AUDITION! THE MUSICAL Returns to Santa Monica Playhouse

Movie stars, music, suspense, hilarity, pathos, and the truth behind the Hollywood mystique, as told by those who've been there and done that. The 10th Anniversary production of the L.A. Times "Recommended" AUDITION! THE MUSICAL, based on the all-too-true-life Hollywood experiences of the award-winning creative team of Chris DeCarlo and Evelyn Rudie, is back and brings ten years more harrowing, haunting and hilarious Hollywood horror stories than when it opened in 2006. It's the show for anyone who's ever wanted to be the best. At anything.

AUDITION! THE MUSICAL stars original cast members and "triple threat talents" (Backstage) Evelyn Rudie and Serena Dolinsky joined by Cynthia Zitter, who dance, sing and shine their way into your hearts, bringing to brilliant life a host of Hollywood heroines, harridans, hoydens and has-beens that will leave you laughing, crying and counting your blessings as they take audiences on a multi-layered behind-the-scenes expose of the world of show business and those moments of introspection, self-examination and fantasy that live within the minds of us all as we struggle with the ever-increasing pressures of Competition with a capital "C," whether in the casting office, or in the everyday interactions of our lives.

Evelyn Rudie (actress, words & music) was the highest paid child star in show business at the time; the youngest child ever to win an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Eloise on TV's famed Playhouse 90, the owner of a star in the original Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame. She was lauded by every major media outlet worldwide, receiving such acclaim as "a film phenomenon!" (LONDON DAILY EXPRESS). Her films and television shows were dubbed in 27 languages. She appeared in more than 70 episodic television shows, often receiving top billing over such notable celebrities as Sir Cedric Hardwick, Robert Culp, Donald O'Connor and George Gobel. She gave Jack Paar a run for his money with an at-the-time-unprecedented seven Tonight Show appearances, and saved the bacon of both Ethyl Barrymore and Conrad Hilton when they forgot their lines on live TV. Retiring from film and television at the age of 12, Rudie returned to her roots in theatre and spent the next five decades writing, directing, composing and performing with her company, Actors' Repertory Theatre (ART), and sharing her show business experiences with theatre artists at Santa Monica Playhouse, where she is currently co-artistic director and Playwright-in-Residence.

Serena Dolinsky, made her first stage appearance at the age of six and now performs, directs and teaches in Los Angeles, as well as in England, the Netherlands, Ireland and Japan. As Associate Director and member of ART with Santa Monica Playhouse, Dolinsky has played a role (on stage and off) in bringing numerous World Premieres to the Los Angeles stage, including Love in Bloom, Canteen, Arnold Schulman's Sleeping Ugly, and most recently the physical theatre political satire DREMPELS.

Cynthia Zitter is an actress and musician from small-town, rural Ohio. Her most recent credits include an appearance on The Fosters (ABC Family), I (Almost) Got Away With It, Bits and Pieces, and onstage in Psyche: A Rock Opera; Hemophelia's House of Horrors for the Hollywood Fringe Festival ("A compelling stage presence!" Zephyr Blue Online); The Show Queen, and 11:11. She has performed in many theatre productions and films shot across the country, from New York to Nashville to Sacramento.

Chris DeCarlo (director) has been acting, writing and directing in Los Angeles for more than 40 years, bringing to the stage over 250 World Premieres and American Premieres, including the critically acclaimed stage adaptation of Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground, Hard Laughs starring Sammy Shore and Ron Palillo, Michel Garneau's Quatre á Quatre, Stephen King and Robert B. Parker's RAGE, Todd Susman's Locked and Loaded, the long-running Wyse-Rae-Waldman hit musical Funny, You Don't Look Like a Grandmother. Recent credits: Santa Monica Playhouse's critically acclaimed productions of Arnold Schulman's Sleeping Ugly, Lisa Phillips Visca's Raise Me Up and Jerry Mayer's plays 2 ACROSS and Almost Perfect.

Matthew Wrather (words & music) is a composer, musician, and actor. He appeared alongside Sam Waterston in Travesties at Long Wharf Theater and alongside Ed Asner in the short film The Raft. New York appearances include the FringeNYC production of KNB: The Romantical Comical Nautical Musical and Fall Out in the underground "Binge" Festival. LA performances include Don't Dress For Dinner at International City Theatre, I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It On the Road at the Laguna Playhouse, for which he was also musical director

AUDITION! THE MUSICAL plays Saturdays 7:30pm and Sundays 3:30pm, March 20 - April 24, Tickets on line at http://SantaMonicaPlayhouse.com or 1-310-394-9779 x 1.

Santa Monica Playhouse is at 1211 4th Street, in downtown Santa Monica. By public transportation: take the Santa Monica Blue Bus or the LA Metro Rapid #620, exit 4th and Wilshire.

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