Broadway Talent Creates 'Man of the People' - New Online Comedy Series

by BWW News Desk Aug. 27, 2008

From the award-winning imagination of 2007 Kleban Award recipient and theatre scribe Jeremy Desmon, Man of the People: The Only-Recently Discovered Secret Political Recordings of Acting Mayor Francis "Woody" Woodson is a weekly, audio-only web series. Akin to comedic serials "Prairie Home Companion" or Joss Whedon's "Dr. Horrible," Man of the People echoes radio plays of the past, while providing an up-to-the-minute, satirical take on the 2008 election through the guise of a heated mayoral race in the fictional Hamlet of Daltonville (pop.. 1799).

Comprised of the "found" tapes of a small-town mayor secretly audiotaping his every political move, this episodic download follows Woody Woodson as he drags Daltonville through a series of political minefields, trudging along his quixotic quest for re-election (and, of course, his place in history).

Episode titles include the Reverend Wright-inspired "Mr. Doug's Haircuts for Boys," and "Woody Battles Big Oil," as the mayor boldly fights the rising price of (canola) oil. Complete with sound effects and a keen comedic spin on American politics, Man of the People holds a fictional mirror up to the current White House race, highlighting its hijinks and hypocrisies as they happen.

Populating the colorful town of Daltonville are Broadway talents Sebastian Arcelus (Jersey Boys, Wicked, Rent), Linda Gabler (Young Frankenstein, Drowsy Chaperone), Russell Koplin (Les Misérables, James Joyce's The Dead), Michael Thomas Holmes (Oklahoma!) and Lauren Weisman ("Canterbury's Law"). Each twelve-to-fifteen minute episode of this eleven-part series is sure to be as entertaining as it is enlightening!

Man of the People is written each week by Mr.. Desmon and his motley crew of theatre writers, comedic novelists and stand-up comedians, including Sammy Buck, Chris Nelson and Victor Wishna. Man of the People is cast by Cindi Rush Casting. Audio for the series is engineered and edited by Brent Lord. More information and cast biographies can be found on the series website: www.woody4mayor.com.

Download information
Episode 1: "Woody Takes on Childhood Obesity," launches Tuesday, August 26, 2008. There are eleven episodes in the series; subsequent episodes may feature surprise celebrity guests. New episodes are scheduled to post every Tuesday until Election Day (November 4, 2008). Downloads are free of charge and appear on iTunes and the series website: www.woody4mayor.com.

About Jeremy Desmon

Jeremy Desmon (Creator/Executive Producer) primarily writes musicals, receiving the 2007 Edward Kleban Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre bookwriting. His shows The Girl in the Frame and I See London, I See France: The Underwear Musical have been seen in New York and around the country; the under-five set can catch his work in If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (and Other Storybooks), the off-Broadway phenom now touring with TheatreworksUSA. Currently, he's adapting Dave Gebroe's indie horror/romance/comedy cult hit Zombie Honeymoon for the musical stage, working on a surreal non-musical play called 7½ Wondrous Acts of True Love and completing an evening of songs with composer Vadim Feichtner. A graduate of Stanford University (BA) and NYU Tisch School of the Arts (MFA), Jeremy lives with his wife, Hilary, in Manhattan (near a Starbucks) and has yet to live up to his potential.

Photo Credit Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.