Members of the cast of Boobs! The Musical: The World According To Ruth Wallis will reunite on Richard Skipper Celebrates on Friday, May 21 at 7 PM PT, 10 PM ET. Cast members appearing are Tony Nominee J. Robert Spencer (Next To Normal, Jersey Boys), Jenny Lynn Suckling Spencer (Fosse, The Producers), David Villella (Annie Get Your Gun), Katie Pees Arber, Emmy-winning set designer Eric Harriz and Boobs! The Musical producer/choreographer Lawrence Leritz. These artists encompass members from the workshop, the original Off-Broadway cast from The Triad Theatre and cast from the transfer to Dillon’s Reprise Room.
Boobs! The Musical: The World According To Ruth Wallis is a revue based on the life of Ruth Wallis, a popular novelty cabaret singer and star of the 1950s/60s. Using 23 of her songs, Boobs! tells the story of Wallis’ international career and history of performing “off-color” material. Creatives associated with the show were director Donna Drake, choreographer Lawrence Leritz, costume designers J. Kevin Draves and Robert Pease, set designer Eric Harriz and lighting designer Bobby Harrell. Book and concept was by Steve Mackes and Michael Whaley, with musical arrangements and direction by Stephen Bocchino.
Boobs! The Musical opened Off-Broadway at The Triad Theatre on May 19, 2003 to critical praise. The New York Times review noted that Boobs! The Musical “exudes a joyous innocence” and features “a lot of talent on stage.” Boobs! eventually transferred to Dillon’s Reprise Room. After 300 performances in New York City, the musical had long runs in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2004 and Wichita, Kansas in 2005, as well as international productions beginning in New Zealand in 2017. An all new production is set for Canada in 2022.
The Off-Broadway cast also included Kristy Cates, Robert Hunt, J. Brandon Savage, Max Perlman, Rebecca Young, Clyde Alves, Alena Watters, Tony Falcon and Brad Bradley.
Brooklyn native Ruth Wallis began her career singing jazz and standards in the 1940s with big bands, and later, beginning in the 1950s, in lounges and cocktail bars. Her act included her own novelty songs featuring double entendres, which she realized were most popular with her audiences. Wallis’ songs encompassed taboo topics of the time, such as infidelity and homosexuality. Banned in Boston and finding it difficult to secure distribution of her work, she started her own record label, Wallis Original Recordings. Wallis retired from show business in the 1970s, passing on December 22, 2007 at age 87.
To view Richard Skipper Celebrates Boobs! The Musical reunion, click here.
Leave a Reply