green eyes, A Contemporary Love Story, Premieres At Fringe

 A contemporary love story, green eyes tracks the rise and fall of a relationship over time through folk-rock music and modern dance. The new musical utilizes two singers, two dancers, and a five-piece orchestra to fuse both song and dance, shedding new light on the traditional "boy meets girl" story.

Diana Glazer, in association with Steve Tate and Leopold Group, are proud to present green eyes as part of the 11th Annual New York International Fringe Festival and will be showing for five dates beginning August 16, 2008.

Directed by Jessica Redish** who recently created the musical staging for the Lortel Award-winning Adding Machine, green eyes has been described by North Shore Chicago Magazine as "a multi-media musical for the John Mayer generation."

The creative team says, "Without realizing it, we created green eyes as a form of collective catharsis: for those who feel like they're drowning in their relationships and can't get any perspective, for those who narrowly escaped a destructive relationship they still somehow miss, for those who narrowly escaped a destructive relationship and somehow don't miss it at all, for those who try to find love in the 21st century."

The cast of green eyes features some of the most elite, up-and-coming luminaries from stage including, Nick Blaemire* (Cry Baby, Altar Boyz), Celina Carvajal* (MTV's "Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods," Cats, 42nd St, Tarzan), Ryan Watkinson* (Movin' Out, Xanadu), and Melissa Bloch of the Leopold Group.

The show's choreographer, Lizzie Leopold, brings true modern dance to the stage while effectively incorporating ballet influences, creating dance that is innovative, expressive and guttural.  Her work is complex, well thought-out and specific. Recognizable dance motifs morph as the relationship does. Leopold is the Artistic Director and Choreographer for the Leopold Group Modern Dance Company and a former dancer with the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Composer and lyricist, Brian Mazzaferri, has crafted a soundtrack that can be best described as soulful, upbeat, moving, inspiring and energizing. Eli Zoller helped to create beautiful orchestrations of his songs to fit a five-piece band.  Mazzaferri studied Musical Theater & Philosophy at University of Michigan and credits these studies as a major influence to much of his writing. Mazzaferri is an up-and-coming singer/songwriter who recently released his debut studio album, All Roads Lead to Roads (Sophic Records).

Additional credits include the following: Lighting design by Ji-youn Chang, a graduate of Yale School of Drama and has designed numerous New York productions for 78th Street Theatre Lab, Prospect Theatre Company, and Abrons Arts Center. Casting by Michael Cassara, with set and costumes designed by Maiko Chii who recently designed Ensemble Studio Theatre's Marathon of Plays. Sound design by Michael Eisenberg who is currently working as assistant sound designer for Thirteen.

green eyes will be showing as part of this year's New York International Fringe Festival August 16th through August 23rd. For more information, or to purchase tickets, please visit greeneyesthemusical.com  or www.FringeNYC.org. 

Performance Dates:

August 16th @ 6:00pm
August 17th @ 7:00pm
August 20th @ 6:00pm
August 21st @ 7:30pm
August 23rd @ 7:00pm

ABOUT PRODUCER, DIANA GLAZER:

Diana is a NY based producer, director and casting director. She currently serves as Assistant to the President at Nederlander Worldwide, Casting Director at Prospect Theater Company, is on the literary reading committee at Primary Stages and is a founding member of New Bar Theater. She is currently the Executive Producer of A Political Party! at the Sage Theater and served as Associate Producer on "A Mikvah" (NYC Fringe 2007) and "The Rockae" (Prospect Theater Company). Diana has worked at Manhattan Theatre Club, Harden-Curtis Associates, Weston Playhouse, and Mason Street Warehouse and is an Associate Member of the SSDC. She is a proud graduate of Northwestern University.

ABOUT CO-PRODUCER, STEPHEN TATE:

Steve's previous producing credits include Prospect Theater Company's The Blue Flower and The Four. Steve has worked in nonprofit regional and commercial Broadway theatre for over seven years.  A graduate from the University of California San Diego (UCSD), Steve spent four years at the Tony Award winning La Jolla Playhouse. Commercially, Steve ventured into the Broadway realm as Marketing Manager of RENT during its 10th Season of Love and national movie launch while employed at TMG - The Marketing Group.  Currently, Steve works in the online advertising arm of Broadway with Situation Marketing, serving a variety of productions including Tony Award-winning Spring Awakening and August: Osage County.

 
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR, Jessica Redish:

Jessica is a New York-based director/choreographer. New York credits include: Movement Director for the Lortel Award-winning Adding Machine, A Musical, Director/Choreographer for Maccabeat, and choreographer for The Family Fiorelli, Oedipus for Kids! at NYMF, Moving Forward, Looking Back by Michael Mahler at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. Regional: And the World Goes 'Round (Zoni nomination for choreography) and Falsettos at Northwestern University, her alma mater.