Performances take place Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8PM; 2PM Saturday matinees the last 2 weekends of each show’s run and Sundays at 3PM. (Please check performance schedule for individual shows for detailed information.)
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The House of Blue Leaves
by John Guare
September 12-27, 2009
Artie Shaugnessy is a songwriter with visions of glory. Toiling by day as a zookeeper, he suffers in seedy lounges by night, plying his wares at piano bars in Queens, New York where he lives with his wife, Bananas (who is). This is much to the chagrin of Artie’s downstairs mistress, Bunny Flingus, who’ll sleep with him anytime but refuses to cook until they are married. On the day the Pope is making his first visit to the city, Artie’s son Ronny goes AWOL from Fort Dix stowing a home made-bomb intended to blow up the Pope in Yankee Stadium. Also arriving are Artie’s old school chum and now a successful Hollywood producer, Billy Einhorn, with his starlet girlfriend in tow. Billy holds the key to Artie’s dreams of getting out of Queens and away from the life he so despises. But like many dreams, this promise of glory evaporates amid the chaos of ordinary lives. The House of Blue Leaves was the 1971 Obie Award winner for Best American Play.
“The Gallery Players puts together a lively, visually appealing production that moves with pace and professionalism…an explosion of absurdity that pits startlingly funny lines against the tragic circumstances of mundane, unfulfilled lives.”
-Jo Ann Rosen, nytheatre.com
Read more about The House of Blue Leaves.
Top of the Heap
Music by Jeffrey Lodin, Book and Lyrics by William Squier
October 24 – November 15th, 2009 – Extended by popular demand!
Illustration by Michael C. Malbrough
It’s New York City, 1955. The Brooklyn Dodgers are about to square off with the Yankees in a World Series that will net “dem bums” their first title in fifty-five years. So, T.V.’s most popular variety program, ‘Top of the Heap,’ is headed to Brooklyn for a live, remote broadcast tied into the Series. A struggling pair of nightclub comics see this as a chance to bluff their way out of the dives where they perform and into television. But, they soon discover just how high a price they’ll have to pay. Winner of the 2007 National Musical Theater Network Director’s Choice Award and the 2006 Global Search for New Musicals.
“Not for nothing is William Squier and Jeffey Lodin’s musical comedy titled “Top of the Heap.” -Rockford Register Star
“A gritty musical that takes a look at the darker side of showbiz.”- The Stamford Advocate
Read more about Top of the Heap.
Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge
By Christopher Durang
December 5-20th, 2009
Illustration by Michael C. Malbrough
In this departure from Dickens, young Scrooge’s exclamations of “Bah, humbug!” are an undiagnosed “kind of seasonal Tourette’s Syndrome,” and The Ghost of Christmas Past is played by a sassy African-American woman with enough attitude to portray all three spirits (which she does). She tries to show Scrooge his past, present and future in order to change him, but her magic keeps malfunctioning in Durang’s version of the beloved holiday classic, and they consistently find themselves transported to the wrong time and place. She tries to take Scrooge back to see his old employers, the Fezziwigs—”always an audience favorite”—but instead she and Scrooge keep appearing in the present at the Cratchit’s pathetic home. Mrs. Bob Cratchit, a minor character in the Dickens, takes center stage here. No longer loving and long suffering, Mrs. Bob is in a rage: She’s sick of Tiny Tim (the goody-goody crippled child), she hates her twenty other children (most of them confined to the root cellar), including oversized Little Nell, and she wants to get drunk and jump off London Bridge. As the Ghost loses more control, the plot morphs into parodies of Oliver Twist, “The Gift of the Magi” and It’s a Wonderful Life. And to make matters worse, Scrooge and Mrs. Bob seem to be kindred souls falling in love. With a dénouement that is two parts Touched by an Angel and one part The Queen of Mean, Scrooge’s tale of redemption and gentle grace is placed squarely on its head.
“Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge has all the Durangian insanity you’ve come to expect. The main attraction is Joanna Parson’s very funny rendering of Mrs. Cratchit.”
-Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times
“Modern, funny, refreshing, and filled with spirit. I’d be hard-pressed to pick a favorite, funniest moment of the show, and that’s a good thing. Just when you think it can’t get any funnier or more bizarre, it does. Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge is definitely the antidote for those suffering from the syrupy schmaltz so often associated with holidays. If you see one holiday show this season, I recommend this one!”
