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Controversial Musical White Noise Begins at NYMF, Sept. 18

By: Sep. 18, 2006
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The provocative new musical White Noise will have its world premiere at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, beginning tonight, September 18th.  It plays through September 30th.

Due to high demand, the New York Musical Theatre Festival recently added two extra shows to the show's run, which had been sold-out.  Those shows are on September 19th and September 29th.

The opening comes only days after April Gaede, the white supremacist mother of Lamb and Lynx Gaede of Prussian Blue, blasted the creators of White Noise for "inaccurately portraying" her daughters.

Director Ryan J. Davis responded, "Any time the white power crazies are mad at us, I know that we're succeeding."

Author/composer Joe Drymala added, "April is welcome to come see the show for herself. It might just cause her and her daughters to finally abandon their despicable racist worldview."

White Noise, presented by the New York Musical Theater Festival and Matt Nasser, was conceived by director Ryan J. Davis and features book, music and lyrics by Joe Drymala, with additional songs by Ben Cohn and Sean McDaniel, Rick Crom (Newsical), Glen Kelly (dance arranger, The Producers, Spamalot, The Drowsy Chaperone), Benj Pasek & Justin Paul (Edges) and Eric Svejcar (Caligula).  White Noise is billed as "A Cautionary Musical," and is inspired by the real-life teenage white supremacist pop/folk band Prussian Blue.  White Noise is described by the authors as follows:
 
"An adorable pair of sisters, Blanche and Eva, lead the teen band White Noise, mixing irresistible harmonies with white power rhetoric and taking the nation by storm. Their message of racial purity resonates with young people across America and the rise of White Noise coincides with a rise in the white supremacist movement which threatens to engulf the country, as Blanche and Eva prove themselves to be masters of the most terrifying and unstoppable form of Fascism in today's culture:  Top Forty pop."

The cast of White Noise includes Libby Winters, Molly Laurel, Danny Calvert, Micah Shepard, Rick Crom and Phillip Taratula.  White Noise features choreography by Todd L. Underwood, musical direction and arrangements by Ben Cohn, set design by Elisha Schaefer, lighting design by Jeff Croiter, sound design by Danny Von Erdberg, and costume design by Matthew Ashman.  Nina Shreiber, Lee Ann Gullie and director Ryan J. Davis are associate producers on the show.

The controversial show has been covered by "Good Morning America," "ABC Primetime," Radar Magazine, The New York Post's Page Six Magazine, AM New York, Newsday, HX Magazine, NBC 4 Los Angeles, New York radio station Z100,
California radio stations KRAB and KERN, and BBC Channel Four.
 
White Noise will run as part of the New York Musical Theater Festival from September 18 to September 30 at TBG Theater, located at 312 West 36th Street .  For more information on performances, please visit the NYMF website at www.nymf.org.
 
For more information on White Noise and to hear excerpts from the score, visit the official White Noise website: www.whitenoisethemusical.com.




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