MISS GULCH RETURNS! to Ride Into Roxy Regional Theatre's theotherspace This Fall

Who was the Wicked Witch of the West? Did you ever wonder what might have made Almira Gulch so bitter?

Find out this October when Ryan Bowie brings to life the snippety, crotchety, black-and-white alter-ego to the most maligned character in The Wizard of Oz. Fred Barton's internationally-acclaimed musical revue MISS GULCH RETURNS! rides onto the stage of the Roxy Regional Theatre's theotherspace for four evenings only, October 3 - October 11.

No stranger to the world of one-man comedy, Ryan Bowie has previously performed in the stage adaptation of David Sedaris' holiday essay The Santaland Diaries and Jonathan Tolins' Buyer & Cellar, a comedy about an underemployed actor working in Barbra Streisand's basement -- not to mention his turn in the one-man/one-woman show Hedwig and The Angry Inch, slated to return to the Roxy Regional Theatre as a mainstage production this June/July 2017.

Written and originally performed by master songwriter Fred Barton, MISS GULCH RETURNS! is the untold story (until now) of the "dog-snatching, bicycle-riding, spiteful spinster-next-door who had it in for Dorothy's little Toto," unfolding through such hysterical numbers as "Born on a Bike," "You're the Woman I'd Wanna Be," "Pour Me a Man" and "I'm a B*tch," to piano accompaniment by Matthew McNeill.

"Poor Almira! For fifty years she has intrigued us, but never got to give us her side of story," Barton notes on his website. "She has remained misunderstood, underestimated and unappreciated. And through the decades, frustrated fans have hungered for solutions to the mysteries surrounding the legendary Miss Gulch. Why does she ride that bike? What does she have against neighborhood girls and their little dogs too? What becomes of her after the tornado? Did she have a happy childhood? And most of all -- who is the real woman beneath that ferocious facade?"

Fred Barton made his New York debut in 1982 as arranger/pianist in the original company of the long-running revue Forbidden Broadway. He is currently serving as music director and pianist of Spamilton, the Off-Broadway parody of the Tony-winning musical Hamilton.

MISS GULCH RETURNS! is presented in theotherspace, the 50-seat black-box theatre located upstairs at the Roxy, and plays at 7:00pm on October 3, 4, 10 and 11. Due to language and content, this production is recommended for mature audiences only.

Tickets are $20 and may be purchased online at www.roxyregionaltheatre.org, by phone at (931) 645-7699, or at the theatre during regular box office hours (9:00am to 2:00pm, Monday through Friday, and one hour prior to curtain).

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