Interview: Playwright Nora Burns Discusses 'Fast, Funny, Smart, Sexy, and Weird' THE VILLAGE, A DISCO MUSICAL!

Nora Burns' The Village, A Disco Musical! takes inspiration from Thornton Wilder's Our Town, adds plenty of Donna Summer, fantasy, and fun, and places it in New York City in 1979! This meta musical comedy featuring a cast of ten diverse actors and dancers, runs from October 6 - 15, 2022 at Dixon Place (161A Chrystie Street between Rivington and Delancey).

Directed by Adam Pivirotto (Shondaland), with choreography by Robin Carrigan (Trick), The Village features sets by Steven Hammel and costumes by Paul Alexander. The cast features Chuck Blasius, Glace Chase, Ever Chavez, Ashley Chavonne, Antonie Cherrie, Eileen Dover, Valton Jackson, Antwon LeMonte, and Gabriel Reyes.

Run time is approximately 60 minutes.

BroadwayWorld spoke with writer, performer, comedian, actress, and archivist Nora Burns about the inspiration for this show, what audiences can expect to see, and more!

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The Village, A Disco Musical! is loosely based on Our Town but is set in New York City in 1979. Where did the inspiration for the concept of this show come from?

I love Our Town, it's my favorite play and I moved to NYC in 1979, so it's my favorite year and Disco is my favorite music, so it was a natural fit. I started writing it a few years ago just for fun and it sort of came together, then we did a staged reading of it in 2019 and it was supposed to go up in 2020, and well... But the break actually served it well because I've pretty much totally rewritten it, taking in all that's happened with the pandemic, Black Lives Matter, politics and the fact that Disco got me through it, so it's much stronger now than if I'd done it then.

Musically, visually, movement wise, what can audiences expect to see?

I always want to do the show that I want to see, which is fast, funny, smart, sexy, and weird - so hopefully I hit all those marks. The set by Steven Hammel is incredible! The storyline is about a hustler who brings home his new lover while a cast of friends and neighbors come and go; it's interspersed with fun dance numbers, witty repartee and a Greek chorus of go-go boys. So, kind of non-stop madness.

How has it been working with this fantastic cast and creative team?

I literally cannot say enough good things about this amazing cast and crew. I am blown away and feel so lucky that we all found each other. Adam our incredible, imaginative, patient, kind, director is only 30, but feels like a pro who's been doing this all his life. Robin, the choreographer, is so brilliant and finds all the right music and her choreography is so creative and hilarious and perfect for every moment, I'm in awe, and the cast has really become like a family. I've never liked the audition process so I just either asked people I knew or people friends recommended and it's honestly made it very organic cohesive special group.

Do you have a favorite moment in the show?

Every day it changes, today I'm obsessing on the Fag Hag Dream Ballet, but before that it was the "Love is in the Air" duet and before that the opening number, or one of the moments the go-go boys just appear in a scene or the new ending we just staged. So you see, it always changes, one fun moment ends and a new one starts!

What do you hope that audiences take away from The Village, A Disco Musical!?

I really just want everyone to have a great time and be transported for an hour-ish to a fun, fabulous, other world. It's been such a rough two years, I think we all just need to be taken away, but there's also a bit of a message, nothing hitting you over the head, which I hate, but just a little: "enjoy life - we're only here for a little while."

Do you have anything else you'd like to share?

I'm so proud of the work everyone's done on this show, I don't think I've ever worked on something where everyone brought their visions together like this and it worked so well. I just wrote the script, but then I said to Adam and Robin "Do whatever you want with it" and they did, and it's fabulous!

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Photo Credit: Jason Rodgers & Eric McNatt

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