'THE HOUSEWIVES' CANTATA' To Run At Triad 1/7, 1/14, 1/20

The Housewives' Cantata, the funny feminist classical musical revue with music by Mira J. Spektor and lyrics by June Siegel, will play at the Triad Theater for three nights only, on Wednesday, January 7, Wednesday, January 14 and Tuesday, January 20 at 8 p.m.  Karen Carpenter directs.  Tickets are $30 and can be reserved by calling 212-362-2590 or visiting www.triadnyc.com.  The Triad Theater is located at 158 West 72nd Street, just east of Broadway.

The first funny feminist musical revue for men and women, The Housewives' Cantata uses a cabaret style à la "Jacques Brel…" to tell the story of three women, one of whom goes from housewife to becoming the first woman President of the United States.  Songs featured in the revue include "What is a woman?," "Dirty dish rag," "Guinevere among the grapefruit peels," "Adultery waltz" and "Divorce lament."  The Off-Broadway production produced by Cheryl Crawford was praised as  "A sprightly songfest" by The New York Times.

Reviews of the Cast Album of The Housewives' Cantata, available from Original Cast Records, have praised the songs' "trenchant lyrics" and the music's "nice balance between the touching and the tart" (The Music Connoisseur).

Composer and poet Mira J. Spektor's chamber operas and musicals include: Villa Diodati (a chamber opera about Mary Shelley and Frankenstein, recently heard at the York Theater in Saint Peter's Church and produced by the New York Music Theater Festival, Lady of the Castle (about a young girl hidden during the Holocaust, produced Off-Bway, in Berlin and London) , The Passion of Lizzie Borden and Give Me Time.  She has written many French, German and English songs heard in recitals and cabarets, and music scores for feature films and PBS-TV, and has recorded for Westminster, Concert Hall, Guilde International du Disque, Original Cast Records, Capstone and AirPlay. In 1975, she founded The Aviva Players, who perform and present chamber music and songs by women composers of the 12th - 21st centuries. Born in Europe,! Ms. Spektor is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and studied at Mannes and Juilliard.  She is a member of BMI, Dramatist Guild and League of Professional Theater Women. Her latest book of poems is The Road to November.

Lyricist June Siegel has written for Off-Broadway's A…My Name is Alice cycle (Outer Critics Circle Award, Best Musical, 1984), the long running That's Life! and Enfant Mouvais Souvenir, songs of a woman caught in the Rwandan genocide (music by Rick Cummins) which was directed by Graciela Daniele. Her work Creme De La Femme and Life's A Stitch appear in two Random House Best of Contemporary Women's Humor anthologies.  Writ in Rhyme, her verse correspondence with Yip Harburg was published in the Dramatists Guild Quarterly.
 
Karen Carpenter directed Paper Mill Playhouse's Steel Magnolias and Nora and Delia Ephron's new play, Love Loss and What I Wore, with Linda Lavin, Kathy Najimy and Leslie Kritzer for Guild Hall in East Hampton last season.  Love Loss and What I Wore is slated for Off-Broadway in January 2009 (Daryl Roth, Producer). This spring, Karen will create an evening for the Inge Foundation of William Inge's previously unpublished and unproduced short works, in conjunction with Samuel French's publication.  Other credits include Associate Artistic Director of the Old Globe, where she served as their artistic producer and directed many critically acclaimed works, such as Abi Morgan's Splendour, Nilo Cruz's Two Sisters and a Piano, Jeffrey Hatcherrs! quos Smash, Harold Pinter's Betrayal, and As You Like It.  Creative Producer for the U.N. and W.H.O. global campaign to eradicate infant and maternal mortalities, worldwide: Deliver Now for Women and Children.  Faculty, Yale School of Drama 1991-1996.  www.CarpenterMedia.com

Featured in the cast are Laura Dekkers, Darcy Dunn, Mark Singer and Anne Tolpegin. Bob Goldstone is the Music Director and Pianist.

Photo: Beth Fowler, Mark S. Hoebee and Karen Carpenter (Director)

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