BWW Exclusive: BARRY Z SHOW Salutes MAD ABOUT THE BOY

"The Barry Z Show"--which has covered theater in New York City since 1993--will be celebrating ASCAP Award-winning writer/director Chip Deffaa's Off-Broadway musical "Mad About the Boy" on a series of telecasts, beginning with an hour-long special airing late-night Friday, June 12th at 2 am on Time Warner Cable Channel 34. (The show will also be available on UStream.com.) The complete hour-long broadcast--produced and edited by Jonathan Ospa on location at the 13th Street Repertory Theater---may be previewed exclusively below:

In addition, Barry Z will be including musical numbers from "Mad About the Boy"--beginning with Benjamin Grier singing and dancing to Deffaa's original song "I'm Crazy for My Baby in a Uniform" and Cole Porter's "My Cozy Little Corner of the Ritz," on a series of subsequent broadcasts. Barry Z has hosted nearly 1000 programs in his 22 years on the air; but he's never before devoted so much attention to a single show as he is now devoting to Deffaa's "Mad About the Boy." Why the unprecedented attention to a single Off-Broadway show?

Barry Z commented: "I'm so maaad about the boy myself..... It's a great gay musical history lesson--the best musical review I've seen in years!"

Deffaa commented: "We're always grateful for Barry Z's support. Over the years, he's given assorted shows of mine--from 'The Seven Little Foys' to 'George M. Cohan Tonight,' to 'Theater Boys'--tremendous coverage on his television programs. But this time, he's really outdone himself. He's never before devoted an entire program to one musical, And he's inviting individual cast members back to perform on subsequent broadcasts."

Barry Z recently went "on location" to The 13th Street Theater, taping interviews and performance footage with such company members as Cody Jordan, Michael J.C. Anderson, Maite Uzal, Katherine Paulsen, Toby Medlyn, Joris deGraaf, Luka Fric, Amanda Andrews, Shinice Hemmings, and Deffaa. The hour-long special will intermix snippets of performance footage with interviews. Complete musical numbers will air on future broadcasts.

Barry Z is happy to launch the salute in June--"Gay Pride Month"--since, he says, "Mad About the Boy" provides a unique overview of gay music, past and present; he stresses that he's learned from the show, besides being entertained.

"It means a lot to all of us that Barry Z is devoting so much attention to 'Mad About the Boy,'" Deffaa added. "Barry's shows--whether people watch them on Time Warner Cable, or on UStream.com, or on YouTube--have included, over the years, everyone from 'A' to 'Z'--from Julie Andrews to Liza with-a-Z Minnelli. We're happy that some of our 'Mad About the Boy' family members will be part of that tradition now."

Deffaa is glad that the television tapings will help document the talents of 'Mad About the Boy's 15 cast members. "I particularly hope we can get Michael Czyz to one of the future tapings before he must head back to Canada," Deffaa commented. "Czyz has starred in three shows of mine in the past year--'Theater Boys,' 'The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue,' and 'Mad about the Boy.' He's won the theater's 'George M. Cohan Award,' and he's invaluable--as gifted as any actor I've worked with. And we're all sorry we'll be losing him." Czyz, who is Canadian, must return to Canada shortly, due to visa issues. Deffaa added: "I've worked with many terrific actors who happen to be foreign nationals; and whenever you do so, you're at the mercy of whatever government officials decide whether to renew or not renew their visas. Several of our best 'Mad About the Boy' cast members are foreign citizens--Luka Fric is Slovenian, Maite Uzal is Spanish, Joris de Graaf is Dutch...." In addition, the late Kenneth A. Adams--who understudied Michael Czyz in three different shows, including "Mad About the Boy" and was well-loved by his castmates--was also Canadian. "Mad About the Boy" is currently on summer hiatus at the 13th Street Rep. Barry Z says he's like to produce the next production of the show himself--moving the show to a bigger theater--and is in talks with Deffaa about that possibility.