-J Jordan, nytheatre.com
“Christopher Durang presents a masterful mix of merriment and mirth in his absolutely delightful Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, a hilarious send-up of the Charles Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol,” now being given its New York premiere by The Gallery Players. The play is a hoot from start to finish, injecting a breath of fresh air (and numerous topical references) into a beloved holiday tale. Fun for the entire family, it’s a nice yuletide treat for all.”
-Judd Hollander, The Epoch Times
Read more about Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge.
Caroline, or Change
Book and Lyrics by Tony Kushner, Music by Jeanine Tesori
January 30 – February 21, 2010
Set in 1963 in sleepy Lake Charles, Louisiana, Caroline, or Change centers its action on the Gellman family and their African-American maid, Caroline. “Nothing ever happen underground in Louisiana / ‘Cause there ain’t no underground in Louisiana / There is only underwater.” Caroline informs the audience at the beginning of the show, and Caroline herself is underwater, drifting through her life, nearly paralyzed by her circumstances – a single mother of four working in a service job to a white family. Caroline spends her days in the basement laundry room, with the Washing Machine (a sultry Caribbean blues singer), Dryer (a fiery R&B singer), and radio (a Supremes-like trio), with an afternoon visit from the young Gellman son, Noah, who is just as isolated upstairs in his home as Caroline is downstairs. A fragile, yet beautiful friendship has developed between Noah and Caroline since his mother’s death. Noah’s new stepmother Rose, unable to give Caroline a raise, tells Caroline that she may keep the money Noah leaves in his pockets. Caroline balks, and refuses to take money from a child – but her own children desperately need food, clothing and shoes…Does she or doesn’t she?
Read more about Caroline, or Change.
The Crucible
By Arthur Miller
March 20th – April 4th, 2010
The story focuses upon a young farmer, his wife, and a young servant-girl who maliciously causes the wife’s arrest for witchcraft. The farmer brings the girl to court to admit the lie—and it is here that the monstrous course of bigotry and deceit is terrifyingly depicted. The farmer, instead of saving his wife, finds himself also accused of witchcraft and ultimately condemned with a host of others.
Winner of the 1953 Tony Award for Best Play. This exciting drama about the Puritan purge of witchcraft in old Salem is both a gripping historical play and a timely parable of our contemporary society.
“A powerful drama.” —NY Times.
“Strongly written.” —NY Daily News.
City of Angels
Music by Cy Coleman, Lyrics by David Zippel, and Book by Larry Gelbart
May 1-23, 2010
City of Angels is two shows in one. It is the interweaving of two plots, one dealing with the writing of a screenplay in the legendary Hollywood of the ’40’s; the other, the enactment of that screenplay. This double feature quality leads to many other unique production values, the most notable being the fact that City of Angels is perhaps the only “color coded” show any theatre audience is likely to see. The movie scenes appear in shades of black and white, and the real life scenes are in technicolor. The show boasts two musical scores. One provides the cast with numbers to help reveal certain emotions or to celebrate particular moments in the way that only music can. The “other” score was written to emulate pure movie soundtrack music, 1940’s vintage. It is entirely appropriate, then, that the final curtain comes down on two happy endings.
Winner of 6 Tony Awards in 1989.
Read more about City of Angels.
The 13th Annual Black Box New Play Festival
June 10-27th, 2010
Where can a playwright find an outlet? Where can an audience see new works? The Gallery Players provides both of these in this Festival. Over the years of producing the Festival, we have developed works by countless playwrights, many of whom continue to work with The Gallery Players each year to incubate their new ideas. More than 300 plays have appeared in the Black Box New Play Festival since its inception and this year will bring even more writing and acting talent to the stage. Who knows what you’ll discover in the Box?
Read more about The 13th Annual Black Box New Play Festival.
FOR KIDS: The Peanut Gallery
A Musical Theater Summer Adventure Camp
July 2010
Your kids can sing and dance on stage! Sign up for The Peanut Gallery, an affordable summer day-camp right here in Park Slope. Taught by professional theater artists, kids in Grades 1-6 create and perform an original show with songs from Broadway musicals…all in ONE WEEK! Call (718) 595-0547 x6 to request more information.
Administrator: Dominic Cuskern
