IT'S A BIRD! IT'S A PLANE! IT'S SUPERMAN Opens at Being Revived Theater Tonight

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...actually a rarely performed 1966 musical and the inaugural full-length production from the Being Revived Theater Company in Frederick, Maryland.

The cult classic It's A Bird! It's A Plane! It's Superman! is set to open tonight, April 12 at the Performing Arts Factory. Directed by David Norman and musically directed by Jonas Dawson, the show features Steve Custer as Clark Kent/Superman, Ashley Snow as Lois Lane, Steve Barney as Dr. Sedgwick, Karen Paoene as Sydney and Steve Steele as Max Mencken. Superman! tells the story of the iconic comic book superhero (alias Clark Kent), his efforts to defeat the evil scientist Dr. Sedgwick, his romantic challenges hiding his alter-ego from his blossoming love interest, Lois Lane, and competing with the rival for her affections, Max Mencken.

"The show is a really funny throw-back to the era of the 1960's. The show got pretty good reviews when it opened in New York in 1966, but it just never caught on with audiences. It really deserves more of a life than it has had" said Norman.

The Encores! City Center production of Superman! recently finished a successful run, but Norman and the Being Revived cast of Superman! are not worried about any inevitable comparisons.

"Encores! used a full orchestra and high-lighted the incredible original orchestrations by Eddie Sauter. We will be using only a piano. They had minimal set - we have none. We have some amazing props that are painted to look like they jumped straight out of the comic books. Encores! performed a slightly cut down version of the script and we are doing the whole thing. The mission of Being Revived is to put less emphasis on the physical production and more on the words, music and performers. We want to seek out the shows - new and old - that haven't found an audience yet and give them a bare-bones staging and give audiences and actors something new to experience," said Norman.

The Being Revived Theater company is a new and unique theater company based in Frederick, Maryland, which focuses on performing little known and rarely performed shows (some that are considered "flops"). The company was founded in 2012 by Jeanine Collins, Jonas Dawson, David Norman, Andrew McClain, Will Heyser, Christine Galante and Karen Paone. After performing a musical revue show in August 2012 entitled Completely Inappropriate: A Musical Revue to Offend Everyone , the company is performing their first full-length musical and hoping to introduce audiences to lesser-known musicals.

"We want to seek out the shows - new and old - that haven't found an audience yet and give them a bare-bones staging and give audiences and actors something new to experience. We've all done or seen the same shows over and over. I'd rather spend my time exploring something old and unknown than to go back to the same material that everyone does. The problem with this idea is the old Catch-22: theaters don't do these shows because audiences don't know them, and audiences don't know them because theaters don't do them" said Norman.
In upcoming seasons, the Being Revived Theater Company hopes to produce some forgotten and flop musicals by well-known composers such as Cole Porter, Stephen Schwartz and Cy Coleman. "There are also some relatively new shows that haven't seen much life outside of New York yet that I am also eager to explore. It's a huge playing field and I can never run out of material" added Norman.

Meanwhile, the company is hard at work rehearsing for the current production of Superman! and providing a unique opportunity to audiences to see the full-length production of this cult classic favorite. The Superman! ensemble features Melinda Beatty, DC Cathro, Jeanine Collins, Tim Eichelberger, Lauren Kuhn, Anthony Marchese, Andrew McClain, James Robertson, Annelyse Santos and Emily Welch.

It's A Bird! It's A Plane! It's Superman! will run tonight, April 12, 13, 19 and 20 at 8:00 PM and April 21 at 2:00 PM at the Performing Arts Factory, 244 South Jefferson Street in Frederick, Maryland. Tickets are $15 and Being Revived Box Office requests audience purchase tickets with cash or checks only. For more information about Superman! or the Being Revived Theater Company, visit their website at www.BeingRevived.com.

Photo Credit: Being Revived Theater Company

 

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