This week, “Theater Talk” welcomes award-winning bookwriter and his SILENCE! The Musical stars, David Garrison and Jenn Harris. Along with hosts Michael Riedel and Susan Haskins, they focus on the process of turning the classic movie thriller The Silence of the Lambs into a musical. This episode will premiere on WNET/Thirteen Friday February 24th at 1:30 AM and repeat on CUNY TV Saturday February 25th at 8:30 PM, Sunday February 26th at 12:30 PM and Monday February 27th at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM & 7:30 PM.
SILENCE! The Musical, the unauthorized parody of The Silence of the Lambs, is currently playing to sold out crowds at The 9th Space Theatre at Performance Space 122, 150 First Avenue (at 9th St.) With book by Hunter Bell, music & lyrics by Jon and Al Kaplan, and direction & choreography by Christopher Gattelli, SILENCE! The Musical opened on July 9, 2011 to unanimous rave reviews and was recently selected by Time Magazine as one of the year’s Top 5 Musicals.
Originally announced as an eight-week limited engagement, the show’s producers have extended the run five times to accommodate the whopping demand for tickets.
In the Academy Award-winning film The Silence of the Lambs, rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling matches wits with the brilliant but insane cannibal, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, to catch the serial killer known only as Buffalo Bill. Clarice must face her own demons and race the clock to unlock Lecter’s clues before another innocent girl is killed and skinned by Bill. It’s a hair-raising thriller that’s kept countless millions on the edge of their seats and permeated the pop lexicon with delightfully creepy quotes like “I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti” and of course “It places the lotion in the basket.” At long last, this delicate symphony of suspense has been turned on its ear and retold in the only way it can be – as a musical. A singing chorus of floppy eared lambs narrates the action; Buffalo Bill gleefully dances a hoedown while kidnapping hapless Catherine Martin; and even Dr. Lecter, scary as ever, sings about the life he’d like to lead someday outside the prison walls.
There have been an unusually high number of recent celebrity sightings at SILENCE! The Musical, including such luminaries as Jodie Foster, Chita Rivera, James Earl Jones, Joan Rivers, Josh Groban, Kelly Ripa, Jonathan Demme, Matt Bomer, Stephen Schwartz, John Kander, Jonathan Groff, Mario Cantone, Justin Kirk, T.R. Knight, Lea DeLaria, Steven Pasquale, and Christian Campbell.
David Garrison (Hannibal Lecter), Jenn Harris (Clarice Starling) and Stephen Bienskie (Buffalo Bill) head the cast of SILENCE! The Musical, which also features Callan Bergmann, Harry Bouvy, Ashlee Dupré, Annie Funke, Deidre Goodwin, Howard Kaye, Topher Nuccio, Pamela Bob, and Doug Trapp. Music Supervisor is Mark Hartman, with orchestrations by Brian J. Nash.
Created by Jon and Al Kaplan in 2002, SILENCE! began as a collection of songs on the internet which immediately attracted a staggering number of fans. The Kaplans' subsequent screenplay SILENCE! The Musical was adapted by Hunter Bell into a live stage show, which also featured newly composed songs by the brothers. Fueled by a rabid cult following, SILENCE! shattered every box office record at the 2005 FringeNYC Festival, winning the award for Best Musical. SILENCE! The Musical met with further success in London where it garnered ecstatic reviews at the Above The Stag Theatre.
Bookwriter Hunter Bell co-wrote and starred in the Broadway musical [title of show] as well as Now. Here. This. at the Vineyard. Hunter is a co-creator of the web series the [title of show] show, and he recently co-created and wrote a television pilot which has been sold to ABC. David Garrison starred as Steve Rhoades on the (also wildly irreverent) classic TV series “Married With Children.” His many New York stage credits include Wicked, Titanic, Torch Song Trilogy, The Pirates of Penzance, Hollywood/Ukraine, Geniuses, I Do! I Do!, and Snoopy. Jenn Harris received a Lucille Lortel Award for her performance in Modern Orthodox. Her other Off-Broadway credits include New Jerusalem, The Understudy and Swan!!! and she is a frequent guest star at Joe’s Pub: Our Hit Parade.
Set design for SILENCE! The Musical is by three-time Tony winner Scott Pask, with costume design by David Kaley, lighting design by Jeff Croiter, and sound design by Carl Casella.
