Summary
Rarely Done Productions honcho Dan Tursi, strange to say, was a tad defensive in his curtain speech to the second soldout house for Star Wars: The Musical. at Jazz Central, 441 E. Washington St. "This is not like Rodgers and Hammerstein," he shrugged, "where you start out with a book and music. This time we had the music, and David and Todd had to find the book to fit it." Timothy Edward Smith and Hunter Nolen's original compositions, written some time ago and far away, borrow themes from John Williams' bombastic film score or mimic its soaring, lyric romanticism. What the aforementioned David Witanowski and Todd Panek have done is fit them into George Lucas' scenario of the 1977 movie that nearly every single American citizen has seen at least once. The names remain the same, under permission of copyright; only the tone has been changed to create hilarity.
The Jazz Central venue, home turf for Rarely Done, explains why Tursi was giving the curtain speech. But he also made clear that Star Wars is a collaboration between two companies, his own and Witanowski's eponymously named Wit's End Players. Todd Panek, goateed brother of Joey Panek and husband of actress Aubry Ludington Panek (she's a nominee at this year's Syracuse New Times Syracuse Area Live Theater (SALT) Awards), has been more associated with Tursi's Rarely Done.Supreme in this mode are the golden C-3P0 (Peter Irwin) and diminutive R2-D2 (Binaifer Dabu), who both compete for the Frank Gorshin-Rich Little Award, genuinely bringing the screen characters alive on stage. Alive, but subverted. Irwin's C-3P0 has the beginnings of rebellion under the character's sissy deference. Dabu's close-to-ground robot, on tiny sneakers rather than wheels, comes up with all the squeaks and whistles, but she punctuates them with rolled eyes and a thrust tongue.See the full content of this document
Extract
May the Farce Be with You
MAY THE FARCE BE WITH YOU
Two theater companies get their spoof on with Star Wars: The MusicalRarely Done Productions honcho Dan Tursi, strange to say, was a tad defensive in his curtain speech to the second soldout house for Star Wars: The Musical. at Jazz Central, 441 E. Washington St. "This is not like Rodgers and Hammers...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
