Marshall Barer News

The brainchild of Metropolitan Room managing partner Bernie Furshpan, his General Manager Joseph Macchia, and Cabaret Scenes Magazine Publisher Peter Leavy, New York's first International Cabaret Festival (February 17-21) debuted Wednesday night at the Met Room with performances and inductions into the newly established Cabaret Hall of Fame (an actual location for Hall and its memorabilia to be determined at a later date). Clubs hosting this year's festival include The Metropolitan Room, Don't Tell Mama, The Duplex, Feinstein's/54 Below, Iridium, Joe's Pub, and Stage 72 (formerly The Triad).

Gettysburg Community Theatre, the non-profit 501c3 organization located in the original Elks Lodge building at 49 York Street within the first block of Lincoln Square in historic downtown Gettysburg, opens its second production of their 8th season with the zany musical Once Upon a Mattress. The production will perform at GCT at 7pm on February 26, March 11, 12, 18 and 19, and also at 2pm on February 27, 28, March 6 and 13.

Today in 1996, the first Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress opened at the Broadhurst Theatre, where it ran for188 performances. Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. The play was written as an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. Once Upon A Mattress marked the Broadway debut of later stage and TV legend Carol Burnett, who originated the role of Princess Winnifred.

Transport Group's revival may be the best reason to venture down to the Lower East Side since Yonah Schimmel learned how to make a knish.

She's famous for being one of Broadway's funniest supporting players, but now she takes on a classic leading role.

Relive the Golden Age of Broadway and the magical moments from TV's past with Ethel Merman, Mary Martin, Frank Sinatra, Julie Andrews,Carol Burnett and many more as we look at the history of live TV musicals.

These are timeless: Manners, elegance, wit, sincerity, lively intelligence; the ability to make it feel as if a vocalist inhabits a lyric, and as if she/he sees and is singing to you. Andrea Marcovicci, who brightened the heyday of stylish cabaret, remains undiminished in these qualities. Those who shone when the city was filled with sophisticated boites/clubs, and all fine hotels had cabaret rooms, tend to make the rest of the world look shabbier today.

The outrageous Broadway clown tweets about rehearsing ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, seeing ALLEGIANCE and more.

The actor's glamorous alter-ego is an expression of individuality he was told to keep hidden while growing up.

Transport Group will soon present Once Upon a Mattress, starring Jackie Hoffman (On the Town, Difficult People, Hairspray) as Princess Winnifred and John 'Lypsinka'Epperson (Lypsinka's The Boxed Set, The Passion of the Crawford) as Queen Aggravain. The production, which is directed by five-time Drama Desk Award nominee Jack Cummings III, features Jessica Fontana (Cinderella) as Lady Larken, David Greenspan (The Patsy) as The King,Hunter Ryan Herdlicka (A Little Night Music) as The Minstrel, Cory Lingner(On the Town) as The Jester, Zak Resnick(Piece of My Heart) as Sir Harry, Jay Rogers (Howard Crabtree's When Pigs Fly) as The Wizard, and Jason SweetTooth Williams(Things to Ruin) as Prince Dauntless, with Vivienne Cleary,Richard Costa, Michael De Souza,Tim Dolan, Jack Donahue,Amy Griffin, Sarah Killough, Kristen Michelle, Ali Reed,and Doug Shapiro.

Transport Group will soon present Once Upon a Mattress, starring Jackie Hoffman (On the Town, Difficult People, Hairspray) as Princess Winnifred and John 'Lypsinka'Epperson (Lypsinka's The Boxed Set, The Passion of the Crawford) as Queen Aggravain. The production, which is directed by five-time Drama Desk Award nominee Jack Cummings III, features Jessica Fontana (Cinderella) as Lady Larken, David Greenspan (The Patsy) as The King, Hunter Ryan Herdlicka (A Little Night Music) as The Minstrel, Cory Lingner(On the Town) as The Jester, Zak Resnick (Piece of My Heart) as Sir Harry, Jay Rogers (Howard Crabtree's When Pigs Fly) as The Wizard, and Jason SweetTooth Williams(Things to Ruin) as Prince Dauntless, with Vivienne Cleary,Richard Costa, Michael De Souza, Tim Dolan, Jack Donahue,Amy Griffin, Sarah Killough, Kristen Michelle, Ali Reed,and Doug Shapiro. The company just met the press and you can check out a photo preview from the special day below!

