Musical Theater Works

In a farmyard that seems to have much in common with La Belle Époque Paris, there resides a collection of animals who seem to have much in common with the denizens of Parisian society. The busy hens lead the social pecking order, but it is the noble rooster Chantecler who rules the roost. Each morning his glorious song fills their world and inspires the sun to rise, a fact of which he is most certain. While he is the hero of the fashionably dressed residents who seem to spend the bulk of their day in cafes and soirees, he is despised by the creatures who live by the night, a criminal underworld of the farm led by a homicidal cat. The treacherous cat believes the demise of the rooster will also be the end of daylight, thus allowing her and her cohorts to thrive in a world of darkness. Against this backdrop of day and night a female pheasant arrives from the countryside and scandalizes all society with her decision to defy the constructs of gender and take on the bold and colorful plumage of the male of her species. She will enchant the bold Chantecler, and through their romance she will change him and his perception of the world forever. As in Rostand's most-famous work, Cyrano de Bergerac, the tale is spun through swashbuckling swordplay, poetry, bravado and music.

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CAST: 

10 F/ 8 M Can be expanded for a larger ensemble.

 

AUTHORS: 

Based on the play by Rostand.

Book and Lyrics by Brian Vinero,
Music by Steven Kennedy.

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Booth Tarkington, The Magnificent Ambersons is set in a Midwestern American town that is fast becoming a sprawling city due to industrialization and the rise of the automobile. In the midst of this we meet the wealthy and socially prominent Amberson family. They will find that their influence fades in a new world as romantic entanglements that cross generations seal their fates as their fortunes change.
 

CAST: 

7 M 7 F

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AUTHORS: 

Book and Lyrics by Brian Vinero,
Music By Steven Kennedy.

Based on the novel by Booth Tarkington.

The Jurgens File recounts true events that happened in Minnesota in the mid-Twentieth Century. A baby boy was born to a sixteen year-old ward of the state who was forced to give him up for adoption; twenty years later she sought to contact what she believed would be her adult son only to discover he died at the age of three under suspicious circumstances. The story moves backwards and forwards in time viewing the events that led up to his death and the eventual cover-up as recounted by family members, neighbors, police officers, social workers and other members of the quiet, suburban community where the action takes place. While some characters are composites and some of the events are compressed in the interest of time, the story depicted is true and is taken directly from court documents and the extensive media coverage that followed the case.

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CAST: 

10 F 8 M

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AUTHORS: 

Book and Lyrics by Brian Vinero,

Music By Steven Kennedy.

Somewhere, far from the cold and cruel big city, there is a charming village called Holly Garland Corners. There, impossibly beautiful women operate factories specializing in artisanal Christmas goods. Well, at least when they are not too busy attending local Christmas pageants, decking the halls and meandering through the festive, yet quaint and quiet streets while nursing a warm drink and smiling at every friend and neighbor passing by. Yet, it seems that this will be a lonely Christmas for one well-dressed heroine. At least until an eligible bachelor executive sweeps in three days before the holiday with the intention of closing down her beloved family business and ruining Christmas forever! Can she find a way to stop him, even as they fall in love during a whirlwind of snowman construction, cookie decorating and a tree lighting occurring on every other block? Meanwhile, a local baker finds herself entangled with her long-lost high school boyfriend who is now a famous country singer. And throw in a mysterious old man with a white beard who seems to have an affinity for reindeer, a man in town who may be a prince, a deployed soldier who must return home in time for a holiday reunion and...oh, you know how it goes. Somehow, all of it will end with a kiss and an engagement on Christmas Eve, under the moonlight, just as the snow begins to fall on a village that seems to be made of gingerbread.

 

This new musical spoofs the sweet and sentimental Made-for-TV Christmas movies that are a “hallmark” of the holiday season. With no commercials and a good dose of Broadway song and dance. And tinsel. A lot of tinsel.

 

CAST: 

6 M 6 F Cast can be expanded with a larger ensemble.

 

AUTHORS: 

Book and Lyrics by Brian Vinero,
Music by Steven Kennedy

A young Jewish housewife breezes through the cultural upheaval of the 1970s and luxuriates in the materialistic 1980s fueled by her outrageous behavior and a personality disorder that is not cured by the popular self-help books she reads. Trapped in a marriage to a Jewish man she does not love or even like, she repeatedly finds herself tempted by an endless parade of WASPs and Catholics from up and down the social strata in the wilds of the suburbs. Along for the ride are her three children who bounce with her from marriage to marriage as they experience a most atypical upbringing. As the world and decades change she shatters all stereotypes of a devoted Jewish mother and her children as well. But she also gives them the most taboo Hanukkah gift imaginable: Christmas.

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CAST: 

5W/ 5M

 

AUTHORS: 

Book and Lyrics by Brian Vinero,

Music by Steven Kennedy