The critically acclaimed musical comedy by Scott Brown and Anthony King, GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL! will make its Chicago premiere at The Royal George Theatre, 1641 North Halsted. The six week limited engagement will preview June 19, open on June 25 and run through July 27. Tickets are currently on sale. GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL! received critical acclaim in New York, hailed as "a smashing success" by The New York Times, praised as "riotously funny" by Time Out New York and called "a dead-on musical comedy" by the New York Sun. Obie Award winning director Alex Timbers and co-director Ian Unterman will lead the creative team in Chicago, with musical direction by T.O. Sterrett. The show stars Breon Bliss as Bud Davenport and Alex Goodrich as Doug Simon.
In this hilarious two-man musical spoof, a pair of aspiring writers performs a backers' audition for their new project—a big, splashy musical about printing press inventor Johann Gutenberg, the evil monk who tries to stop him, and the beautiful woman who loves him. With an unending supply of enthusiasm, Bud and Doug sing sixteen songs and play over 30 roles in the outrageous play within a play. The duo hope that one of the producers in attendance will give them a Broadway contract, fulfilling their bright-eyed, and ill-advised, dreams.
GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL! was the first Off-Broadway transfer for the acclaimed Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, where it was originally developed in 2003 and showcased in 2005 at the New York Musical Theatre Festival as part of the Comedy Series. The show's critically acclaimed world premiere followed, opening at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London in January 2006. These performances featured authors
Scott Brown and
Anthony King in the starring roles of "Bud" and "Doug".
In September 2006, the U.S. premiere of GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL! was presented as part of the third annual New York Musical Theatre Festival, where it received three NYMF Awards, including Excellence in Musical Theatre Writing (Book) for
Scott Brown and
Anthony King. A limited engagement followed the festival at 59E59 Theater in December 2006. GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL! then transferred to The Actors' Playhouse in Greenwich Village in January of 2007.
GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL! is presented by John Pinckard. As an inaugural recipient of the prestigious T. Edward Hambleton Fellowship for gifted commercial producers, Pinckard has worked under the mentorship of
Hal Prince,
Margo Lion (Angels in America,
Hairspray), Gregory Mosher (Artistic Director, Lincoln Center, 1985-94), and director
Jack O'Brien (The Coast of Utopia, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels).
Pinckard had back to back successes at the New York International Fringe Festival: in 2005 with Silence! the Musical, the best selling show in Fringe Festival history and in 2006 with the return engagement of Never Swim Alone. GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL! is John's Chicago producing debut, but his relationship to Chicago theatre--and the Royal George--goes back several years; his producing debut was the New York premiere of the Chicago hit Verbatim Verboten, which he first saw at the Royal George in the summer of 2004. Other noteworthy credits include the US premiere of Michael MacLennan's The Shooting Stage at The Culture Project in NYC (as director/producer), and over one hundred shows as lighting designer.
Pinckard has served on the faculty of the University of Florida and has guest lectured at universities and colleges across the southeast. He is charter member of the board of directors of the League of Independent Theatre, a service organization for 99-seat theatres and Off Off Broadway theatre companies dedicated to preserving and advancing the well-being and influence of the independent and experimental theatre community in the cultural life of New York City and the nation.
GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL! stars Breon Bliss as Bud Davenport. Bliss has been recently seen at Theatre Building Chicago in Rex and Black, White & Gray. He also starred as Noel in Madame X at the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts and in Stage Left's Electrocution. He is a co-founder of A Crew of Patches, which just finished its fifth successful year bringing full professional Shakespeare productions to thousands of area High school students.
Alex Goodrich stars as Doug Simon. Goodrich just finished reprising the role of Philinte in Greasy Joan and Co.'s summer remount of The Misanthrope. Other Chicago credits include Mervin Oglethorpe in Smoke on the Mountain (Provision Theater), Ari in How Can You Run with a Shell on Your Back? (Chicago Shakespeare), Grizzly/Balladeer in She Stoops to Conquer (Northlight) and as an actor/creator in The Building Stage's Dustbowl Gothic. He is a company member of Barrel of Monkeys, a group of actors and educators that teach creative writing in Chicago Public Schools.
Scott Brown, author of GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL! has appeared in several shows at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York. He originated the role of "Bud Davenport" in the New York and London premiere of the show. Brown, as well as co-author
Anthony King, was nominated for a 2007 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical for GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL! Offstage, Brown writes articles and reviews for Entertainment Weekly and Time.
Anthony King, author, has performed solo shows including Chosen at the New York City International Fringe Festival and DAY 8: Take Complete Control at Upright
Citizens Brigade Theatre. On television, King has been featured on "Tough Crowd with
Colin Quinn" and MTV's "Human Giant." He has starred in the Comedy Central Motherload show "All Access: Middle Ages." King's regional and New York City directing credits include 1940s Radio Hour, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,
A Chorus Line, as well as many new shows including The Patriots (HBO Aspen Comedy Festival), Who's Your Daddy? (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), God's Pottery (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Listen Kid (NYMF 2005) and Mister (starring
Anthony Rapp). He has written for GQ and Entertainment Weekly. King is currently the Artistic Director of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York where he also performs every Saturday night in the improvised comedy show REUBEN WILLIAMS: As Seen on TV.
Director Alex Timbers' credits include A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant at the New York Theatre Workshop, for which he won an OBIE Award and Garland Award for Best Director, Hell House at St. Ann's Warehouse, which was nominated for a Drama Desk for Unique Theatrical Experience, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at the Center Theatre Group in LA, and Boozy for The Culture Project for which he was recognized as "10 Best of 2005" by the DAILY NEWS and TIME OUT NEW YORK. Timbers is a recipient of fellowships from
Williamstown, the Drama League, and Sundance, and he is the Artistic Director of award-winning theater company Les Freres Corbusier. He was nominated for a 2007 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical for GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL!
Musical Director T.O. Sterrett's Broadway credits include Pianist, Keyboards and Assistant Conductor for
Wicked, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar (Revival), and the world-renowned Dance of the Vampires. He has been the Conductor/Music Director for
Mos Def,
Tommy Tune,
Daphne Rubin-Vega,
Liz Callaway, Katey Sagal,
S. Epatha Merkerson,
Stephanie Pope,
Bobby Cannavale, among others. He has numerous performance credits in Carnegie Hall with Shirley Bassey. Sterrett is the composer for the PBS series "Great Projects: The Building of America," "The Trial of Adolf Eichmann," many other films. He is currently composing a musical theatre show with producer and writer
Brian Hargrove.
The performance schedule for GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL! is as follows: Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 P.M., Saturdays at 5:00 and 9:00 P.M., and Sunday at 3:00 and 7:00 P.M. through July 27. Tickets are $35.00. Student and senior rates are also available at $25. Tickets can be purchased at the Royal George Box Office, 1641 N. Halsted, Chicago, or by phone at 312.988.9000. Tickets can also be purchased through Ticketmaster, 312.902.1500, Ticketmaster.com or all Ticketmaster ticket centers. Discounted tickets for groups of 10 or more are available by calling Group Theater Tix at (312) 423-6612 or visiting
www.grouptheatertix.com. For more information, please visit
www.gutenbergthemusical.com.
