Thrillpeddlers to Present 'THE UNTAMED STAGE' This Spring at The Hypnodrome
By: BWW News Desk Mar. 09, 2016
THE UNTAMED STAGE features Music & Lyrics, Concept and Musical Direction by Scrumbly Koldewyn, with Add'tl. Material by Terance Bennan, Damien Chacona, Cab Covay, Andy Wegner and Alex Kinney. Directed by Russell Blackwood.
THE UNTAMED STAGE: Weimar Berlin Kabarett - a new musical by Scrumbly Koldewyn is a two-act music theatre piece consisting of:
Act 1: a Weimar Berlin-inspired Kabarett song, dances and rude comedy recreating a bygone era in the shocking Thrillpeddlers / Cockettes' tradition.
Act 2: a one-act Kabarett Musical Parable (titled "The German thing To Do") on the themes of belonging, sex-roles, pseudoscience, fascism and fear mongering. Visual delights include young male lovers, nudists, and a cow that becomes increasingly self-aware & might change the course of history.
THE UNTAMED STAGE derives its name from Trude Hesterberg's Berlin-based cabaret, which the performer founded in 1921. At the end of WW I, Kaiser Wilhelm's repressive government was replaced by the Weimar Republic, whose new constitution allowed for no censorship. Berlin kabarett suddenly produced a flowering of politically, socially and sexually provocative material, in a movement that flourished until Hitler's ascension in 1933 when most of the performers either left the country or were suppressed. The intimate kabarett-theatres became mouthpieces for various artistic movements and social critics, dada-ist anarchists and anti-nationalists. But they also provided pure entertainment, as typified by the Holler reviews, which could be likened to pocket-sized Ziegfeld Follies. This kabarett provided a performance venue for the most popular stars of the Weimar stage.
Scrumbly Koldewyn's tribute to this exciting genre includes a variety of the flavors to be found in Berlin boites: tingle-tangle (of the Lola Lola variety), Travestie (drag), and the full spectrum of vaudeville. Koldewyn's experience working with the legendary Cockettes, and other acclaimed groups including vocal trio the Jesters, makes him perfectly suited for this entertaining pastishe.
THE UNTAMED STAGE features Thrillpeddlers stalwart performers including: David Bicha, Zelda Koznofski, Kim Larsen, Marjan Safa, Steven Satyricon, CJ Smith, Crystal Why, and Diogo Zavadzki.
Guest performers during the 7-week run include: Steve Bolinger, Damien Chacona, Nkechi Emeruwa, John Flaw, Noah Haydon, Bruna Palmeiro, Lisa McHenry, Suzanne Ramsey (Kitten on the Keys), Andy Wenger, Windy Wynazz and Diogo Zavadzki.
Also on the creative team are: Marilynn Fowler - Choreography; Flynn DeMarco - Wig Master; Gelnn Krumbholz - Costumes; James Blackwood - Scenic Designer; Mister WA and Jet - Video Projections Designer; Chris Paulina - Sound Effects Designer; Yusuke Soi and Lynn Rubenzer - Puppets; and Nicholas Torre - Lighting Designer / Special Effects.
Scrumbly Koldewyn staged early productions of THE UNTAMED STAGE (or Die Wilde Bühne) cabaret material in San Francisco's North Beach district at the 7th Note Night Club (now Cobb's Comedy Club) in 1998 and 1999 when it featured songs by Spoliansky and Hollaender and performances by veteran Thrillpeddlers Leigh Crow, David Bicha, Helen Shumaker and Arturo Galster as well as some extraordinary variety acts.
THE UNTAMED STAGE plays Thurs., Fri. & Sat. - 8:00 pm. at The Hypnodrome is located at 575 10th St., in SF. 94103. (Bryant & Division Sts.). Tickets $30 gen. admission or $35 for Front Row Seats, "Shock Boxes" and "Turkish Lounges"*** at hypnodrome.org or by calling 415- 377- 4202.
Pairs of patrons will surely enjoy The Hypnodrome's Shock Box seats for two, which garnered SF Weekly's "Best of San Francisco 2008" for "Best Bonus Theater Experience." These themed seats include sumptuous Turkish Lounges, as well as private boxes including "Heaven and Hell," 'The Pharaoh's Tomb," and "Padded Cell," which offer the same opportunity for illicit trysting that was once a feature of the Parisian Théâtre du Grand Guignol - with added special effects as a nod to the 1950's horror movie gimmicks of William Castle.
Scrumbly Koldewyn's Artistic Statement - THE UNTAMED STAGE
Hearing Ute Lempur's album, Berlin Cabaret for the first time in 1998, inspired me to put on an evening of the music (the first edition of "The Untamed Stage") and to do some extensive digging for more Weimar period popular songs in Germany. As much ahead of the rest of the world as Berlin's wild free-wheeling night life was, the songs, many by Hollaender ("Falling In Love Again") and Spoliansky, the Cole Porter and Noël Coward of Germany, are amazingly skilled and extensively numerous. Unfortunately, for this 2016 production, obtaining the performing rights are very complicated, so I decided to create new material "in the style of" the 20s Berlin songs. Not to compete with Kander and Ebb's "Cabaret", I chose to carry the irony and the explicitness a step or two further. However themes remain the same; man-devouring vamps, the blending of gender, biting social commentary, etc. Songs will be sung by performers with that certain Berliner attitude - "We are who we are".
Dr. Mel Gordon's pictorial book, Voluptuous Panic, further inspired Thrillpeddlers and myself to put together a show that reflects the relevance of Weimar Berlin to present-day San Francisco, where the denizens might be too intent on being entertained and distracted to take note of a rising tide of hatred and fear in the rest of the country.
