time-study. Director Andy Goldberg imbued his energetic cast with respect for the era as well as the material.
Don't go to Hair looking for a plot or even a linear story. It's New York City, 1968. Claude (Casey Gensler), drafted to serve in Vietnam, vows to burn his draft card and refuse induction. In the end he does go, with predictable consequences.
Claude's tribe includes his sex-and-drugs-obsessed friend Berger (Scoop Slone); his girlfriend Sheila (Ephie Aardema); Jeanie (Julia Arazi), who's pregnant by Claude; Hud (Kyle Taylor Parker), a tough "colored" guy; sweet, vulnerable Crissy (Marah Meese); and diverse hippies.
Claude is ambivalent about serving, while Berger is in the 'hell no, I won't go' camp. Gensler and Slone, contrasting types, match up well. Their friendship rings true.
Musically, The Tribe rediscovers "Aquarius," Good Morning Starshine" and "Let the Sunshine In" with enthusiasm and "Frank Mills" gets the proper wistful treatment from Meese. Ms. Aardema, an accomplished singer, is a potent presence throughout, and Arazi makes of pregnant Jeanie the waif you want to protect. Britt Johnson's cameo as a curious tourist is a comic highlight.
Hair ushered in the era of amplification, and there is a tendency for companies to treat their theater spaces like 15,000-seat concert venues. ReVision is no exception. The band, offstage at the rear, provides excellent backing, but a sizeable portion of the lyrics is lost in vocal volume and over-amplification, a significant flaw, considering the absence of a coherent book. While a choreographer is listed, the dancing is free-form and more Stone Pony-ish than stageworthy.
On the big-plus side: Most of act two is Claude's war-themed hallucination. Vietnam is represented of course, as are the American Revolution, the Civil War, both World Wars and '60s Civil Rights issues. The extended scene can be as fuzzy as Claude's drug-addled brain, but here it's clear as a bell and ethereal all at once. Director Goldberg uses the Carousel's many aisles and levels, and costumer Steven Epstein's creations blend accuracy with a sense of humor. The second act works better here than anywhere else I've seen it.
The fortitude that turned the recently-decrepit carousel building into a viable theater venue is praiseworthy in itself. What a pleasure to see Asbury Park's Boardwalk, virtually deserted for decades, bustling again with shops, strolling couples, laughing teenagers and, would you believe, even theatergoers.
"Hair" runs through August 31 at The Carousel, south end of the Boardwalk in Asbury Park. Performances are Thurs-Fri at 8pm; Sat at 7 and 10:30; and Sun at 7pm. For tickets ($35): 732-455-3059 or online at www.revisiontheatre.org
About Hair's fleeting nude scene: Here it's semi. A few of the 17 hippies are starkers and a few topless, but the once-shocking display is redundant now anyway - silly even. Of far more importance, the audience is not invited on stage to dance with the cast after the curtain call. C'mon, ReVision; get with the program.

"Hair' grabs gold ring

Scoop Slone, Casey Gensler and Ephie Aardema are co-stars in ReVision Theatre Company's production of "Hair," being staged at the carousel house in Asbury Park.
(Dennis Carroll)

August 19, 2008

by TOM CHESEK, Asbury Park Press

What a piece of work is "Hair: the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical" that caught Broadway with its pants down more than 40 years ago.

Welded to its Summer of Love origins, devoid of all but the barest-bones plot points, populated by the sketchiest of characters, the 1967 show created by James Rado and Gerome Ragni might have been little more than a vanity project for its writer-stars if it weren't for one crucial distinction — those songs.

Working with composer Galt MacDermot, the authors crafted a set of generational anthems, emotional ballads and satiric sing-alongs that stand very well on their own, even as they shoulder the entire weight of moving the show along. All this, without owing a thing to the conventions of Tin Pan Alley's Golden Age.

Along the way to revolutionizing the whole musical template as practiced in postwar America, "Hair" managed to shed a number of Broadway bugaboos — against sex and drug references, interracial romancing and liberal dropping of the f-bomb, to name but a few. Most of all, it's famous for the shedding of clothing, which the cast does during the "Be-In" sequence that forms the climax to the first act.

ReVision Theatre Company, the new professional troupe based in Asbury Park, has selected this unorthodox show as its first extended-engagement production — and they've opted to do it in an unorthodox venue, the Carousel building that adjoins the old Casino at the south end of the boardwalk.

Unless you're a recovering 1990s skate punk, you probably haven't been inside that historic roundhouse for many years; not since the hand-painted ponies of the old wooden ride stampeded out of state. Boardwalk developer Madison Marquette has done a tremendous job getting the unique structure up to speed as a live performance venue, a purpose it was never designed for.

Director Andy Goldberg (whose 1970s-retro tribute to the Aussie pop group Boney M was a smash on European stages) and the ReVision team have also worked hard in orienting this show to its unusual space, keeping the cast of 17 actors mostly above the audience on a central riser, side platforms and scaffolds.

As Claude, the conflicted "Tribe" member whose drafting into the Vietnam-era army forms the crux of the drama here, Casey Gensler shares the spotlight with Scoop Slone, who displays some solid rock-star cred as the Puckish, self-centered Tribesman Berger. If anything, however, "Hair" is an unusually democratic show in which pretty much everyone gets their turn to shine — with stand-out moments delivered by Kyle Taylor Parker ("Colored Spade"), Julia Arazi ("Air"), Mike Russo ("Don't Put It Down") and Ephie Aardema ("Easy To Be Hard").

Special kudos should go out to lighting designer George Hansel, who's met the considerable challenges of rigging and illuminating this oddball space with an effort that pays off in full during the extended "trip" and hallucination sequences of the second act.