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Evans Show
Synopsis
Alma Show
Synopsis
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July 31-Aug17, 2008 Alma Theater, 7:30pm.
Book and Lyrics by Tom Jones. Music by Joseph Thalken. Based on the film by Colin Higgins. Harold and Maude: an intimate musical was originally produced at the Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn, NJ and subsequently produced at TheatreWorks, Palo Alto, CA. HAROLD AND MAUDE is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI, 421 West 54th Stree, New York, NY 10019. 212-541-4684, fax 212-397-4684. http://www.MTIShows.com
Based on the 1971 cult movie favorite about the oddest of odd couples, Harold & Maude: An Intimate Musical celebrates the importance of life, love and individuality. Critics have proclaimed it is "smart, funny, tuneful and reframes what was best [in the movie] in a refreshingly irreverent and buoyant new guise."
PLOT
Young Harold seeks to gain the attention of his self-absorbed mother through a series of fake suicide attempts. Elderly Maude spends every waking moment in eccentric pursuits of happiness. The two nonconformists meet while crashing a funeral and the high-spirited Maude eventually manages to bequeath her intense love of life and art to the young man who eventually falls in love with her and is changed forever.
PRODUCTION HISTORY
Harold & Maude was one of a select group of new musicals chosen to be showcased at the 2003 Festival of New Musicals In New York City by the National Alliance for Musical Theatre whose mission is to "nurture the creation, development, production, presentation and recognition of new musicals and classics." It premiered in 2005 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey and has been produced at TheatreWorks in San Francisco and most recently at Dayton's Human Race Theatre Company.
THE AUTHORS
Broadway.com describes Harold and Maude as "a musical so bursting with youthful brashness you'd think it was written by a couple of 20-somethings." But like the title characters, the writers of Harold & Maude are of vastly different ages and experience levels. The legendary Tom Jones (The Fantasticks, 110 In The Shade, I Do! I Do!) made a name for himself nearly sixty years ago and is in the Broadway Hall of Fame, while composing partner Joseph Thalken (Was) is a relative newcomer who has worked with Julie Andrews and Barry Manilow.
THE FILM
Harold and Maude was directed by Hal Ashby in 1971. The film, featuring slapstick, dark humor and existentialist drama, centers around the exploits of a morbid young man, Harold (Bud Cort), who drifts away from the life that his detached mother prescribes him as he falls in love with septuagenarian Maude (Ruth Gordon).
Harold and Maude is number 45 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Funniest Movies of all time and number 42 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies. In 1997, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as being deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant." The film was a commercial failure when it was released and the critical reception was extremely mixed. It now has a large cult following, among them Bobby and Peter Farrelly, who pay extensive tribute to the film in There's Something About Mary.
The screenplay upon which the film was based was written by Colin Higgins, and published as a novel in 1971. The story originated as a 20-minute graduate thesis project when Higgins was a student at UCLA. When he showed it to his landlady, the wife of a film producer, the two formed a production company to make the full-length film. The movie was shot in the San Francisco Bay area and the entire soundtrack was written and performed by Cat Stevens. The movie has given rise to two new words: "Harolding" (hanging around cemeteries) and "Maudism," the philosophy of living each day to the fullest.
Artistic Staff
Theater Co-Artistic Directors: Victoria Bussert^ and Russ Borski
Directed by Victoria Bussert^
Music Direction by Jodie Ricci
Choreography by Janet Watson^
Scenic and Lighting Design by Russ Borski
Costume Design by Terry Pieritz
Sound Design by Stan Kozak
Stage Managed by Will Brandstetter*
^Member, Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers
*Member, Actors' Equity Association
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