Moscow

FRINGE FIRST WINNER - Edinburgh 1998

written by nick salamone
directed by jessica kubzansky
music by maury r mcintyre
performed by nic arnzen, joshua wolf coleman, clay storseth
accompanied by alma cielo

1998's brilliant FRINGE FIRST winning musical.

MOSCOW is a bittersweet tale of three guys locked in a disused theatre, trapped in a Sartre-esque existence, doomed to rehearse Chekov's "Three Sisters" forever! Blending surreal absurdism with hilarious, lyrical romanticism, the three men struggle to find some meaning in their lives - in life at all - with only the help of a battered old copy of Chekhov. Beautiful songs, oustanding wit, three brilliant performances in a remarkable play create perhaps the most affecting musical you will ever see...

Moscow premiered in Los Angeles with the prestigious Playwrights' Arena group and first came to the Edinburgh Festgival in 1998. With only 12 performances then at the French Institute, the show received a fabulous 5 star review in The Scotsman, duly won a Fringe First Award and tickets became an impossibility to get.

It returned with TTI 3 years later to the larger setting of the Assembly Rooms to equal critical acclaim and was voted "The Peoples Favourite 2001" in The Scotsman.

Reviews:

"This musical gives you one way to learn to appreciate Chekhov even if you have never seen his work... This could be too absurd but instead it is touching and engaging. The skill and talent of the actors keeps you engrossed. It is amazing how the three take command of such a large space as they work around the theatre. Captivating." (Three Weeks)

"One of the lovely things about this production is that thanks to carefully modulated performances by Nic Arnzen, Joshua Wolf Coleman, and Clay Storseth, the men are bound into a self sustaining triangle - as beautifully, irksomely close as sisters. ...intelligent confection...as substantial and moving as Chekhov. ...it surprised me sweetly to tears." (The Scotsman)

"What makes this compelling is the way in which it captures and magnifies the extraordinary yearning quality of Chekhov's original and puts its faith in the healing power of art ... the performances have a stiletto precision ... Its heart is big enough to embrace everyone who lives with the dull ache of an unfulfilled life." (Lyn Gardner - The Guardian)

"Three great American musical performers... completely inhabit their parts... Nic Arnzen is especially moving as a southern stud who, on the realisation that sex messes up friendships, transforms in front of our eyes from child to adult. Glory in the performances." (The List)

"So brilliantly conceived it would send Sondheim weeping into his beer!" (L.A. Times)

"Unlikely to be bettered on the Fringe. I actually wept!" (Lyn Gardner-The Guardian)

"Witty, tender, sophisticated. A wonderful, delicate fusion of music theatre, song and emotion... By turns warm, wise, funny and moving, but always compelling entertainment." (The Scotsman)

"A highly challenging, entertaining and moving meditation on love, hope and despair. Parallels between the men and their female roles are as intelligently handled as the lyrics are eloquent ... Terrific performances." (The List)

"An intriguing mix of surrealism and lyrical romanticism that earns high marks for originality and dedicated craftsmanship." (LA Times)

"Combines humour and humanity in an intelligent, insightful look at unrequited love and unfulfilled lives" Critic's Choice. (Drama Logue, LA)

'An intriguing absurdist-theatre homage to such playwrights as Jean-Paul Sartre and Samuel Beckett, as well as a highly relevant and multi-faceted gay love story... three excellent actor/singers, who amuse us and break our hearts in about equal measure. " (LA Frontiers)

Biographies

John Lawrence Rivera (director)
...is the founding artistic director of Playwrights' Arena in Los Angeles, for whom he has directed and produced the works of Luis Alfaro, Daniel Cariaga, Jean Colonomos, Robert Harders, Christopher Meeks, Steven Leigh Morris and Nick Salamone. Other directing credits: Straight as a Line by Luis Alfaro (Off-Broadway's Primary Stages, New York Premiere), Fool For Love by Sam Shepard (Madrid Theatre), Clean by Edwin Sanchez (Celebration Theatre), Wave by Sung Rno (Mark Taper Forum's Asian Theatre Workshop) and Soundings by Beverly Olevin (Odyssey Theatre). Rivera's productions have won over 50 Ovation, LA Weekly, Garland and Maddy Awards, and a 1998 Fringe First Award for MOSCOW.

Nick Salamone (playwright)
...won a 1998 Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a Backstage West Garland Award for Moscow, which he conceived and wrote (book and lyrics). Other plays include All Souls' Day (1991 LA Weekly Award Nominee), Another House on Mercy Street (1992 LA Weekly Award), and Red Hat and Tales (1998 Maddy Award Nominee). A trilogy of his plays, All Souls' Day, Riffs & Credos (which sold out for four months in LA in 1994) and Whale Watchers (1999) were revived in 2000, for which Nick received the Maddy Award for Excellence in Playwriting. The Audrey Skirball-Kenis foundation has awarded him a grant for their 2001 New Music Theatre Workshop.

Maury R. McIntyre (composer)
... received both a Garland Award (Los Angeles) and a Fringe First Award (Edinburgh) for the 1998 production of . The piece marks Maury's second collaboration with playwright Nick Salamone, having composed a complete score/soundscape for the 1995 premiere of Salamone's Riffs & Credos. His collaborative efforts with director Jessica Kubzansky span more than a decade, including composition for such diverse plays as Joined at the Head, All in the Timing, The Triumph of Love, The Mandrake, and A Christmas Carol. He received his MFA from California Institute of the Arts.

