LOVE AND OTHER LIFE SENTENCES Will Be Performed By Soft Brain Theatre Company

Soft Brain Theatre Company will present Love And Other Life Sentences, an original Commedia dell'Arte musical written by SBTC company member Jake Erickson with music by Terry Foley. Somewhere between Hello, Dolly!, your favorite rom-com movie, and Renaissance Italy waltzes in this ribald new love story with dashing soldiers, star-crossed lovers singing swoonworthy prose, and... bigfoot?! 

A directionless stranger stumbles into a bizarre town and quickly gets swept into the romantic chaos of its residents. As he's forced to play matchmaker, he goes from "third-wheel" to "behind-the-wheel" in a wild pursuit of love in all its forms.  Love and Other Life Sentences runs Off-Broadway at the McGinn/Cazale Theater from April 30 - May 10.

Directed by SBTC Co-Founding Artistic Director, Nicole Tsarouhas, Love and Other Life Sentences infuses the timeless charm of Commedia dell'Arte, vibrant musical theatre elements, and Soft Brain's signature bawdy physical comedy. “Commedia dell'Arte was popularized nearly 500 years ago, yet we see its influence everywhere; we see the stock characters in The Simpsons, we see the desperation and yearning of the Lovers in movies like Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights, and ridiculous physical comedy lives on in the work of today's comedic icons like Chris Fleming,”said Tsarouhas. “Commedia dell'Arte blends seamlessly with musical theatre because both artforms live in this larger-than-live sphere of expression. And who does larger-than-life better than Soft Brain?”

“I asked myself what would happen if the farcical and bawdy stylings of Commedia dell'Arte were elevated into an all-out adventure,” said playwright Jake Erickson. “For inspiration, I revisited my favorite whimsical comedies from across mediums, including Tom Stoppard's On the Razzle (1981), Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), and Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). I was excited to discover traces of Commedia in each of these diverse works, spanning over a century of storytelling. From mischievous servants to stern masters and forbidden young love, Commedia's archetypes and conventions remain an enduring influence on comedy today, making it the perfect foundation for my new musical comedy Love & Other Life Sentences!” said Erickson.