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Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by John Weidman
Co-Directed by Spiro Veloudos and Ilyse Robbins
Music direction by Jonathan Goldberg
Choreography by Ilyse Robbins
Runtime: Approximately 90 minutes with no intermission
Box Office: 617-585-5678 | boxoffice@lyricstage.com
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Summary
On his continuing journey through the works of Stephen Sondheim, director Spiro Veloudos brings us Sondheim’s latest work, Road Show, the true boom-and-bust story of two of the most colorful and outrageous fortune-seekers in American history. From the Alaskan Gold Rush to the Florida real estate boom in the 1930s, entrepreneur Addison Mizner and his fast-talking brother Wilson were proof positive that the road to the American Dream is often a seductive, treacherous tightrope walk. As the Guardian said, “Road Show is lyrically witty, musically rich, and has the sardonic satirical appeal of the Sondheim-Weidman Assassins.”
“Unquestionably worth the trip! Emotional richness, a spry score, and fiddle-fast lyrics.” — The Telegraph
SYNOPSIS
Road Show was inspired by a New Yorker article Stephen Sondheim read about the real-life Mizner brothers, Addison and Wilson, who were born in California in the late 1800s. Beginning at the deathbed of their father who encourages them to go out and mold the new nation, the musical spans the globe from the Klondike gold rush to India, Hawaii, Guatemala, New York, and eventually the real-estate boom of Boca Raton, Florida. Over 40 years, the brothers seek out the amorphous and elusive American Dream through the booms and busts of the early 20th century, with bouts of brotherly love and hate. The musical travelogue takes a close look at the optimism and opportunism of the time through the lens of two ambitious, eccentric, and charming individuals.
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Press & Reviews
[an often] entertaining take on a quintessentially American story.
the lyrics are clever [enough], sometimes even laugh-out-loud funny.
[this ably sung and acted production] is well worth a look.“Road Show” — Sondheim’s Latest Gets Its Boston Premiere —Arts Fuse
As I have written before, the team at the The Lyric Stage really knows how to put on these small scale musical productions. Mr. Veloudos and Ms Robbins work very well together. But that should not come as any surprise as both know their craft and have given audiences many great productions.
Collaborating with Ilyse Robbins as co-director/choreographer and Jonathan Goldberg as Music Director, Veloudos does what he does best, which is to make the elements of the musical conform to the parameters of the Lyric Stage jewel box.
Sondheim’s score is the beating heart of Road Show, moving the story forward and helping to define the characters. With about a dozen and a half musical numbers in a 90-minute show, the songs do more than the book to tell the story, and do it better.
PREVIEWS & INTERVIEWS
“I didn’t look at the season because I thought, There’s nothing for me in “Road Show.”‘ And then I got the call to come in to the audition, and I started doing research. I listened to ‘Wise Guys’ and ‘Bounce’ and ‘Road Show,’ all the different productions, and I thought ‘This is classic Sondheim.’ There’s a game we play in rehearsal: ‘That’s from this play! This is from that play!’ Because everything sounds like Sondheim. But it’s different! It’s weird. I know Sondheim, but this show, there’s, like, one song or two songs that stick out melodically. But it’s really just, like, you get on this ride, musically and dramatically, and you just go from song to scene to song to scene.”
‘Bounce’ing from ‘Wise Guys’ to ‘Road Show’ – Tony Castellanos on Getting Sondheim Right —Edge Boston
“I think Sondheim was originally trying to pack in an enormous amount of information,” says Veloudos, so the earlier versions, called “Bounce” and “Wise Guys,” ran closer to three hours. This version is a tight 100 minutes and runs without an intermission. “The story still works as a memory play, jumping back and forth in time and space, but Cristina Tedesco has created a brilliant set that allows us to open up and then put away articles and locations the way we recall cherished memories.”
