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Since NYMF has come to an end - I'm reliving all the shows I Production Managed there. Since I'm not FB friends with many from this production, thought I'd share here too. Cheers - hope everyone is well!
NYMF 2016 (show 4 of 9)
THE LAST WORD Book, Music & Lyric by Brett Sullivan
With an eclectic 76’ pop rock score, The Last Word is set in East Cleveland and follows Jay, a charismatic slacker living above the Indian restaurant, Paradise, his father left him. Jay has accumulated a trail of debt which includes Earlene Floyd, a local parking lot mogul who wants to bulldoze Paradise and (literally) put up a parking lot. Jay enlists his old gang of misfits with plans to save the day by Scrabble hustling across America!
NOTES FROM THE PRODUCTION MANAGER'S NOTEBOOK:
Another one of my faves from NYMF. This super fun show with a great score, had fantastic choreography (probably the best of any NYMF show I've seen). It was my first time working for director Michael Bello (we would do 2 more after this) and he's awesome. This show also introduced me to Sharon Fallon, a GM I would work with many times again (and hopefully will in the future!). It featured Bway diva Felicia Finely and future POSE star, MJ Rodriguez - and an Indian/American leading character, which is cool and different.
We had more costumes than any show I ever worked on (every time an ensemble member stepped off stage - they changed!) And the set. Well, it was a simple and practical design: the floor was a scrabble board and there was a basic back row that would hold signs to indicate locations and such. The designer took another gig (in middle America somewhere) and said he's send everything we needed to our rehearsal space. Then one day, he stopped answering everyone's call/texts/emails. We did receive some props and the flooring but it had barely any of the scrabble board on it - and most of the props were not usable. With just a little more than a week to pull it all together- we all scrambled to get the necessary props (there were A LOT!) and hired the amazing Elizabet Puksto to come in and save us. With the help of her friend Jacob - they miraculously (and by the seat of their pants) pulled it all together!
To add insult to injury, two days before we opened we discovered the measurements for the performance space were off and the supports for our back row would eliminate like a foot of playing space. I think we ended up cutting the supports down just prior to moving in (or maybe we even did it when we did move it!) But just like most backstage stories, it all worked out and we had a pretty terrific run. Good times!
The cast featured: Felicia Finley, Jessica Jain, Travis Kent, Nathan Lucrezio, MJ Rodriguez, Philip Jackson Smith, Amanda Braun, Kristian Espiritu, Michael Graceffa, Haley Hannah, Kit Treece.
Directed by Michael Bello, Choreographed by Nick Kenkel and Musical Supervision by Conrad Helfrich.
Producer: Amber Jacobsen, General Manager: Sharon Fallon, SM: Rachael Danielle Albert, ASM: Daniel Vaughn, Additional Lyrics: Ryan Cunningham, Book Collaborator: Adam Longworth, Costumes: Christopher Vergara, Lights: Isabella Byrd, Sound: Josh Liebert, Crew: Nate Robinson,Danny Morales, Estie Sarvasy, Annette Dieli and Kara O'Connor.
Performed at the Duke on 42nd Street.