Casting is complete for The Tragic and Horrible Life of the Singing Nun, presented as part of Musical Mondays' series of sneak previews of new musicals from the BMI Workshop. The show will be performed on Monday, May 15th at 6:15 PM at the 45th Street Theatre (354 West 45th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues).
Brooks Braselman, (Sister Coco) is currently seen every Sunday as Natalie in
"The Facts of Life: The Lost Episode." Eileen Stevens (Soeur Jeanine) has performed with Meredith Monk, Jane Comfort and Company, The Deptford Players, and in her one woman show
Tings in New York and Washington. Edward Watts (Father Lyon) was recently in NYCO's
Most Happy Fella. Tracy Gilbert (Annie) played Mrs. Zero/Daisy in
The Adding Machine at the Public Theatre for the Henson International Festival of Puppet Theater.
Ben Strothmann (Inmate/ Ensemble) is also a NYC theatrical photographer (and frequently takes photos for BroadwayWorld). Laura Desmond (Maman / Sister Maria) is a member of Burning Boy Theatre Company and Blue Coyote Theater Group.
Maggie Moore (Mother Helen / Ensemble) is best known for her Ann-Margret works,
Hedwig and
The Chanteuse Club.
Based
on the play by Blair Fell, the musical "is an homage to the story of
Jeanine Deckers, the Belgian nun who became a chart-topping pop star
under the name of Soeur Sourire with the song 'Dominique' in 1963.
After the one hit wonder, her singing career -- and life -- devolved
into a nightmare of addiction, depression, betrayal by the Church, and
a tragic end in 1985," according to press notes.The show, as
one character puts it, is "mostly fiction and strictly libelous."
While it adheres to the bare bones of Deckers' life, it owes more to
the tradition of backstage melodramas such as Douglas Sirk's Imitation of Life, Mankiewicz's All About Eve and Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls, not to mention Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Composer
Andy Monroe has been a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre
Workshop since 2001, and was a recipient of BMI's Jerry Harrington
Musical Theatre Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in 2002. His
musical short, The Life and Times of Joe Jefferson Benjamin Blow, has received several productions and been praised in both Variety and The New York Times.
Librettist
Fell has written many tragic-camp plays which have been performed all
over the globe, including his cult hit Burning Habits. His plays The Tragic and Horrible Life of the Singing Nun and Naked Will
received numerous awards. TV work includes Showtime's "Queer as Folk"
(SHINE Award) and PBS's "California Connected" (2 Golden Mic Awards.) Burning Habits opens again this June at Dillon's in MidtownTickets are $10. Call 212 989-6706 or visit MusicalMondays@aol.com for reservations.
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