It’s also a story about two very different brothers, who supported and undermined each other. Addison, an architect who was gay, wanted to create beauty as well as get rich and he eventually designed many luxury homes in Florida. Wilson, a professional gambler and womanizer (who in real life also wrote plays and screenplays) cared for little other than himself.
http://hopedale.wickedlocal.com/entertainment/20180111/theater-sondheimss-road-show-travels-to-boston —Wicked Local
“I think it’s much more common now for writers to be willing to take a second look at their shows after the first major production,” said Goldberg, “as opposed to what we might call the ‘golden age’ of musicals, when all of the adjusting was done merely in tryouts … and then the show was usually left as is for posterity.”
Lyric Stage takes a new spin on Sondheim’s ‘Road Show’ —Jewish Journal
Cast & Crew
Neil A. Casey* – Addison Mizner
Neil A. Casey* (Addison Mizner) has appeared at the Lyric Stage in When Pigs Fly, One Man Two Govners, It’s All True, Assassins, Nicklas Nickelby. and Noises Off just to name a few. Other credits include TheDazzel, My Fair Lady, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Woman in Black (Stoneham), Hamlet, 42nd Street (NSMT), Theatre District, Take Me Out (SpeakEasy Stage). National tour: The Diary of Anne Frank. International tour: 42nd Street. B.F.A., Niagara University. M.F.A., The Shakespeare Theatre Company through George Washington University.
Tony Castellanos* – Wilson Mizner
Tony Castellanos* (Wilson Mizner) returns to the Lyric Stage having appeared in My Fair Lady and City of Angels. Other recent work includes In the Heights (Wheelock Family Theatre), Sister Act (Arkansas Rep, Walnut Street Theatre (Philadelphia), Riverside Theatre (FL), The Drowsy Chaperone (Theatre by the Sea),Man of La Mancha (Seacoast Rep), and Jesus Christ Superstar (National Tour). Originally from Phoenix, AZ. B.F.A. in Musical Theatre, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.
Jordan Clark* – Myrna/Ensemble
Jordan Clark* (Myrna/Ensemble) returns to the Lyric Stage where she was previously seen in Gypsy, Camelot, Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play, Light Up the Sky, and Death of a Salesman. Other recent credits include Mrs. Packard (Bridge Rep), Significant Other (SpeakEasy Stage), Journey to the West, Arabian Nights(Central Square Theater), The Trumpet of the Swan, Pinocchio, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon(Wheelock Family Theatre), You For Me For You, She Kills Monsters (Company One), and Blue Window(Brown Box Theatre Project). Jordan holds a degree in Vocal Performance from The University of the Incarnate Word in her hometown of San Antonio, TX.
Shannon Lee Jones* – Ensemble
Shannon Lee Jones* (Ensemble) returns to the Lyric Stage where she last appeared in Gypsy, and previously in Working. On Broadway: Angelique in the original La Cage aux Folles. Tours include A Chorus Line, Hello Dolly (Carol Channing), Funny Girl, and the first national tour of La Cage aux Folles. Local Credits: Billy Elliot (Ocean State Theater), Mary Poppins (Wheelock Family Theater), Carnival (Gloucester Stage), Into the Woods w/Rachel York (Reagle Music Theater),The World Goes ‘Round, Cabaret (New Rep),My Fair Lady (Stoneham Theater), Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Foothills Theater), and A Chorus Line(North Shore Music Theater). Regional: Mamma Mia, Gypsy, Hairspray, The Drowsy Chaperone, Anything Goes, and Mame (Arts Center of Coastal Carolina), Cabaret (Barrington Stage), Guys and Dolls (Long Wharf Theater). Television & Film: The Judge, Guiding Light, All My Children, and The Irving Berlin Special at Carnegie Hall. Shannon teaches the Alexander Technique at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
Robin Long* – Ensemble
Robin Long* (Ensemble) returns to the Lyric Stage after appearing in Ain’t Misbehavin’. Robin’s recent area credits include Billy Elliot and Alice (Wheelock Theatre), Rent (New Rep), Shear Madness (Charles Playhouse). Other credits include Seussical the Musical, The Full Monty (Marriott Theatre), Why Do Fools Fall in Love (Milwaukee Repertory Theatre), Smokey Joe’s Café (The Skylight), and Little Shop of Horrors (Straz). B.A.in Performing Arts, University of Tampa.
