30 DAYS OF NYMF: Day 12 The Pigeon Boys
By: Gabrielle Sierra Sep. 26, 2011
Day 12 THE PIGEON BOYS
Book & Lyrics by Anne Berlin
Music by Andrew Bleckner
Directed by Valentina Fratti
A developmental musical reading
September 30th @ 1pm & 4:430pm. TBG Theater (312 West 36th Street)
Prelude. As a little girl running down the street chasing pigeons, (I liked the way they looked when they took flight), I never imagined I would write a musical about these feathered creatures. A few years later the young girl is cast as Jane in an elementary school production of Mary Poppins. She shows no talent as an actress but loves the song "Feed the Birds". Still...not a hint of what was to come.
A couple of years ago I came across an obit in The Times that caught my eye. It was about this guy, a WWII pigeoneer who later on after the war had something to do with the logo of Friendship Cottage Cheese. My whole life I thought the icon was a dove, but in fact it was a pigeon.
Pigeons. Ubiquitous...Disliked..... In NY there as much a metropolitan logo as the big apple. But what I never knew until I came across this obituary was that throughout history they played such a part in war and in peace. They saved lives and served as trusted and devoted companions. They were sent on missions just as any other soldier and played a particularly large part in WWI and then in WWII. Americans, British and the Nazis used them. The pigeoneers called them G.I. Joe, Cher Ami, Lady Astor, Winkie, etc. Pigeons have been given the Croix de Guerre and The Dickin Medal.
The Pigeon Boys is the story of the soldiers who trained and were responsible for the pigeons and the birds who saved many lives. So come see our show. Meet Sandy, Julian and Günter. And meet their birds Pepperhead, White Ghost, Blackie and Lucia de Lammermoor. It's free and our developmental reading is happening twice. You'll learn pigeons and doves are part of the same family.
So Peace. Om. Take flight with us!
Tickets are free, to reserve a ticket please email Ripcordsalb@gmail.com or go to http://www.nymf.org/thepigeonboys
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