The World Premiere of I'M NOT FAMOUS - A Musical Journey with Barbara Minkus Opens 4/23

Santa Monica Playhouse presents "tiny, talented terrific Barbara Minkus" (Backstage) in a dynamite world premiere musical, I'm Not Famous - a Musical Journey with Barbara Minkus, a funny, poignant and powerful evening of theatre laced with shared private moments, personal tidbits, and a plethora of musical delights from film, television and Broadway star Barbara Minkus. Helmed by renowned performer/director Susan Morgenstern, with musical accompaniment by Ron Barnett, I'm Not Famous opens Sunday,April 23 at 7:00 pm.

Barbara Minkus may not be "famous," but she is certainly one of the most widely adored artists in the business. She toured as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, was Lucy in the recording of You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, starred on Broadway in The Education Of Hyman Kaplan and Off-Broadway as Molly Picon in Picon Pie, was a regular on TV'S Love American Style and Curiosity Shop, with numerous appearances over the years on The Danny Kaye Show, The Tonight Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Tosh O Show and HBO's Getting On. Most recently, she played both Off-Broadway and Los Angeles in Don't Leave it All to Your Children.

An actress since the age of five, Susan Morgenstern crossed over into directing when she began staging musical theatre concert readings while co-teaching "American Musical Comedy" with Tom Lehrer at U.C. Santa Cruz. After directing numerous shows in Los Angeles, Susan met Barbara Minkus at Theatre West, where she directed Saturday Night at Grossinger's with Barbara in the starring role. Susan directed three shows at Garry Marshall's Falcon Theatre, as well as Happy Days, A New Musical, at Cabrillo Music Theatre's 1,800-seat auditorium. She is currently the Producing Director of Jewish Women's Theatre, based in Santa Monica at The Braid, and also works as a show director for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts.

Ron Barnett has been a musical director, composer and erstwhile sound designer for a quarter of a century and is currently Musical Director for the Artists' Repertory Company in North Hollywood and Director of Music and Sacred Arts at Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in Glendale.

Produced by Santa Monica Playhouse and Diane Baroni.

I'm Not Famous plays Sundays at 7 pm through May 28, 2017. General admission is $30. Tickets for the special Opening Night Gala are available for $40; VIP Ticket Package for Two is $100 and includes a bottle of champagne and an autographed photo of Minkus. For tickets go to http://SantaMonicaPlayhouse.com or call The Playhouse Box Office at 1-310-394-9779 ext. 1.

Santa Monica Playhouse is at 1211 4th Street (between Wilshire and Arizona) in the heart of downtown Santa Monica. Convenient parking is directly across the street in city lot #1. By public transportation: take the Santa Monica Blue Bus or the LA Metro Rapid #720 and exit at 4th and Wilshire, or ride the Metro Expo Line to 4th and Colorado (end of the line). The Playhouse is 3.5 blocks north of the station.

Santa Monica Playhouse is supported in part by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, by the City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Arts Commission, and by U.S. Bank.