Joel Blum, Kevin Kraft And More to Join THE FARTISTE 20th Anniversary Concert

The cast has been revealed for the 20th Anniversary Concerts of the award-winning musical THE FARTISTE, returning to New York for two performances only, September 28 and 29 at 7 PM at The Laurie Beechman Theatre at the West Bank Café. 

The company brings together several artists from the musical's original award-winning 2006 New York International Fringe Festival production and subsequent Off-Broadway incarnation, along with acclaimed Broadway performers.

The cast features Kevin Kraft (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum on Broadway), returning to the title role of Joseph Pujol; comedian and vocal sound-effects artist Steven Scott (America's Got Talent); Nick Wyman (Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera, Network); Nicole Benoit (Broadway's Chicago); Molly Curry (Goodman Theatre's Turn of the Century); Rachel Velard (North American tour of Miss Saigon); Rebecca Kupka (Broadway's Jersey Boys, Saturday Night Fever); Sierra Rein (Regional: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and two-time Tony Award nominee Joel Blum (Show Boat, Steel Pier), Rachel Kaufman (Goldstein, national tours of Rent and The Phantom of the Opera) returns as Music Director, with Howie Gordon (drums) and Ben Rauch (keyboards). 

Written by Michael Roberts (music and lyrics) and Charlie Schulman (book), THE FARTISTE tells the almost-too-strange-to-be-true story of Joseph Pujol, the legendary French entertainer who turned an extraordinary physical ability into one of the most celebrated—and certainly most unusual—acts of 1890s Paris.

Long before Moulin Rouge! became synonymous with movie musicals and Broadway spectacle, the actual Moulin Rouge was home to an array of outrageous performers. Among its biggest stars was Pujol, better known as Le Pétomane, whose remarkable control of his abdominal muscles allowed him to create an astonishing assortment of sounds and musical effects.

At the height of his fame, Pujol became one of the Moulin Rouge's highest-paid performers, entertaining enormous crowds with an act that reportedly included impressions of cannon fire, thunder and musical instruments, as well as renditions of familiar melodies.  In other words: he made flatulence into an art form.

Roberts and Schulman transformed Pujol's unlikely rise to fame into THE FARTISTE, a musical comedy about ambition, show business and one man's determination to make the most of a very unusual talent. The musical premiered at the 2006 New York International Fringe Festival, where it received the award for Outstanding Musical. A concert presentation followed at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, and the musical subsequently received a full Off-Broadway production in 2011.