RTP Presents New Musical CHANTEUSE Starring Alan Palmer January 13- 23

Richmond Triangle Players launches the New Year by presenting the new musical Chanteuse, created by and starring Alan Palmer in a limited engagement of eight performances only. The show will preview on Thursday, January 13, open on Friday January 14, and will run Thursday through Saturday evenings at 8 pm through January 22, with two Sunday matinees on January 16 and 23 at 4 pm. Chanteuse is aiming for a London premiere later in 2022.

Little has been written about the tens of thousands of homosexuals, who were the damnedest of the damned, the outcasts among the outcasts in the concentration camps of World War II. There are really only estimates of figures. During the twelve years of Nazi rule, nearly 50,000 were convicted of the crime of homosexuality. The majority ended up in concentration camps, and virtually all of them perished. Chanteuse is one gay man's story of struggle to avoid imprisonment by taking on his late landlady's identity and becoming a female chanteuse in the supper clubs of Berlin in 1933 -- written not only to tell the story of one man's journey but also to warn us that sometimes history repeats itself.

"In this tumultuous time of uneasiness, it would seem impossible to imagine that anything like the third Reich or imprisonment camps could happen again in this day and age," says the show's creator and star Alan Palmer. "However with the anti-gay purge in Chechnya, with secret abductions, imprisonment, torture, and extrajudicial killing by authorities targeting persons based on their perceived sexual orientation, one has to wonder if history can indeed repeat itself."

Chanteuse, with book and lyrics by Palmer, has music by David Legg, and will be directed by Dorothy Danner. The show's live band will be conducted by Kim Fox.

Alan Palmer may be best known to TV audiences as Corcus on The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Other film and television credits include Bravo's The People's Couch, Jon Benjamin Has A Van for Comedy Central, Hot Springs Hotel and Compromising Situations (both for Showtime), Heaven's Idiots, Accidentally In Love, Mind Your Manners, Brother Red, The Club and a series regular on the sketch comedy show Skin Deep Detergent. New York Credits include The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber with Michael Crawford at Radio City Music Hall, the off-Broadway shows Bernie's Bar Mitzvah, Making Waves, Songs the Girls Sang, and his one-man show Fabulous Divas of Broadway in which he portrayed 32 women of the Broadway stage and Fabulous Divas of Hollywood, where he pays tribute to 22 (both of which also played at Richmond Triangle Players). He originated the role of Gerard Damiano in the world premiere of Lovelace, a Rock Opera at the Hayworth Theatre written by Charlotte Caffey (the GoGo's), Anna Waronker and Jeffery Bowman, garnering him an L.A.Weekly Award.

Alan played Albert Peterson in Bye, Bye Birdie with Copperstar Repertory receiving a (Zoni Award nomination for Best Guest Artist). Alan is also an award winning director/choreographer, whose credits include the 50th Anniversary production of Oklahoma! for Broadway-Grand Opera, the West Coast premiere of the musical It's a Wonderful Life, the original production of Inaccurate Information written by Jeffery Bowman at Hudson Theatre (L.A. Garland nominee/ Best Director), the new version of Nunsense A-Men at Open Stage West and tours of Forever Plaid, An Evening of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Godspell (Applause Award, Best Director). He has written several revues, including the musical "rockumentary" Rock on Broadway, his award winning adaptation of Songs the Girls Sang (ADA Award, Best Choreographer) and most recently the off-Broadway hit Fabulous Divas of Broadway. He wrote the film Journey of a Jacket seen at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006 and the television series The Club, NOW CASTING and CRAIGSLIST COUNCELORS. CD recordings include Songs for Souls for The Homeless Children's Charity Project (in which he cast homeless and street musicians to play on the Country recording), Boy Next Door (a dance CD, 100,000 copies sold worldwide, Just One Person (Broadway/Jazz), Alan Palmer LIVE at the Cinegrill (Jazz) Fabulous Divas of Broadway (Original Cast) and Dick and Delores (Original Cast). Alan's Production company produced the film Stage Door Divas that made its film festival premiere at the Cinema Diverse film festival and two reality series, Caroling Showdown and May We Help You?

