Trailer Park Musical Reopens at Dodger Stages, Aug 20

By: Jun. 15, 2005
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After having played successfully at The New York Musical Theatre Festival last summer, The Great American Trailer Park Musical will begin performances at off-Broadway's Dodger Stages on August 20th to reopen on September 15th.

Produced by Jean Doumanian and Jeffrey Richards, the musical will star Shuler Hensley (Tony Award for Oklahoma, "Van Helsing"), Linda Hart (Hairspray, Anything Goes), Kaitlin Hopkins (Bat Boy, Noises Off, Bare), Leslie Kritzer (Hairspray, Bat Boy), Wayne Wilcox (A Man of No Importance, The Light in the Piazza) and original cast member Marya Grandy. Although the complete design team has not yet been announced, Derek McLane will design the sets while Donald Holder takes care of the lighting.

The Great American Trailer Park Musical will be helmed by Betsy Kelso, who wrote the show's book to David Nehls' country-and-blues music and lyrics. In the musical, "an agoraphobic housewife must tear herself away from Dr. Phil long enough to leave her trailer and save her marriage. Why the sudden fuss after being safely tucked away for nearly 20 years? Armadillo Acres' newest tenant--a hot, young stripper with an questionable agenda. With guidance from a trailer-trash style Greek Chorus (three local women with phobias, neurosis and hang-ups of their own), the story unfolds."

Nehls wrote the score for the musical adaptation for the national tour of It's a Wonderful Life as well as the score for The Water Coolers: A Corporate Review, which ran Off-Broadway.  He has provided musical arrangements for The Rock n Roll Misanthrope, The Funderbunks, and Devil Boys from Beyond.  Nehls has composed, arranged and acted as Musical Director for Carols For A Cure.  He is currently a founding member of the band Ghetto Cowboy, fronted by Kevin Cahoon.

Kelso has written scripts for Behind The Music That Sucks, an animated series on the FUSE channel.  She is a founding member of the all-female sketch-comedy team Shirley Chickenpants, has performed improvisational and sketch comedy with SPLIT MILK, worked in-house at Caroline's Comedy Club in New York City and toured clubs and colleges along the East Coast.  Kelso has also been researching the Baby Boomer generation and the birth of MTV for two projects: a live musical show called POPera and an original TV series that takes place in the early 80s.
 
The Great American Trailer Park Musical will play alongside Altar Boyz (which also originated at NYMTF), Drumstruck and The Musical of Musicals at Dodger Stages; the other show inhabit stages 4, 2 and 5.

For more information, visit www.trailerparkmusical.com.




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