David Makransky – Ensemble
David Makransky (Ensemble) is making his Lyric Stage debut. Recent credits include Romeo and Juliet (Bay Colony Shakespeare Company), The Tempest, (Sterling Renaissance), Legally Blonde (Academy Playhouse), Evita, Carousel, and Servant of Two Masters (Boston College). David graduated from Boston College in May with a degree in Theatre Arts, where he worked with the Prison Arts Outreach program to bring artistic workshops to MA state prisons.
Will McGarrahan* – Ensemble
Will McGarrahan* (Ensemble) returns to the Lyric Stage where he performed in Stage Kiss, Company, Peter and the Starcatcher, Light Up the Sky, Into the Woods, Death of a Salesman, Becky’s New Car, The Chosen, The Temperamentals, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Grey Gardens, November, Souvenir, and Dirty Blonde. Other local credits include The Bridges of Madison County, Casa Valentina, Big Fish, Far from Heaven, Next Fall, The Drowsy Chaperone, Reckless, Some Men, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Five By Tenn, Company, The Last Sunday in June, Elegies: A Song Cycle, Ruthless!, A Class Act, A New Brain (SpeakEasy Stage), Mame (Stoneham Theater), A Raisin in the Sun (Huntington Theatre), The Wind in the Willows and Happy Days (Gloucester Stage); Nine Circles (Publick Theatre and Gloucester Stage), The Moon For The Misbegotten, Buried Child (Nora Theater), and The Wrestling Patient (SpeakEasy Stage/Boston Playwrights/40 Magnolias). Will worked as an actor, singer, and pianist for many years in Seattle before moving to Boston’s South End.
Sean McGuirk* – Papa Mizner / Ensemble
Sean McGuirk* (Papa Mizner/Ensemble) last appeared at the Lyric Stage in Urinetown, the Musical. Local performances include Much Ado About Nothing (CSC, Shakespeare on the Common), Shear Madness (Charles Playhouse) and Double Indemnity, You Never Know, Mame (Stoneham Theater), Moby Dick, an American Opera (New Rep), Casa Valentina, Company, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Caroline or Change, Adding Machine, the Musical (SpeakEasy Stage). He received an IRNE Award for A Man of No Importance (co-production Súgán Theater). Regional credits include Whaleship Essex (Vineyard Playhouse), A Christmas Carol & Red (Theater Workshop of Nantucket), A Few Good Men (Casa Mañana), A Living Room In Africa (Gloucester Stage), and Born Yesterday and Race (Ocean State Theater). Next up: Calendar Girls (Greater Boston Stage Company). SEANMCGUIRK.COM
Brandon Milardo – Ensemble
Brandon Milardo (Ensemble) returns to the Lyric Stage, having previously appeared in City of Angels and The Mikado and as an understudy for Camelot. He has most recently appeared in The Real Inspector Hound (Bad Habit Productions), Martha, The Bartered Bride, and The Merry Wives of Windsor (Boston Midsummer Opera), Threepenny Opera and Brundibar (Commonwealth Opera), and La bohème and Dead Man Walking (Boston Opera Collaborative). He has also appeared in performances with Mssng Lnks, where he was a teaching artist.
