We got a press release today from Lida McGirr, the director of the first show based on Dorothy Parker material to play in Manhattan this year (there are others on the way). It is timed for Valentine’s Day, a good marketing hook, to be sure. We were tipped off by DPS member Caitlin McEwan (pictured here). The press release:
Dorothy Parker: MEN!
compiled and directed by Lida McGirr
In my early 20’s, I escaped to bygone times with Dorothy Parker and F. Scott Fitzgerald, times where anything went: the Depression and the gaiety, poverty and extravagance, prohibition and debauchery, saints and sinners. The literary world was on fire. Dorothy Parker was part of this world. She once said, “I was just a little Jewish girl trying to be cute.” She was more than this.
She was ahead of her time in trying to make a place for herself in what was very much a man’s world. And she succeeded. She wrote, competed and survived among the finest writers of her time. Her poems and witticisms show an intellect and quickness that rivalled the Benchleys and Kaufmans.
Last year, as Special Events Coordinator for the Concord Players in Massachusetts, one of my duties was to put together a night of entertainment. Dorothy Parker sprang to mind. I resurrected my Dorothy Parker books and notes and research and “Dorothy Parker Revived” was born. Caitlin McEwan, who played my daughter in a production of “The Glass Menagerie,” came to see the show and the next thing I knew “Dorothy Parker: MEN!” came into being.
What has evolved is a review of Dorothy Parker: her quips, wisecracks, poetry, book and theater reviews, and three short stories adapted to play form. The young, spirited, gay Dorothy is contrasted with the older, wiser, disappointed, but still hopeful, Mrs. Parker, and the theme of relationships — young and old, naive and jaded, hopeful and desperate — runs throughout the piece, making it a fitting way to spend Valentine’s Day, and every day. An evening chock full of laughter, gasps of recognition and, ultimately, a celebration of the human condition, life and love.
. . . I must go on, till ends my rope,
Who from my birth was cursed with hope.
– Dorothy Parker
Pieces include:
“One Perfect Rose”
“Love Song”
“Fighting Words”
“General Review of the Sex Situation”
“You Were Perfectly Fine”
“A Telephone Call”
“Here We Are”
“The Waltz”
“Too Bad”
“A Fairly Sad Tale”
“The Lady’s Reward”
… a bouquet of quips, wisecracks, short poems, and reviews …
… and, of course, “MEN”
CAST:
Lida McGirr
George Pappas*
Caitlin McEwan
Andy Junk
Maureen Kenny*
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association
Equity Approved Showcase
LOCATION:
The Producers’ Club – Crowne Theater
358 W 44th Street near 9th Avenue
SCHEDULE:
Wednesday February 11th at 8pm (Preview)
Thursday February 12th at 8pm (Opening Night)
Friday February 13th at 8pm
Saturday February 14th at 2pm and 7pm
Sunday February 15th at 2pm
Approximate running time: 80 minutes with no intermission.
Tickets: $15
Comps available to AEA members on a standby basis.
BOX OFFICE: (212) 787-0591