Urban Stages Announces Season Closer '27 Rue de Fleurus'

Urban Stages is pleased to announce the final production of their 2007/2008 season: 27 Rue de Fleurus, a new musical derived from the imagination of Alice B. Toklas.  Alice tries to set the record straight about being Gertrude Stein's "wife" for nearly 40 years. 27 Rue de Fleurus will be directed by Urban Stages Artistic Director Frances Hill.  Performances will be at 259 West 30th Street (between 7th and 8th).  Previews will begin on Saturday, March 1st with the opening date scheduled for Thursday, March 6th and will run through Sunday, April 6th. 

"Unlike most of the stage works about Gertrude and Alice, 27 Rue de Fleurus is told from Alice's point of view. Gertrude grows tired of Alice's lack of panache for telling her perspective of their story and attempts to hijack the play as only the author of such lines as "sugar is not a vegetable" can. But Alice has secrets to share with the audience that silence the famously verbose Gertrude.  This celebrated couple confronts each other about love, marriage, jealousy, genius and a few other delicious topics while Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mabel Dodge, Sylvia Beach and even Jean Harlow drop by for a visit," press notes state.

Ted Sod's work has been primarily produced in Seattle, including Stealing (O'Neill Theatre Center Music Theatre Conference; Seattle Group Theatre), Damaged Goods and Not Sunset Boulevard (Alice B. Theatre), Conquest of Fears (Seattle Rep); Make Me Pele For A Day (Seattle Children's Theatre) and Crocodile Tears (Seattle International Film Festival). He has directed many plays and readings; played villains on all three "Law and Orders" and is currently dramaturge for the education department at The Roundabout Theatre Company in NYC.  Lisa Koch is a Seattle songwriter/actor/comedian, and is the composer/lyricist of The Bouffants Go to Hollywood (Cabaret de Paris), Ham for the Holidays (Theatre Off-Jackson), Two's Company, I'm a Crowd (Oregon Cabaret Theatre), and Glazing Saddles (Phoenix Theatre). She has released four solo recordings, is a member of sketch-comedy duo Dos Fallopia, and is touring her one-woman show, Return to Planet Lisa.

The cast of 27 Rue de Fleurus will include a cast of Broadway regulars and one notable newcomer: Sarah Chalfy (Annapolis Symphony, Baltimore Opera), Susan Haefner (Thoroughly Modern Millie, 42nd Street, Damn Yankees), Barbara Rosenblat (Talk Radio, The Secret Garden), Cheryl Stern (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Women), Emily Zacharias (Jekyll & Hyde, Social Security).

Since 1983, director Frances Hill has overseen more than 600 staged readings and workshops, plus over 75 productions of new work for the stage. Recent directing credits include Jim Lehrer's Chili Queen (Urban Stages and The Kennedy Center), John C. Picardi's Seven Rabbits on a Pole and The Sweepers (Urban Stages and Capital Rep), Comfort Women by Chungmi Kim and last season's "Apostasy" by Gino DiIorio.  As Artistic Director of Urban Stages, she has moved two plays to commercial off-Broadway runs: Minor Demons and Men on the Verge of a His-Panic Breakdown, which won an Outer Critics Circle Award.

The creative team for 27 Rue de Fleurus will be John Bell, as Musical Director, Jessica Hayden, choreography, Roman Tatarowicz (Set Design), Carrie Robbins (Costume Design), Raquel Davis (Lighting Design), Alex Koch (Video Design).

Urban Stages produces new plays with themes that reflect our diverse society.  Their most recent productions were the critically acclaimed Oxford Roof Climbers Rebellion by Stephen Massicotte, Marion Bridge by Daniel MacIvor, the Pulitzer Prize finalist Bulrusher by Eisa Davis and Apostasy by Gino DiIorio. During the run of the show, there will be photographs and other artworks featuring Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas on display in the theater lobby. Pieces are from the Gertrude and Alice collection of San Francisco collector Hans Gallas. Gallas coordinated events around the world last year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the meeting of Gertrude and Alice on Alice's first day in Paris. Works exhibited include original Carl Van Vechten photographs, wood-block prints, caricatures, and mixed media pieces created by artists from around the world. Gertrude and Alice have been the subjects of visual artists from the beginning of the 20th century and continue to inspire artists in all media.

The schedule for 27 Rue de Fleurus will be Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8PM, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 3PM. There will be no matinee on Saturday, March 8th and an additional Preview on Tuesday, March 4th, 8pm Tickets will be $25.00 for previews (March 1st through March 5th) and $40.00 beginning on March 6th. All Wednesday performances will be specially priced at $25.  Tickets may be purchased by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444, or online at www.urbanstages.org. There will be talkbacks every Wednesday and Saturday night, check www.urbanstages.org for schedule of speakers.

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