Vanessa J. Schukis* – Mama Mizner / Ensemble
Vanessa J. Schukis* (Mama Mizner/Ensemble) last appeared at the Lyric Stage in A Little Night Music and has had a multi-faceted career as a character mezzo, actress, standup comedian, stage director, choreographer, vocal coach, educator, author, and administrator. She has sung a wide variety of operatic, oratorio, and Broadway repertoire to great critical acclaim and has performed roles with the Boston National Company of Nunsense starring Pat Carroll and Alice Ghostley, Boston Lyric Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Opera Providence, New England Light Opera, Intermezzo Chamber Opera, Raylynmoor Opera, Wheelock Family Theater, Lyric Stage Company of Boston, New Opera and Musical Theater Initiative, Opera New England, Longwood Opera Company, Northeastern Repertory Theater, Boston Publick Theater, the Stoneham Theater, Fine Arts Chorale in Weymouth and Newton Symphony. Vanessa is known throughout New England for her role as Julia Child in Bon Appétit. Ms. Schukis has been a soloist/section leader for the historic Old North Church, Boston, Massachusetts for 30 years and continues to perform in theater, opera, and concert engagements throughout the United States and has performed in Austria. Special performances that deserve mentioning are National Anthem at a Boston Red Sox Game at Fenway, National Anthem on the U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides) turn around, National Anthem at New England Dragway, Epping, NH and the National Anthem at Lebanon Valley Speedway, MA, and a televised performance with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Salt Lake City, UT. In addition to being a performer, Vanessa is an award-winning teacher with over thirty years experience in performing arts education focusing on students with learning disabilities and special needs. Currently Vanessa teaches music at The Murphy School, Dorchester, MA and The Harvard-Kent School in Charlestown, MA through the outreach program of The Community Music Center of Boston. In 2014, Vanessa received the MacDill award for excellence in teaching. Ms. Schukis has been member of the guest faculty at New England Conservatory, Boston, MA and visiting faculty at Longy School of Music Cambridge, MA.
Patrick Varner* – Hollis
Patrick Varner* (Hollis) returns to the Lyric after appearing in Sondheim on Sondheim, Buyer and Cellar, and City of Angels. Recent Credits: Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, A Little Night Music (Huntington Theatre), Fiddler on the Roof, Assassins (New Rep), Dogfight (SpeakEasy Stage), Brundibar & But, the Giraffe! (Central Square Theatre), Buyer and Cellar (6th Street Playhouse). Mr. Varner holds a B.F.A. in Acting from Boston University and studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. PATRICKVARNERACTOR.COM. For Sarah.
Spiro Veloudos – Co-Director, Producing Artistic Director
Spiro Veloudos (Co-Director, Producing Artistic Director), now celebrating his 20th season as Producing Artistic Director of the Lyric Stage, directed Souvenir this season, and Company and Camelotlast season. In previous seasons, he directed Sondheim by Sondheim, Peter and the Starcatcher, Sweeney Todd, City of Angels, Into the Woods (Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Awards for Best Director, Best Musical, and Best Ensemble), One Man, Two Guvnors, Death of a Salesman (IRNE Award for Best Play),The Mikado, 33 Variations, On the Town, Avenue Q (Elliot Norton Awards for Outstanding Musical and Outstanding Ensemble, five IRNE Awards including Best Musical and Best Director), The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Elliot Norton Award for Best Production and Best Director, five IRNE Awards including Best Director), Big River, Superior Donuts, Animal Crackers, Blithe Spirit, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, and Kiss Me, Kate. Spiro received the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award from Salem State College. He was the recipient of the 2006 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence. During his tenure, the Lyric Stage has earned numerous awards and honors including Elliot Norton Awards for Outstanding Production (Nicholas Nickleby, Speech & Debate, Miss Witherspoon, The OldSettler), and Outstanding Musical Production (Sunday in the Park with George); IRNE Awards for Outstanding Production (Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Settler, Glengarry Glen Ross), and Outstanding Musical Production (Grey Gardens, Urinetown: The Musical, A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George). His numerous directing credits at the Lyric Stage include A Little Night Music (IRNE Award for Direction), Glengarry Glen Ross (IRNE Award), Sunday in the Park with George (Best of the Year in Boston’sGlobe, Herald, and Phoenix; Elliot Norton and IRNE Award for direction), Assassins (Best Production of 1998: The Boston Globe), Lost in Yonkers, Never the Sinner: The Leopold and Loeb Story (Elliot Norton Award, along with Assassins), and Speed-the-Plow (Elliot Norton for Outstanding Production). Mr. Veloudos received StageSource’s Theatre Hero Award (2003) and was named Best Artistic Director byBoston Magazine in 1999. He serves as the president for the Producers’ Association of New England Area Theatres, and is adjunct faculty in Performing Arts at Emerson College.
