The Zombies of Penzance at New Line Theatre at New Line Theatre
Dates: (9/27/2018 - 10/20/2018 )
New Line Theatre |
Washington University South Campus Theatre, 6501 Clayton Road
St. Louis, 63103
Phone: 3147736526
Tickets: $10-30
SUBMIT UPDATES
Gilbert & Sullivan's long-lost, original "operatic abomination," in its wacky world premiere!
New Line Theatre, “the bad boy of musical theatre,” has shocked the music world by discovering a long-lost first draft by the legendary British team of librettist W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan, who together wrote fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896.
One of the team's best known works, The Pirates of Penzance, originally debuted in New York in 1879, and was revived to great success in the early 1980s with Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, and Rex Smith. What we now know is that there was an earlier, stranger draft of the show, which nobody knew about until now, with most of the same characters but a somewhat different plot.
In Gilbert & Sullivan's never-before seen original draft, dated December 1878 and titled The Zombies of Penzance (with the unwieldy subtitle, At Night Come the Flesh Eaters), Major-General Stanley is a retired zombie hunter, who doesn't want his daughters marrying the dreaded Zombies of Penzance (for obvious reasons). According to documents found with the manuscripts, Gilbert and Sullivan finished work on The Zombies of Penzance in early 1879, but their producer Richard D’Oyly-Carte refused to produce it, calling it vulgar, impolitic, and unchristian, and in one letter, "an operatic abomination, an obscene foray into the darkest of the occult arts." In a letter to his cousin, Gilbert expressed his deep disappointment, writing "I fear the walking dead shall be the end of me yet."
Until now, music scholars had been baffled by that reference.
After a battle that almost ended the partnership, the team reluctantly agreed to rewrite their show, and in December 1879, D'Oyly-Carte debuted the much more conventional, revised version, The Pirates of Penzance, for which Gilbert added the characters of Ruth and the policemen, and incorporated plot devices from his 1870 work Our Island Home and from Offenbach’s The Bandits. He also cut one song, Frederic's Act I lament, “They Leave Me Alone.” The music for that discarded song found its way into the score for their next show Patience, as the song "I Cannot Tell What This Love May Be.” As he had agreed, Gilbert eliminated all references to zombism in the show.
In 2013, New Line artistic director Scott Miller discovered the original manuscripts for The Zombies of Penzance in the second sub-basement of the Judson Memorial Church in New York, hidden beneath some moldy band parts from Rockabye Hamlet and Shogun the Musical, and Miller set about reconstructing the bizarre original show as G&S intended. Gilbert's walking dead and their Zombie King now make their long-delayed world premiere. Miller has painstakingly reassembled these rediscovered materials into their original form, and St. Louis composer and orchestrator John Gerdes is reconstructing Sullivan's music.
Now, for the first time, audiences will be able to see and hear the comic, flesh-eating insanity Gilbert & Sullivan originally wrought.
The New Line cast includes Sean Michael as Frederic, Melissa Felps as Mabel, Zachay Allen Farmer as Major General Stanley, Dominic Dowdy-Windsor as the Zombie King, with Mara Bollini, Kent Coffel, Kevin Corpuz, Robert Doyle, Matt Hill, Lindsey Jones, Tim Kaniecki, Kyle Kelesoma, Melanie Kozak, Sarah Porter, Christina Rios, Kimi Short, and Gage Seitz. The show will be directed by Scott Miller and Mike Dowdy-Windsor, with music direction by Nicolas Valdez, lighting design by Rob Lippert, scenic design by Kenneth Zinkl, costume design by Sarah Porter, and sound design by Ryan Day.
News About The Zombies of Penzance at New Line Theatre at New Line Theatre
New Line Theatre Presents BLOODY KING OEDIPUS!, OR PARDON ME, MUM!
December 12, 2019New Line Theatre, a?oethe bad boy of musical theatre,a?? continues its 29th season of adult, alternative musical theatre, with a one-night-only free public reading of Gilbert & Sullivan's BLOODY KING OEDIPUS!, or PARDON ME, MUM!, the hilarious, long-lost horror-comedy, on Monday night, January 6 at 8:00 pm at the Marcelle Theater, 3310 Samuel Shepherd Drive, in the Grand Center Arts District. Bloody King Oedipus! contains adult language and content.
Casting Announced For New Line Theatre's 29th Season!
July 02, 2019New Line Theatre, "the bad boy of musical theatre," has announced casting for its 29th season of adult, alternative musical theatre, which opens with the return of the wild, comic rock musical CRY-BABY, based on the iconic John Waters film, a show which New Line first produced in 2012 in its American regional premiere, running Sept. 26-Oct. 19, 2019. The season continues with the electrifying new rock musical fresh from Broadway, in its regional premiere, HEAD OVER HEELS, a high-energy, adult romp about gender and sexuality, based on a 16th-century novel and using the songs of the 80s rock band The Go-Go's, running March 5-28, 2020. And the season closes with the return of one of New Line's biggest hits, which the New Liners first presented in 2007, the pitch dark satire URINETOWN, the hilarious, outrageous fable of greed, corruption, love, revolution, and urination, running June 4-27, 2020.
New Line Announces 2019-2020 Season
May 08, 2019New Line Theatre, "the bad boy of musical theatre," has announced its 29th season of adult, alternative musical theatre, including the return of the wild, comic rock musical CRY-BABY, which New Line first produced in 2012 in its American regional premiere, based on the John Waters film, running Sept. 26-Oct. 19, 2019; followed by the electrifying new rock musical fresh from Broadway, in its regional premiere, HEAD OVER HEELS, a high-energy, adult romp about gender and sexuality, based on a 16th century novel and using the songs of the pop group The Go-Go's, running March 5-28, 2020; and the season closes with the return of one of New Line's biggest hits, which the New Liners first presented in 2007, the pitch dark satire URINETOWN, the hilarious, outrageous fable of greed, corruption, love, revolution, and urination, running June 4-27, 2020.
New Line Premieres Gilbert and Sullivan's Long-Lost BLOODY KING OEDIPUS
February 09, 2019New Line Theatre, 'the bad boy of musical theatre,' has announced a free public reading of Gilbert and Sullivan's BLOODY KING OEDIPUS, Monday night, Jan. 6, 2020, at 7:00 pm at the Marcelle Theater, in the Grad Center Arts District.
Bring Home New Line Theatre's THE ZOMBIES OF PENZANCE
December 16, 2018In October, New Line Theatre premiered Gilbert & Sullivan's comic horror operetta The Zombies of Penzance, and so many patrons asked if they could get a copy of the script or music.
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