Transport Group has announced that casting has been completed for its upcoming revival of Once Upon a Mattress, which stars Jackie Hoffman (On the Town, Difficult People, Hairspray) as Princess Winnifred and John "Lypsinka"Epperson (Lypsinka's The Boxed Set, The Passion of the Crawford) as Queen Aggravain.  The production, which is directed by five-time Drama Desk Award nominee Jack Cummings III, features Jessica Fontana (Cinderella) as Lady Larken, David Greenspan (The Patsy) as The King, Hunter Ryan Herdlicka (A Little Night Music) as The Minstrel, Cory Lingner(On the Town) as The Jester, Zak Resnick (Piece of My Heart) as Sir Harry, Jay Rogers (Howard Crabtree's When Pigs Fly) as The Wizard, and Jason SweetTooth Williams (Things to Ruin) as Prince Dauntless, with Vivienne Cleary, Richard Costa, Michael De Souza, Tim Dolan, Jack Donahue, Amy Griffin, Sarah Killough, Kristen Michelle, Ali Reed,and Doug Shapiro.

Transport Group, the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and OBIE Award-winning theatre company, by special arrangement with Tony Award winning producer Larry Hirschhorn, will give a private developmental lab presentation of Benny & Joon, a new musical. Based on the 1993 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture starring Aidan Quinn, Johnny Depp, and Mary Stuart Masterson, written by Barry Berman and Leslie McNeil, Benny & Joon features a book by Kirsten Guenther (Breaking Through), music by Nolan Gasser (chief musicologist of pandora.com), and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein (Little Women). Under the direction of Transport Group Artistic Director and five-time Drama Desk nominee Jack Cummings III, the cast features Andrew Samonsky as 'Benny' (Queen of the Mist), Hannah Elless as 'Joon' (Bright Star),Colin Hanlon (Submissions Only), Mamie Parris (See Rock City & Other Destinations), Zak Resnick (Piece of My Heart), Tally Sessions (House of Blue Leaves), Natalie Toro (A Tale of Two Cities), and Jason SweetTooth Williams (Things to Ruin). John DiPinto will music direct.

Tickets are now on sale for Transport Group's revival of the classic musical ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, starring Jackie Hoffman as Princess Winnifred and John 'Lypsinka' Epperson as Queen Aggravain, running November 23 - January 3, 2016 at Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street.

Back in January, BroadwayWorld's lead cabaret reviewer Stephen Hanks announced he was giving up critiquing shows to start his own company, Cabaret Life Productions, through which he would publicize, promote, and help book cabaret performers, and also produce cabaret shows. Hanks' first major production out of the box is a monthly series at the Metropolitan Room called New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits, that features talented artists recreating award-winning or highly-praised shows we wish we'd seen--a really good idea. Hanks' series launched Wednesday night with Mark Nadler's award-winning 2003 show Tschaikowsky (And Other Russians). The Metropolitan Room was filled to the gills and abuzz with anticipation, as most of the audience was only familiar with the show's second-hand praise and/or the CD version of Nadler's performance.

Musical Theatre Southwest presents Once Upon a Mattress, a delightful, musical rendition of the story of "The Princess and the Pea." Directed by Terry S. Davis, the MTS production will feature a new twist on the musical favorite: the entire score will be performed a cappella.

Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano are in a really good mood. The infectious buoyancy of their new show at the Metropolitan Room, Shoulder Season (Don't ask me what the title means. Despite explanation, I haven't a clue.), will erase world news, ease arthritis, and make love seem possible again. Well, maybe not all that. Its warm, cheerful, sometimes exuberant musicality is nonetheless recommended for whatever ails you.

Today in 1959, Once Upon a Mattress opened at the Phoenix Theatre, where it ran for 244 performances. Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. The play was written as an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. Once Upon A Mattress marked the Broadway debut of later stage and TV legend Carol Burnett, who originated the role of Princess Winnifred. Also featured were Joseph Bova, Allen Case, Jack Gilford and Matt Mattox. Jane White played the role of Queen Aggravain, becoming the first African-American actress to portray a white character on the Broadway stage.

Vocalist B.J.Ward, who released B.J. Ward Sings Marshall Barer on Concord Records in 2005, will perform the late lyricist's music at London's The Crazy Coqs on April 13th at 8pm, with UK pianist and composer, Simon Wallace. Ward is one of the most popular voice talents in the U.S., known both as a voiceover talent who has voiced hundreds of films, TV and games, and as a concert artist. Her very popular one-woman show, Stand-Up Opera, has played at The Kennedy Center and Ward has been a guest artist with symphonies and Performing Arts Centers around the U.S. On the day following the Crazy Coqs show, Ward releases Double Feature (LML), a recording dedicated largely to film music, with the legendary pianist, Donn Trenner.

Marymount Manhattan College (MMC), a private liberal arts college on Manhattan's Upper East Side, and the college's celebrated musical theatre program, will present a spring theatre festival honoring three generations of musical writers - Richard Rodgers, renowned composer of American popular music and Broadway shows; his daughter, Mary Rodgers, author of Freaky Friday and composer of the Broadway musical comedy, Once Upon a Mattress; and her son, Adam Guettel, composer and lyricist, and Tony winner for his musical The Light in the Piazza.