Ilyse Robbins – Co-Director / Choreographer
Ilyse Robbins (Co-Director/Choreographer) returns to the Lyric Stage after creating the choreography for both Sondheim on Sondheim and Peter and the Starcatcher. At the Lyric Stage she directed and choreographed Working and choreographed Peter and the Starcatcher, Sondheim on Sondheim, On the Town, Avenue Q, Kiss Me Kate, Grey Gardens, Speech and Debate, Follies, Man of La Mancha, 1776, Urinetown (IRNE Award, Best Choreography), Shakespeare in Hollywood, A Little Night Music, When Pigs Fly ‘03, Dirty Blonde, Sunday in the Park with George, Curse of the Bambino, A my Name Is Also Alice (IRNE Award, Best Choreography), World Goes ‘Round (IRNE Award, Best Choreography), She Loves Me, Never the Sinner, Assassins. Acting credits at the Lyric Stage: On the Town, Lost in Yonkers, She Loves Me, Urinetown, Shakespeare in Hollywood. Other directing credits: United Solo Festival New York City, Greater Boston Stage Company (Elliot Norton Award, Best Direction for Thoroughly Modern Millie), New Repertory Theatre, UpStage Lung Cancer, Wheelock Family Theatre Summer Youth Intensive. Other choreography credits: SpeakEasy Stage Company (IRNE Award, Best Choreography for Scottsboro Boys), Hanover Theatre, Greater Boston Stage Company (IRNE Award, Best Choreography for 42nd Street and H2$), New Rep (IRNE Award, Best Choreography for Das Barbecue), Underground Railway, Fiddlehead Theatre, Overture Productions, Jewish Theater of New England, American Stage Festival, Boston Theatre Works, Wheelock Family Theatre, Hope Repertory Theatre, Museum of Science, Publick Theatre (IRNE Award, Best Choreography for Gypsy), Boston Women on Top Festival, Liberty Mutual, Fidelity. Acting credits: Lyric Stage Company of Boston, Greater Boston Stage Company, New Rep (IRNE Award, Best Ensemble for The Wild Party), Hanover Theatre, Wheelock Family Theatre, New Arts at the Modern Theater, Fiddlehead, Reagle Players, Publick Theatre. Coming up, Ilyse will be choreographing Allegiance for SpeakEasy Stage Company. Ilyse holds a B.S. in Theater from Northwestern University and an Ed.M. from Harvard University. She teaches Musical Theatre Performance at Northeastern University and Creative Drama Ed. at Brandeis University. Ilyse is a presentation skills coach and works for Mohr Collaborative and Ovation Communication. Associate Member of SSDC. Here’s to another collaboration with Spiro and Jon. ILYSEROBBINS.COM
Jonathan Goldberg – Music Director
Jonathan Goldberg (Music Director) has won four IRNE Awards for the musical direction of Lyric Stage’s Kiss Me, Kate, Grey Gardens, Man of La Mancha, and A Little Night Music. Other Lyric shows include Sondheim on Sondheim, Sweeney Todd, Working, On the Town, The Mikado, Big River, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Follies, 1776, Urinetown, Sunday in the Park with George, She Loves Me, and Assassins, and the last nine seasons of the Lyric First Stage summer teen program. Jon is full-time faculty in the Musical Theatre program at Emerson College, and has been music director for Emerson Stage productions of Titanic, Guys and Dolls, Merrily We Roll Along, The Spitfire Grill, Carousel, Starting Here, Starting Now, Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Standardized Testing, She Loves Me, Man of La Mancha, Nine, Into the Woods, Illyria, City of Angels, Bat Boy, Little Women, and Assassins. Other credits include Pacific Overtures (North Shore Music Theatre) and numerous productions at Wheelock Family Theatre (most recently Billy Elliot).
