Curtains

A comic, singing, dancing, murder mystery, show-in-a-show musical set in 1959 in a theatre in Boston

Premiere Date

2007

By

John Kander, music - Fred Ebb, lyrics - Rupert Holmes, additional lyrics

Based On

an unfinished Kander and Ebb musical

Tracy Notes About This Show

The "western" show is a spoof on spaghetti westerns in general, and is not intended to be an artistic success. Our western costumes are in the best tradition of that genre.

Plot Synopsis

It's the brassy, bright and promising year of 1959. Boston's Colonial Theatre is host to the opening night performance of Robbin' Hood!, "a new musical of the Old West". The curtains rise on the show's merciful finale - Act Two. Scene 23. As the valiant cast proclaims their undying affection for the Wide Open Spaces of Kansas, a sour note is sounded by the voice of faded film star Jessica Cranshaw, who can't act, can't sing, and can't dance, not even a little. Jessica's name may be above the title, but her performance has been beneath contempt, both on-stage and off. She takes her mandatory bow in front of the cowboy-costumed company, gathers up her obligatory bouquets from a pair of tuxedoed ushers, and collapses in a heap, easily the most graceful move she's made all evening. The cast rushes to their fallen star behind the fallen curtain and bear the unbearable Jessica off to Boston Hospital. (Theatrical Rights, Worldwide)

Thanks and Credits

production photos courtesy of Theatre Department, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
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