Get ready for the Divas of Domesticity! Corinne Dekker, Jamey Hood and Jayme Lake star as The Housewives, three young homemakers who form a band for their PTA talent show - then go on to become bigger than Brillo with their hilarious brand of "domestic" rock 'n roll. Kelly Ann Ford (Bluebonnet Court, Prove It On Me) directs the world premiere of It's the Housewives! a comic rock musical with sidesplitting songs by Laurence and Hope Juber (A Very Brady Musical) and book by Hope Juber and Ellen Guylas. The limited 6-week engagement opens September 6 at the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks.
The 19 hilarious songs at the heart of the show - with titles like "In Sink And At Your Disposal," "Ironing Bored," "I've Been Defrosting All Day" and the "Reynolds Rap" - are the brainchild of two-time Grammy award-winning guitarist Laurence Juber (former lead guitarist for
Paul McCartney's Wings) and his Emmy-nominated wife, television writer Hope Juber. Soon after they were married, Hope wanted to combine her comedy writing with Laurence's rock and roll music. She became inspired while caring for the first of their two babies, and the songs they created about vacuum cleaners ("It Sucks"), dirty diapers ("Be My Babysitter") and daily household duties ("Pledge or Behold") went on to cook up a storm on Entertainment Tonight, Hard Copy, John and Leeza, The Home Show and Oprah. Last year, Hope teamed with writer Ellen Guylas (Full House, Phil of the Future) to develop the songs into a full-fledged book musical.
"I was sitting in a dark theater watching
Jersey Boys when it dawned on me how much fun it would be to give these songs a back story," explained Hope. "Ellen and I had a blast creating the three young moms and documenting their 'journey to stardom' - the words just flew off the computer screen."
"If you can keep from laughing too hard at the lyrics and actually take a listen to the songs themselves, these are some well constructed tunes," wrote Music Connection Magazine. All Music Guide crowed: "Comical lyrics sure to tickle the funny bones of both male and female fans alike... hilarious!"
In addition to the three singing housewives, the cast at the Whitefire features Jed Alexander, Vince Cefalu, Roger Cruz, Anthony DeSantis,
Terri Homberg-Olsen and Danielle Kennedy.
Composer/Lyricist/Musical Director Laurence Juber was lead guitarist for
Paul McCartney's band, Wings, during which time he won a Best Rock Instrumental Grammy for the track 'Rockestra' from the album "Back To The Egg." After Wings disbanded in 1981, Juber embarked on a career as a solo artist, composer and arranger. He soon developed a reputation as a world-class guitar virtuoso and was voted #1 by Fingerstyle Guitar magazine. He has released 14 critically acclaimed solo albums, including "LJ Plays the Beatles", "I've Got The World On 6 Strings" and his latest "PCH." His DVD "Guitar Noir" was DVD Etc. magazine's Top Pick for surround-sound 5.1 audio and earned a 2005 CEA "Demmy" award for sonic excellence. His solo guitar arrangement of 'The Pink Panther Theme' is featured on the Best Pop Instrumental Grammy-winning album "
Henry Mancini-Pink Guitar". Folios and DVDs of his compositions and arrangements are published by Alfred Publications. The venerable C.F. Martin Company currently offers an 'LJ' Signature model guitar.
The daughter of The Brady Bunch (and Gilligan's Island) creator Sherwood Schwartz, Hope Juber's first professional entertainment experience was playing Rachel, Greg Brady's girlfriend, on the television show. After college, she joined her father as a writer and quickly became a story editor at Paramount working on situation comedies and penning episodes for The New Munsters, an animated series called Little Shop and material for Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. In recent years, Hope has focused on writing musicals, penning four for Storybook Theater of Los Angeles, two of which - Mother Goose The Musical and The Princess and The Frog - won the ADA (Artistic Director Achievement) Award for Best Original Children's Musical. With Laurence she then wrote the score to popular, often produced Gilligan's Island-The Musical, which is being readied for a national tour. She and her brother Lloyd co-wrote the third Brady Bunch movie, The Brady Bunch in The White House, and she received an Emmy nomination for the TV Land special Still Brady After All These Years. Most recently, Hope, Laurence and Lloyd teamed to write A Very Brady Musical, currently running to rave reviews at
Theatre West in Hollywood.
Choreography for It's the Housewives! is by
Kay Cole; Set Design is by Davis Campbell and
Danny Cistone, DC2; Lighting Design is by Lesley Fairman; Costume Design is by Sharell Martin; Sound Design is Joseph "Sloe" Slawinski; Casting is by Raul Clayton Staggs; Production Stage Manager is
Adam Conger; and Racquel Lehrman, Theatre Planners, produces.
Performances of It's the Housewives! are scheduled Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm, September 6 through October 12. One preview performance takes place on Friday, September 5 at 8 pm. Tickets to all performances are $30.00, except opening night (Saturday, September 6) which is $40.00 and includes a Gala reception following the performance, and the preview performance which is $20.00. The Whitefire Theatre is located at 13500 Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks (three blocks east of Woodman, at Sunnyslope). For reservations and information, call (323) 960-5563 or go to
http://itsthehousewives.com
