Musical theater actor and award-winning New York cabaret performer Rosemary Loar is bringing her original musical Spoolie Girl to the Actors Temple Theatre (339 W 47th St, New York) for a nine-show run from October 17-27, 2018. Loar, who wrote the music and lyrics, and who co-wrote the book with her late husband Robert Atwood, calls the show “a family-friendly fractured rock fairy tale.” Spoolie Girl is a suddenly orphaned eco-friendly teenager from Kenya who comes to New York City. Wearing magical curlers called “spoolies” in her hair, she is able to read people’s thoughts as songs, while navigating a world consisting of her narcissistic, fashionista Aunt, a hip Fairy Godmother and a quirky neighbor who walks an invisible dog—and that’s her support group.
The musical’s all-female cast includes: Liz Ward (Bway-Amazing Grace, Scandalous, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Memphis, Passion, City of Angels), as “Aunt Darla”; Loar [Bway-Cats, Chess, Sunset Boulevard, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas],as the “Fairy Rock Mother;” Claire Lilley (TV-“Orange Is The New Black”) as Spoolie Girl; Michiko Sasaki,Inga Ballard, Mollie Downes, Raissa Katona Bennett and Antoinette DiPietropolo, who is also serving as the show’s choreographer. Ensemble members include Allie Radice, Lilly Tobin and Emily Briggs.
Spoolie Girl‘s director is Jay Dunn, with lights by John Burkland, a set by Marina Mazzamuto and sound design by Mark Henry. Musical director is Gary Shreiner with a band featuring Tomàs Doncker on lead guitar, Chulo Gatewood on bass and Charlie Caldarola on drums. Producing is Jonatina Barksdale.
Loar initially developed SPOOLIE GIRL in 2010 at The Yard Artist Residency in Martha’s Vineyard. The show’s first full staged-reading was in 2011 at New York Snapple Theatre Center under the auspices of Manhattan Musical Theatre Lab and Artistic Directors Bick Goss and Frank Evans. In the summer of 2012, with Karen Carpenter as director, SPOOLIE GIRL received the “Best of the Fest” Award for music and lyrics in the Midtown International Theatre Festival.
Spoolie Girl was conceived as a sophisticated rock fairy tale that would combine an adult message with a sense of innocence and magic that would also appeal to children of all ages. “The inspiration for the musical came from a deep love of nature and the notion that we have over-stimulated ourselves with commercialism and artifice,” Loar explains. “It’s about the need and importance of having a family that you can love and that will love you.”
For more information and tickets, click here.
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