Russell Blackwood's Artistic Statement - THE UNTAMED STAGE
I'm particularly excited that Berlin in the 1920s and '30s will be our springboard for our Spring 2016 show. I'm a life-long devotée of the story of Cabaret, a fabulous film launched my fascination with Weimar Berlin culture and the ideas and actions that crushed it. My mentor
Dr. Mel Gordon's book, Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin (feralhouse.com/voluptuous-panic) was among my principal influences for this production of Cabaret with Shotgun Players and I often feel this book's far-reaching effects on my work with Thrillpeddlers. I have long-planned for a piece when Mel, his books and his research collection would be among our resources and inspirations.
SELECTED BIOS:
Russell Blackwood (Director / Producer) produced and directed his first Grand Guignol horror play twenty years ago with his own adaptation of the 1926 shocker The Laboratory of Hallucinations. That production led him to found Thrillpeddlers with his boyhood friend, Daniel Zilber. He's produced and directed for Thrillpeddlers ever since. In 1999, the duo produced the first Shocktoberfest!! , Thrillpeddlers annual Grand Guignol spectacular. Four years later, Thrillpeddlers launched the research web site www.grandguignol.com. In 2004 Russell and his husband, Jim Toczyl, opened The Hypnodrome to be Thrillpeddlers home. Producing and directing Scrumbly Koldewyn's four Cockettes musicals: Pearls Over Shanghai, Hot Greeks, Tinsel Tarts in a Hot Coma, and Vice Palace were other delightful milestones for Thrillpeddlers along the way. Russell's productions have played throughout the U.S. from NYC to Alaska, as well as England, Brazil, Taiwan, and South Africa. Other directing credits include Otello and Carmen (Berkeley Opera); The Pirates of Penzance (Lamplighters), Ex-Lovers, Strangers in Paradox, and Women Behind Bars (Theatre Rhinoceros); Cabaret and Medea (Shotgun Players); and productions for the S.F., L.A., and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festivals. He earned his BFA in Acting from Boston University.
Scrumbly Koldewyn (Composer/ Lyrics /Music Director) was a founding member of The Cockettes and composed many songs for Pearls Over Shanghai, Hot Greeks, Tinsel Tarts in a Hot Coma, and other shows. In the 1980s he performed and composed for The Distractions, and then for 25 years with The Jesters Vocal Trio, touring extensively in Europe. He composed for approximately 36 original theatrical productions, including the Jesters' Singing Fools, and has been an accompanist/musical director and performer in theater and cabaret since the mid 1970s. Shows he created include The Untamed Stage (1920s Berlin Cabaret) in 1999 and Wilde Boys at NCTC in 2007 (BATCC awards for musical direction and best production--musical). Awards include the BATCC for original music (1981), two S.F. Bay Area Cabaret Gold Awards with the Jesters ('91 & '92), and the Dean Goodman Choice Award 2000 for Cabaret performance (Goldfield & Koldewyn). Currently, he is also music director at Stagebridge in Oakland, and New Conservatory Theatre Center in SF. Thrillpeddlers' revival of Mr. Koldewyn and Martin Worman's musical Vice Palace received seven BATCC Awards and performed at NYC's HOWL Festival.
Thrillpeddlers have been performing their unique brand of horror and fetish theatre in San Francisco since 1991. Under the direction of Russell Blackwood, Thrillpeddlers is continuously engaged in translating, adapting, and producing classic plays from the infamous repertoire of Le Théâtre du Grand Guignol and producing other works inspired by the Grand Guignol tradition. In 2008, Thrillpeddlers embraced another niche theatrical genre with the company's annual Theatre of the Ridiculous Revival. That same year they were invited to perform for NYC's HOWL Festival with their productions of Charles Busch's THEODORA, SHE-BITCH OF BYZANTIUM; Charles Ludlam's JACK IN THE BEANSTALK; and Link Martin and Scrumbly Koldewyn's PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI. Following this, a full production of PEARLS was mounted in San Francisco in 2009 and ran for twenty-two months. In the summer of 2011 they revived another of Koldewyn's works, VICE PALACE. The hit show garnered six SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards and the group's second trip to New York to perform at the HOWL Festival which also included a special performance at NYC's Lincoln Center to celebrate the life and works of long time Koldewyn collaborator, Martin Worman.
The company's SOMA performance venue, The Hypnodrome, is tailor-made for the specific needs of horror theatre, musical extravaganzas, and "lights-out" spook show spectacle. Inaugurating The Hypnodrome with WELCOME TO THE HYPNODROME in 2004, Thrillpeddlers have gone on to produce wildly popular Grand Guignol bills including BLOOD BUCKET BALLYHOO, FLAMING SIN, AUDACIOUS ARTEFACTS, KISS OF BLOOD and the recent hit, FEAR OVER FRISCO. SHOCKTOBERFEST!!, Thrillpeddlers' annual pageant of terror and titillation, is now in its 16th year and has become a San Francisco Halloween favorite. Prior to that, the company's production history includes the American premiere of Clive Barker's FRANKENSTEIN IN LOVE, MONDO ANDRONICUS (selected Best of the 1997 S.F. Fringe Festival), and a double-bill of THE MEDIUM and A CRIME IN THE MADHOUSE (in Pretoria, South Africa). Thrillpeddlers has won the Guardian's "Best of the Bay" and GOLDIE AWARD and four "Best of San Francisco" awards from SF Weekly including 2013's "Best Theatrical Sideshow". In 2010, 7 X 7 Magazine named Thrillpeddlers "BEST UNDERGROUND THEATRE COMPANY IN SF." They are also the purveyors of www.GrandGuignol.com, the most complete source of Grand Guignol information on the Net.
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