David Legg holds a Masters of Arts in Musical Theatre Performance from New York University. He currently lives in West Virginia where he works as a music director, composer, arranger, choreographer, and show consultant. While at New York University, David worked with a variety of professionals from the Broadway community and had the unique opportunity to perform in events at Carnegie Hall and in a ceremony honoring Steven Spielberg and Robert DeNiro. Some other performing credits include My Fair Lady, Mame, Fiddler on the Roof, Starting Here, Starting Now, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The Civil War, and a concert version of South Pacific with Brian Stokes Mitchell. Mr. Legg has worked on productions presented by the Charleston Light Opera Guild, Liberty University, Fee/Hedrick Family Entertainment, Alluvion Stage Company and Norwegian Cruise Lines, as well as, composing the music for three original musicals performed in university and professional theaters.

Director Dorothy Danner, noted for her inventive staging, has directed over 200 productions of operas, operettas, musicals and plays throughout the United States, Canada and Belgium; including operas for the companies of Glimmerglass, Houston, Philadelphia, Miami, Cleveland, Minnesota, Cincinnati, Portland, Kansas City, Virginia and for San Francisco Merola. Her production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in New York for Juilliard garnered wide critical acclaim, as did her PBS-TV Tribute to Gilbert & Sullivan for the Boston Pops, and her television staging of Richard Wargo's opera, Ballymore, the first and only musical setting of a Brian Friel play. Ms. Danner has had the honor of staging the premieres of contemporary composers Barab, Botti, Garwood. Hamlisch, Harnick, Lloyd, Mechem. Musgrave, Sirotta and Wargo. And she has served on the awards panel for the National Institute of Music Theatre and on Opera America's Panel for New Works.

As a performer, Dorothy Danner, aka Dorothy Frank, appeared in 9 Broadway shows, from the original Once Upon a Mattress to Michael Bennett's Ballroom. She performed on numerous TV Variety shows - Perry Como, Ed Sullivan among others- as well as in several films including Mel Brook's The Producers. A dedicated and inspiring teacher, she was co-founder of the Glimmerglass Young Artist Program, has served on the faculties of the Juilliard School, the Curtis Institute of Music, and the Chautauqua Institution and has been a frequent guest director at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, New York University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Grand Valley, Boston University and at Carnegie-Mellon. Dorothy is a member of a theatrical family that includes actors Blythe, Harry and Hillary Danner, Gwyneth Paltrow, writer-film maker, Jake Paltrow, actress Katherine Moennig and departed brother-in-laws, violin maker William Moennig 3rd and writer-producer Bruce Paltrow.

RTP will play to full capacity for this production, while complying with current CDC-recommended safety protocols. All staff, artists and volunteers involved with the production are fully vaccinated; RTP patrons will be required to show proof of vaccination prior to entering the building. Those unable to be vaccinated must show a negative PCR test taken no more than 48 hours prior to attending. Masks are required to be worn by everyone inside the building. RTP's fabled bar will be in operation for all performances, utilizing a new mobile ordering system which eliminates standing in line to order, and provides easy contactless pick-up.

Tickets for all performances are on sale now. The production takes place at Richmond Triangle Players' home at the Robert B. Moss Theatre at 1300 Altamont Avenue in Scott's Addition, just northwest of the intersection of Arthur Ashe Boulevard and West Broad Street. Reserved seat tickets can be purchased online at RTP's web site at www.rtriangle.org, through RTP's Facebook page, or by leaving a message on the RTP Ticket hotline at 804-346-8113. Reserved seat tickets are $40 for Friday and Saturday evenings, and $35 for Thursday evenings, and Sunday matinees. The Lower-priced preview is $20; and student tickets are always $10 at any performance.

For more information, please contact RTP executive director Philip Crosby at 804-342-7665 or by e-mail at Crosby@rtriangle.org.

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