Alleyway Theatre to Present World Premiere of TOOLEY AND MARY, 4/8-5/1
By: BWW News Desk Mar. 24, 2010
Alleyway Theatre in Buffalo's Historic Theatre District will present the World Premiere of TOOLEY AND MARY, music and lyrics by Neal Radice, April 8 - May 1, 2010. The new rock opera/ballet will be choreographed by Veronica Irene and directed by Mr. Radice. Musical direction will be by Michael Hake. It is the final production of Alleyway Theatre's thirtieth season dedicated to new plays and musicals.
TOOLEY AND MARY
Once upon a time in the USA, a small boy was always showing up just a little too late. Something or other would distract him and he'd miss out on that last piece of apple pie. That's how he got his nickname. Always being "Mr. Too Late" turned into "Tooley", and he grew to become a child of his times. The opera/ballet is performed without dialogue by a small ensemble of dancers accompanied by four vocalists who add lyrics to the all music production. Though its story is intended to carry the viewer beyond the mere literal, at its most elementary, it tells of a small town boy of the fifties who becomes an average teenager of the sixties. When he moves on to the big city he discovers that maybe he wasn't so ordinary after all. The decade of love and revolution declares him a phenomenon. With fame in hand, Tooley imagines that complete happiness must be just around the corner. After all, Mary, his high school sweet heart, was back home waiting for him; loving him in a world where, it seemed, there would always be enough time. TOOLEY AND MARY will premiere with a live band on stage at Alleyway Theatre as a blend of music, dance, lyrics, lighting and photographic projections.
Author/Composer/Director Neal Radice is Founder and Executive Director of Alleyway Theatre. In addition to having directed or produced more than two hundred stage plays, musicals or operas during the past forty years, Mr. Radice has created scenery, costumes, or lighting for again as many productions. He has been composing and arranging music for more than four decades, and his credits as a playwright, composer, or lyricist include: BE YOURSELF, JACK!, BEOWULF: THE ROCK OPERA, WHAT ARE WE DOING IN BUFFALO?, CASEY'S SOCIAL CLUB, THE MISS GREATER LOESSERVILLE PAGEANT, MINIMUM HABITAT, PEER, THE PERPETUAL MOTION MAN, SHERLOCK IN LOVE, SHERLOCK ALONE, SHERLOCK FOREVER, GILGAMESH, THE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM, PAN-AMBITIONS, OVER THE FALLS, SHADOW SERENADE, COLUMBUS and ITALIAN SERENADE. Mr. Radice has composed countless pieces of incidental music for the theatre including his A PATCH OF EARTH suite, and he appears annually as Charles Dickens in his adaptation of A CHRISTMAS CAROL.
Choreographer Veronica Irene is a Buffalo native who has studied dance and theatre for over 20 years. She attended the conservatory of dance at SUNY Purchase College where she was trained in dance composition and studied art history. She pursued a career as a choreographer in New York City where she choreographed for dancers responding to AIDS and in San Francisco were she choreographed for films such as the award winning In The Eyes Of A Child produced by Adelphia Films and a major production for Festival Neruda entitled Porque Tu inspired by Pablo Neruda's poetry. Most recently, Ms. Irene Choreographed the Theatre Plus production of INSIDE OUT: A DANSICAL.
THE CAST of TOOLEY AND MARYThe cast of vocalists will feature Stephen McDonald, Katy Miner and Kim Piazza. The ensemble
of dancers includes Allie Hartwick and Demarkis Bonner. Schedule: April 8-May 1, 2010, Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 PM, Saturdays at 4:00 PM and
8:00 PM.
Tickets: $25/general admission; $13/students.
Ticket Availability: Avoid service charges and get tickets online at alleyway.com or purchaseat the box office 30 minutes before each performance. A Pay-What-You-Can Performance will
be offered Thursday April 15th on a rush basis only. Group rates available. Alleyway Theatre Box
Office: 716-852-2600x0.
For more information, visit http://alleyway.com/alleyway.html
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