Silence! The Musical will Have World Premiere as Part of the Ninth New York International Fringe Festival

By: May. 17, 2005
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NY—Tesseract Theatre (John Pinckard, Artistic Director), Mark Hartman, and Brian J. Nash will present the world premiere of the cult hit Silence! The Musical as part of the ninth New York International Fringe Festival, which will run from August 12th to August 28th.

The show's press release states that, "Composed by brothers Jon and Al Kaplan and directed and choreographed by multiple Lortel Award winner Christopher Gattelli (Altar Boyz, Bat Boy: the Musical), the musical is an unauthorized parody of the iconic 1991 Oscar-winning film, The Silence of the Lambs. As in the movie, rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling must match wits with the brilliant but insane cannibal Dr. Hannibal Lecter to catch the man behind a string of gruesome kidnappings and murders, known only as "Buffalo Bill." Not as in the movie, the action is narrated by a Greek chorus of lambs, and everyone breaks out into cheerful showtunes about the most horrific of subjects.

The production will feature all of the songs found on the popular website for the show, www.silencethemusical.com, as well as new numbers for Clarice, Dr. Chilton, and other characters, previously unheard anywhere. The book has been adapted from the parody screenplay also by the songwriting brothers Jon and Al Kaplan."

Director Christopher Gattelli recently won the 2005 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreography for his work on the current Off-Broadway smash Altar Boyz. As choreographer, his other credits include Bat Boy: The Musical, for which he also won the Lortel Award, the Off-Broadway and West End productions of tick, tick…BOOM!, and Papermill Playhouse's recent staging of The Baker's Wife. As director/choreographer, he most recently helmed last fall's all-star Broadway concert of Hair. Gattelli is joined by music director Brian J. Nash. Additional members of the production team are currently being confirmed, and casting is underway.

Jon and Al Kaplan, two brothers struggling to break into Los Angeles' competitive film composing industry, wrote Silence! The Musical as a labor of love in 2003. At first a diversion, the songs made their way online. Aided by enthusiastic word of mouth and a mention on Entertainment Weekly's Must List, the music has acquired a strong cult following. The FringeNYC production marks the first time the piece will receive a production of any kind.

Venues for individual shows in this year's FringeNYC have not been announced yet.

Tickets, priced at $15, will go on sale July 30, 2005 at www.FringeNYC.org, or at (212) 279-4488 or 1.888.FringeNYC. For more information, visit www.FringeNYC.org or www.silencethemusical.com.


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