Press
PRESS COVERAGE:
The Washington Post:
“Source is the setting for another gem: “Queen of the Bohemian Dream” (through Saturday), a dashing little cabaret featuring the lyrics of Fran Landesman (“Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most”). Bobby Smith, Tracy McMullan and Margo Seibert make up the bright cast singing the droll and increasingly dark songs by Landesman and composer Simon Wallace. With its self-producing, uncurated ethic, a lot of the Fringe can feel like Theater Camp, but this is grown-up stuff.” – Nelson Pressley, The Washington Post
Note: In a transcripted Washington Post call-in program, Nelson named us one of his 3 favorite shows in the Festival.
DC Theatre Scene
“How was it for you?” asks lyricist Fran Landesman in the opening song of the immensely entertaining review, Queen of The Bohemian Dream, now playing at Source Theatre during the Fringe Festival. I’ll tell you how it was for me and the audience – we loved it!
This show may be the crowning achievement of this year’s Fringe Festival.”
From Bobby Smith’s smooth, toe-tapping “Feet Do Your Stuff,” to Tracy McMullan’s heart wrenching “Down,” to Margo Seibert’s gorgeous singing of “Revelations” and “Love’s Eyes,” you are sucked into those brilliant Sondheim-like lyrics of this brilliant lyricist (Read more) Joel Markowitz, DCTheatreScene.com
POTOMAC STAGES
Tracy McMullan, Margo Seibert and Bobby Smith, backed by Darius Smith on the piano, pack more musicality and humor into three quarters of an hour than you find in quite a few full length evenings. The selected songs of Fran Landesman and Simon Wallace are brief, self contained short subjects. The average duration of each of the 19 songs is under two and a half minutes so the entire program lasts just 45 minutes. This being an offering in the Capital Fringe Festival with its plethora of short selections – sort of a tapas approach to theater – the brevity of the revelry is not problem. There’s only one more performance scheduled. It is at 6:30 Saturday night. Attend and you still have time to catch one of the Fringe’s nine 8 pm shows and then one of the eight that start at 10 pm or later. |
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For the record, Fran Landesman operated a cabaret in St. Louis which was popular with the beat generation. She wrote poetry and lyrics and supplied the lyrics for what is probably the only Broadway beat musical, The Nervous Set. Her nephew is Rocco Landesman, Broadway producer and President of one of Broadway’s three major theater owner/operator firms, Jujamcyn Theaters. She has been collaborating with British composer Simon Wallace for a quarter of a century, churning out over 250 songs. This collection offers ample evidence of her ability to turn a phrase and suggest time and/or place. She writes of a time “when our movies and morals were in black and white – the not so good old days” and she does so with a sense of fondness and nostalgia. Wallace matches her conversational lyrics with jazz patterns that reflect and emphasize the vocal pattern which makes the songs fine material for skilled cabaret-style vocalists. The vocalists here have those skills in great measure. Bobby Smith and Margo Seibert establish a light sense of camaraderie with the funny “How Was It For You?” Later, it is Tracy McMullan with whom Smith joshes on “Too Stoned to Care” but Seibert joins in to expand the gag. Later, Seibert has a torch song of sorts, “Forecast,” and McMullan sells the gag of the spell-out song “Mother.” Smith even does a bit of tap dancing. While things do bog down a bit with “Cabaret Whores,” the lapse doesn’t last. Darius Smith’s support on the piano is spirited, setting more than just tempo and key, but providing colors and accents as well. However, the piano tends to overwhelm the singers from time to time. The show includes a brief recorded selection of Landesman herself but it is a distraction from the charm of the live performance. Lyrics by Fran Landesman. Music by Simon Wallace. Conceived and produced by Lorrraine Treanor. Directed by Michael J. Bobbitt. Musical direction by Darius Smith. Cast: Tracy McMullan, Margo Seibert, Bobby Smith. - Brad Hathaway – PotomacStages.com
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(l to r) Margo Seibert, Tracy McMullan with Musical Director Extraordinare Darius Smith!
Contact Lorraine Treanor for arrangements.
Queen of the Bohemian Dream stars (l to r) Margo Seibert, Bobby Smith and Tracy McCullan (Photo: Allzah.com)
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