Bergen County Players Extends Virtual Festival with the Musical CURTAINS

Continuing its very successful virtual Escape with Rupert Holmes Festival, which has drawn hundreds of enthusiastic viewers, Bergen County Players has announced a special added festival event.

On Sunday, October 4th at 7:30pm, for one night only, BCP will present its 2009 archived production of the Tony Award-winning musical comedy Curtains, directed by Steve Bell.

As a special added bonus, the Festival star, Rupert Holmes himself, will participate in a moderated Q&A at the start of the livestream. Those interested in obtaining a virtual "ticket" to Curtains may go to https://bcplayers.booktix.com/. There will be a limited number of free tickets available.

Featuring a book by multiple Tony Award-winner Rupert Holmes (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Say Goodnight, Gracie), and one of the last scores by the Tony Award-winning songwriting team of Kander and Ebb (Chicago, Cabaret, Zorba), with additional lyrics by Kander and Holmes, Curtains is set in 1959 backstage at Boston's Colonial Theatre during the pre-Broadway tryout of a new musical. When the hapless leading lady is murdered on opening night during the curtain call, Lt. Frank Cioffi is called in to investigate and the entire company and creative team become suspects. But the lure of the theater proves irresistible and after an unexpected romance blooms for the stage-struck detective, he finds himself just as drawn toward making the show a hit as he is in solving the murder. What unfolds becomes not only a "whodunit" murder mystery, but also a fun, witty and tuneful musical within a musical, sure to delight audiences of all ages. Filled with rousing show stopping tunes and dancing galore, Curtains proved to be another BCP blockbuster hit.

Curtains opened on Broadway on March 22, 2007 and was nominated for eight 2007 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Original Score (with David Hyde Pierce winning for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical). William Goldman of Variety called Curtains "An insanely funny evening!" while Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press called it "Musical Comedy Heaven!"

Rupert Holmes is the singer/songwriter of the megahit "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)," the only song to reach #1 on the Billboard Hotlist for two consecutive decades. A former Bergen County resident and an ardent supporter of BCP, Holmes is perhaps best known in the theater world as the first sole winner of Tony Awards for Best Book, Best Music and Best Lyrics for a single show (The Mystery of Edwin Drood), which also won the Tony and Drama Desk Award for Best Broadway Musical. For Drood, Holmes also received identical Drama Desk Awards, as well as the Award for Orchestrations. His comedy-drama about the life of comedian George Burns, Say Goodnight, Gracie, earned him a Tony nomination for Best Play and won the National Broadway Theatre Award for Best Play. His stage comedy-thrillers Accomplice (Edgar Award winner) and Solitary Confinement broke existing box office records for the Kennedy Center and The Pasadena Playhouse, with both shows enjoying runs on Broadway, while Curtains (with music and lyrics by Kander and Ebb) won Holmes the Drama Desk award for Best Book of a Musical, as well as two further Tony nominations. In a unique collaboration between Holmes and The Players, the devious comedy-thriller Thumbs! was written expressly for BCP by Holmes, and had its world premiere at BCP's Little Firehouse Theatre in 2001. The Escape with Rupert Holmes Festival has consisted of Holmes' popular musicals and thrillers produced at BCP, including the five-time Tony Award-winning musical comedy The Mystery of Edwin Drood, as well as the popular comedy thrillers Thumbs and Accomplice.

Those interested in supporting Bergen County Players with a tax deductible donation can do so at www.bcplayers.org/donate/.

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