'IRVING BERLIN RAGTIME REVUE to Record Cast Album

ASCAP Award-winning writer/director Chip Deffaa's "The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue"-currently playing at the 13th Street Theater in repertory with Deffaa's long-running "One Night with Fanny Brice"--is to receive a cast recording. The cast album will feature all of the singing actors currently appearing in the show: Rayna Hirt, Ken Adams, Michael Cyzz, Maite Uzal, Michael Kasper, Jonah Barricklo, Emily Bordonaro, Missy Dreier, K.W. Andersson; Andrew Lanctot, Ann Marie Calabro, Brandon Pollinger, and Timmy Thompson, with musical direction by Richard Danley. Deffaa will produce the album; Slau Halatyn will be the recording engineer; with production to begin later this month at Be-Sharp Studios in Astoria. The album will be released in the United States on the Original Cast Records label. It will be the sixth show of Deffaa's to get a cast album.

In addition to the forthcoming cast album, the show is being preserved in two other ways. Brian Gari is making an archival video of the entire November 23rd performance, and Peter Charney Productions will be making a short film of highlights of the show, to represent the show on You Tube, and for demo purposes. The show features choreography by Tyler DuBoys, Alex Acevedo and Rayna Hirt; the stage-manager is Kate Solomon-Tilley; and Megan Ulan and Matt Nardozzi are production associates. (Also assisting in varying ways with production are 13th Street Rep mainstays Nick Linnehan, Joe Battista, June Rachelson Ospa.)

According to Edith O'Hara, the 97-year-old founder/artistic director of the 13th Street Rep, "The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue"--one of the biggest productions mounted at the theater in years--features no less than 42 early Berlin songs, many of which have been unheard in decades, and some of which have never before been recorded.

Deffaa notes: "The show mixes some famous Berlin numbers like 'Say it with Music,' 'You'd be Surprised," 'When the Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabam,' 'The International Rag,' and 'Alexander's Ragtime Band-songs that have been recorded by Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman, Ella Fitzgerald, Marilyn Monroe-with some wondrous rarities and rediscoveries like 'The Syncopated Walk,' 'The Ragtime Soldier Man,' 'That Draggy Rag,' and 'Everything in America is Ragtime' that will be brand new to virtually everyone. I went through hundreds and hundreds of Berlin songs to select those in the show."

Missy Dreier, one of the actors for whom Deffaa wrote "The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue," notes: "This show is really special because it highlights many Berlin songs that may not be well-known but are just as beautiful and poignant as some of his more famous songs."

The 14-person cast ranges in age from 12 to 42. The youngest cast member, Jonah Barricklo, 12, acknowledges: "I didn't really know the name 'Irving Berlin.' But now that we're doing this show, it's so interesting, I want to know more. I've been reading up on Irving Berlin in different places."

The 13th Street Repertory Theater had such a successful run with Deffaa's previous show about Berlin, "Irving Berlin's America" (co-starring Giuseppe Bausilio and Michael Townsend Wright, and just published by Steele Springs Stage Rights) that Edith O'Hara gave Deffaa the green-light to present other shows about Berlin. This is the second of five shows, examining Berlin's legacy from different perspectives, that Deffaa intends to stage at the 13th Street Rep over the next two years. "Berlin was the most successful individual songwriter in history," Deffaa says. "His legacy is so great, it will take a series of shows to properly salute him. And we want to record the shows, to help get the music out there, and help introduce Berlin's legacy to another generation."