New Musical The Fartiste Plays FringeNYC, August 11-20

The Fartiste, the newest musical by Charlie Schulman (Angel of Death) and Michael Roberts (Golf: The Musical), will get its world premiere at the 2006 New York International Fringe Festival under the direction of John Gould Rubin and choreography of Richard Move. The show will perform at the Harry de Jur Playhouse (466 Grand Street) beginning August 11 at 10:15PM. 

"A new musical, The Fartiste is the strange but very true, story of Joseph Pujol. Pujol was an ordinary French baker with a case of ambition and an unusual and ass-tonishing talent—the ability to manipulate a limitless supply of odorless gas from his rectum - fashioning an amazing assortment of musical numbers, imitations, and ass- tounding tricks. With focused determination, Pujol took his talent to the famous Moulin Rouge where he put his bakers hat behind him as his derriere soon catapulted him to stardom.  The Fartiste is a touching story about one man's sacrifice for his art," as press notes describe the show.  It will be presented by Wet Knee Productions, Loose Canon Productions, and DRD Productions in Association with The Drama Center.

The cast is led by Kevin Kraft (The Fartiste, Joseph Pujol),  Mark Baker (Toulouse Lautrec), Jim Corti (Charles Zidler), Rebecca Kupka (Elizabeth), Lyn Philistine (La Goulue) and Nick Wyman (Aristide Bruant) and the cast also includes: Molly Curry, Tom Gamblin, Rachel Kopf, Lindsay Northen, Charly Seamon and Steven Scott providing all the live sound effects. The creative team includes: John Baxindine (music direction, arrangements and orchestrations), Clint Ramos (sets), Nicole Pearce (lights), Melinda Basaca (costumes) and Elizabeth Rhodes (sound).

The performance schedule is: Friday, August 11th at 10:15 PM, Sunday, August 13th at 3:45 PM, Friday, August 18th at 9:45 PM, Saturday, August 19th at 5:15 PM and Sunday, August 20th at 7 PM.

The running time is 90 minutes.  Harry de Jur Playhouse is located at 466 Grand Street (F train to Canal Street; visit www.hopstop.com for subway directions).

To hear the music or for more information, visit www.thefartiste.com

Tickets are $15; for Ttckets call 212-420-8877 or 1-888-fringenyc or visit www.fringenyc.org.

Photo by Monique Carboni: The Fartiste ensemble with Toulouse Lautrec (Mark Baker center)