Patrick Street Productions Presents HERRINGBONE
By: Julie Musbach Aug. 30, 2019
An Off Broadway hit, Herringbone is a musical cabaret that is a fun-house ride of farce and fear. It is a one-person show in which the actor plays 12 characters including an 8-year old boy, a floozie and a homicidal tap-dancing who tap dances. Taking a unique approach, Peter Jorgensen and Luisa Jojic will perform this tour de force role on alternating nights, each bringing their own perspective and interpretation to the play and all the characters.
Set in Alabama in 1929 during the start of the Great Depression, it is the story of a young boy, eight-year-old George, along with his parents, Arthur and Louise, who are struggling to keep the family afloat. They are hoping their financial worries will be resolved with a windfall either from the death of a rich relative or from young Georgie's efforts in a speech contest. Once they learn that no money has been left to them, the focus is on George, who wins the speech contest. George captures the attention of a former vaudeville performer who was half of a duo called "The Chicken and the Frog." Mr. Moseley, as he is now known, offers to give George acting lessons. Seeing dollar signs and wanting his son to look the part, Arthur buys George a custom herringbone suit, his ideal of elegance and style.
But before you know it, George can't stop dancing. He has been possessed by the vengeful spirit of Mr. Moseley's malevolent former partner Lou, the Frog, a dancing dwarf who was murdered by Moseley, the Chicken. Lou is hell-bent on revenge and the chance to enjoy the success denied him by his untimely death. Little George becomes a successful vaudevillian, barnstorming the country until he reaches the bright lights of Hollywood.
The herringbone suit gives little George his new moniker ... but who will win the battle for George's soul?
Herringbone has been on our radar for years, and we're excited to bring this strange, highly original Canadian piece to life at the Anvil Centre", stated Katey Wright, Artistic Producer. I don't want to give too much away ... but at the end of the day, aren't we all just humans, struggling to cope with the frustrated vaudevillian dwarf inside?"
premiered as a one-act in 1975 by Canadian playwright and librettist Tom Cone and eventually was expanded into a full-length musical with a score by composer Skip Kennon and lyricist Ellen Fitzhugh and then made its way to Off Broadway. Herringbone is a vaudevillian ghost story that is intriguing, entertaining, somewhat disturbing, and a must see.
Photo Credit: David Cooper
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