Cristina Todesco** – Scenic Design
Cristina Todesco** (Scenic Design) returns to the Lyric Stage after designing 33 Variations, The Understudy, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Grey Gardens, Three Tall Women, Arms and the Man, and A Little Night Music. Theater companies include Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Boston Conservatory, Boston Playwrights, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Company One, A.R.T. Institute, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, the Culture Project, Gloucester Stage, Huntington Theatre, Israeli Stage, Merrimack Repertory Theater, New Repertory Theater, Olney Theater Center, Poet’s Theater, SpeakeasyStage, Summer Play Festival, Trinity Rep, Wheelock Family Theater, Williamstown Theater Festival, among many more. She is the recipient of four Eliot Norton Awards and one IRNE Award for Outstanding Design. She holds an M.F.A. in scenic design from BU’s School of Theatre Arts, where she currently teaches.
John R. Malinowski – Lighting Design
John R. Malinowski (Lighting Design) previously designed City of Angels, Working, The Chosen, The Temperamentals, Animal Crackers, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Side Man, Communicating Doors, When Pigs Fly, and The Heiress at the Lyric Stage. Other area credits: Oceanside, Visiting Mr. Green (Merrimack Rep), Cherry Orchard, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King John, Hamlet, Julius Caesar (Actors’ Shakespeare Project), Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, As You Like It (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company), Kiss of the Spiderwoman (IRNE Award, Outstanding Lighting Design), The Seafarer, Caroline, Or Change, Take Me Out (SpeakEasy Stage), Angels in America, Parts 1 and 2 (Boston Theatre Works), St. Nicholas (A.R.T. and Súgán Theatre), Arcadia (Nora Theatre), and the first national tour of Santaland Diaries. John has received three IRNE Awards. A NEA/TCG Design Fellow (2000-2002), he earned the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Design (1996). He has taught lighting at Northeastern, Suffolk University, and Brandeis.
Amanda Mujica – Costume Design
Amanda Mujica (Costume Design) returns to Lyric Stage having previously designed Stage Kiss, Intimate Apparel, and Mr Burns: A Post Electric Play. Recent theater productions include Really, An Octoroon (Company One), and Bootycandy (Speakeasy Stage). She is a Boston-based freelance costume designer and seamstress. In addition to theater, she has designed for dance, film, and opera, most recently designing Odyssey Opera’s spring 2017 production of Patience by Gilbert & Sullivan. She earned a B.S. in History from Carnegie Mellon University. AMANDAMUJICADESIGN.COM
Elizabeth Cahill – Sound Design
Elizabeth Cahill (Sound Design) returns to the Lyric Stage after designing Camelot and Warrior Class, and assistant designing Stage Kiss. Other sound design credits include The Revolutionists (The Nora),Men on Boats (SpeakEasy Stage), ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas, Alligator Road (Greater Boston Stage Company), Hamlet (Brownbox Theatre Project), The Fear Project (Open Theatre Project), Sister Anonymous (Second Act Productions), Time Stands Still (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre), and Robyn is Happy (Hub Theatre). Upcoming: Familiar (A.R.T. Institute). Emerson College B.F.A. Theatre Design/Technology. Select Emerson Stage sound design credits include Caucasian Chalk Circle, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Guys and Dolls, Richard III, Edward Tulane, The Spitfire Grill. ELIZABETHSOUND.COM
* denotes member of Actor’s Equity Association
** denotes member of United Scenic Artists (USA-Locat 829)
*** denotes member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC)
