3pm Matinee today!

Wed 8pm!   Thur 8pm!   Fri 8pm!   Sat 8pm!

Final performance Sunday March 13 3pm!

Get your SPEAKEASY tickets here!

Also…

Last night the legendary James Rado, co-writer of the musical Hair, attended the performance.  Afterwards he shook my hand and told me how much he liked the show.

He even purchased a Speakeasy T-shirt.

🙂

So, in honor of Mr. Rado’s gracious visit, here’s a mash up of Speakeasy‘s “Cinderella” and Hair‘s “Hair” lyrics:

POOF YOUR HAIR LIKE PERCY SHELLEY

OR MARCEL IT HARD AS STEEL

LET IT FLY IN THE BREEZE AND GET CAUGHT IN THE TREES

GIVE A HOME TO THE FLEES IN MY HAIR

Also, the singer Michael Hanko, whom we befriended when he was cast in the reading of Feedstore Quartet (which I wrote with Jack Hilton Cunningham), saw Speakeasy too on Saturday, and has since posted this lovely account on Facebook, which he has allowed me to share in full:

“Musical theater fans: I am highly recommending a new show I just saw last night. It’s called “Speakeasy” and book, music, and lyrics are by my über-talented friend Danny Ashkenasi. Hurry to get your tickets; this debut run ends March 13: http://theaterforthenewcity.net/speakeasy.html

I found the story engaging and the characters multidimensional and like people I’d want to hang out with. I really cared what happened to them all by the teasingly ambiguous ending.

The music is what has me most excited about this new work of theater art.  The songs are tuneful and catchy.  The lyrics push the story forward without trying (as is the case is so much current musical theater repertoire) to explain the plot or explicitly lay out every dreary emotion the characters are feeling. Danny’s songs feel like tomorrow’s classics—I would love to include some of them in a concert.  They would work beautifully even out of the context of the show.

The show is interestingly orchestrated: the always-present piano is often supplemented by winds and strings played by cast members.  There is dancing (even tap!) and just enough exposed flesh to make the evening titillating without becoming tawdry.

At over 3 hours, this is a hefty piece of theater which—while never boring—probably will need to be trimmed for the next production.  I would not want to be the one to decide what to cut.”