MOOSE MURDERS Opens Tonight at Beautiful Soup Theater Collective

The Beautiful Soup Theater Collective's production of the first ever revival of Arthur Bicknell's Moose Murders, the most notorious flop in the history of modern theater, celebrates its opening night tonight, Wednesday, January 30, 2013 at The Connelly Theater.

Featuring a zany cast of characters - from an off-key lounge singer and her blind accompanist to a mummified paraplegic - Moose Murders has it all: suspense, romance, a moose, murder, and incest.

When Moose Murders opened on Broadway in 1983, it played one single official performance and received disastrous reviews. Critic Frank Rich called it "A show so preposterous that it made minor celebrities out of everyone who witnessed it". John Simon, writing for New York Magazine, said it seemed as if the play were staged by "a blind director repeatedly kicked in the groin". The legacy of Moose Murders is so notorious that the New York Times has called it "the standard of awfulness against which all Broadway flops are judged." Bicknell has significantly rewritten and revised Moose Murders for this new production.

The cast of Moose Murders features Ali Bernstein (Upright Citizens Brigade, J.A.P. at The Pit), Cory Boughton (Christmas Belles, Southern Hospitality), Dennis DelBene (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Orlando Iriarte (Yentl, neat & tidy, "Extreme Forensics"), Anna Kirkland (A Doll's Life, Merry We Roll Along), Steven Carl McCasland (Into the Woods, The Hot L Baltimore), Caroline Rosenblum (Broadway's Impressionism, "30 Rock"), Noelle Stewart (Yentl, The Truth About Christmas), Jordan Tierney (My Great Dead Sister) and Brittany Velotta.

Moose Murders is directed by Steven Carl McCasland, who previously directed productions of A Doll's Life, Falsettos and Crossing Brooklyn. Scenic and costume design is by Dennis DelBene. Lighting design is by Christopher D'Angelo. Christopher Stokes is the fight director. CJ Thoms is the production manager. Sienna Metzgar is the assistant director. Katie Chai is the assistant stage manager.

A portion of box office proceeds for Moose Murders will benefit GLSEN: The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network. GLSEN strives to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.

This limited engagement will run through February 10.

Tickets ($25 - $30) can be purchased at http://beautifulsoup.showclix.com/.

The Connelly Theater is located at 220 East 4th Street, New York City.

Arthur Bicknell is the co-founding literary manager and resident playwright for the Homecoming Players in Ithaca, New York. Plays he's written include Masterpieces and My Great Dead Sister. His recently published memoir, Moose Murdered, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Broadway Bomb, reveals all the sordid details about the original production of his career-halting moosterpiece. He sincerely thanks his long lost son, Steven Carl McCasland, for not only bringing the Moose back to town, but for allowing the playwright to actually be in on the joke, this time.

The Beautiful Soup Theater Collective was founded in the summer of 2010 by its Artistic Director, Steven Carl McCasland. A continuation of a student group he founded while at Pace University (Group Therapy Productions, 2005-2009), The Beautiful Soup Theater Collective produces works that speak to the heart of our community. Exploring classics and re-visiting lost works that never reached their pinnacles (some might call them "flops"), The Soup donates a portion of all proceeds to various charitable organizations.