Jessica Kubsansky (director)
...is an award-winning director working around the U.S. Recent work includes world premieres for the Mark Taper Forum's New Works Festivals (plays by Diana Son, Paula Weston Solano, and Julia Cho), Pirates of Penzance for the Publick Theatre (Boston), Arthur Schnitzler's Anatol for Buffalo Nights, Tony Kushner's The Illusion for the American Stage Company (Florida), Loot for International City Theatre, Vaclav Havel's The Memorandum for the Odyssey Theatre, Moon for the Misbegotten for the Laguna Playhouse, Lulu for the Pacific Resident Theatre, Twelfth Night for the Grand Canyon Shakespeare Festival (Arizona), Dancing at Lughnasa for La Mirada Center for the Performing Arts, The House of Blue Leaves for West Coast Ensemble, and Heartbreak House for the Colony; in Edinburgh, the Fringe-First Award-winning , Frantic Redhead's walkabout Macbeth ('98), and Carol Wolf's The Thousandth Night (Monsieur Shaherazad) ('93) with Ron Campbell, which also played London's Old Red Lion Theatre and toured the world. Kubzansky and her productions have been the recipients of numerous awards including Drama Critics Circle, Edinburgh Fringe First, London Fringe, Garland, DramaLogue, LA and OC Weekly, Robbies, etc.

Clay storsteth (performer - Jon)
Moscow is Clay's eighth play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He was in Yeats' Deirdre at the Queen's Hall in '96, two productions of the walkabout Macbeth as McDuff ('98 and '99), the original production of Moscow in '98, Riffs & Credos and Whale Watchers ('99) and the late night comedy WEHO in which he played eight different characters...as did the other five actors...lots of wigs and hats and stuff. Favorite regional credits include: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Joined at the Head, Chess, All Souls' Day, The Boys Next Door, Little Shop of Horrors, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Kiss Me Kate, Song of Singapore, and the West Coast Premiere of Tony Kushner's A Bright Room Called Day. Clay was a guest star on the opening episode of Star Trek: Voyager this season and on an episode of Medical Diaries. Special thanks to Guy Masterson and Jon Rivera for bringing this play to Edinburgh now, and Ginger Perkins of Frantic Redhead Productions for bringing it in '98.

Joshua Wolf Coleman (performer - Matt)
... has played the title role in Macbeth while wandering the streets of Edinburgh ('98), he has played Lysander in Midsummer at the Guthrie Theater, he has played the title role in Pudd'nhead Wilson at Gary Marshall's Falcon Theatre, he has danced the ghost of Marie Leaveu in Joseph Chaiken's twentieth-anniversary casting of Terminal, led the cast in The Secret Life of Polar Bears at the Mark Taper Forum's New Works Festival, and has also worked with Tina Howe, Michael Grief and Edward Albee. He performed in two of Randy Newman's musicals at South Coast Rep and the La Jolla Playhouse, and played Jesus in Godspell. But he has never been more proud to be on stage than when he has done, or is doing, Moscow.

Nic Arnzen (performer - Luke)
... an Iowa native, spent nearly six years performing on Chicago stages including Second City, Candlelight Playhouse, and the Steppenwolf. He also produced and performed in the original production of Party for over two years. After appearing in over 500 performances of Shear Madness, Nic left Chicago for Los Angeles where he continued his stage work with such productions as Moonpuppies (Odyssey Theatre), Three Guys Naked... (Tamarind Theatre) and Cool My Tongue (Celebration Theatre). Some of the shows Nic has appeared in as well as directed include 20 Questions (Coast Playhouse), Scratch and Sniff Comedy (Theatre at the Improv), and his own fevered brainchild, WEHO, in Los Angeles (Celebration and Hudson Theatres as well as at the 1999 Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Nic's film credits include Never Been Kissed, X-Men, Rookie of the Year, and Richie Rich. TV credits include The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of our Lives, and Living in Captivity. Nic's relationship with Playwrights' Arena began years ago with the workshop production of Moscow and its subsequent stagings in LA and at the 1998 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Nic also had the privilege of performing in Nick Salamone's All Souls Trilogy. Nic is thrilled to be back with the Moscow gang.

Alma Cielo (violinist)
...performance artist, actor, belly dancer, and bad-ass violinist, working in classical, improv, experimental, blues, and rock. Work-in-progress: documentary film/video diary on Geena, a Filipina woman, bi-racial and living with HIV, shot in the U.S. and the Philippines. Producer of the Wild Parrots of L.A. Artists' Salon. Can sometimes be seen buck naked in art classes on red angora rug with shaved head. In Spanish: Alma = soul, Cielo = sky.

Michael Laun (assistant director)
... a California native, recently served as assistant director for Hot Night in the City for Playwrights' Arena. Other assistant director credits include Arthur Schnitzler's Anatol for Buffalo Nights, and the upcoming A Servant to Two Masters for International City Theatre in Long Beach. He co-directed the reconceived 20th anniversary revival of Starting Here, Starting Now for One Step Productions in LA and co-produced the U.S. West Coast small theatre premiere of Falsettos, nominated for Musical of the Year in LA Weekly. He has co-written and directed musical parodies of Annie, The Wizard of Oz, and Side by Side by Sondheim. As a performer, Michael has appeared in numerous regional theatre productions, and his own cabaret show From Gershwin to Sondheim has been seen both in Los Angeles and in New York City.

Bobby Fromer (lighting designer)
... is the recipient of six Drama-Logue awards, The Pan American Theatre - Cesar Award, and a NAACP nomination; he most recently received an LA Weekly Award for Sleepwalk with the Playwrights' Arena. He has designed and stage-managed productions across much of the United States, Scotland, Japan, Mexico and Puerto Rico, including the critically acclaimed Sleepwalk, Straight as a Line, and Bitter Homes and Gardens with the Playwrights' Arena, Blood Wedding with the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts, Macbeto and Malinche with Singera, Edward II with Circle X. His work with the Walt Disney Co. includes The Teddy Bear Classic and lots of work with The Kids of the Kingdom, and Universal Studios' Conan.