KENNY SOLMS PRESENTS NEW COMEDY, "IT MUST BE HIM" OFF BROADWAY
Published 2010-07-15
Kenny Solms, creator of the new Off Broadway comedy It Must Be Him, presents this new show along with producer Orin Wolf and Off the Aisle Productions. Solms is the co-creator of the Emmy Award-winning, legendary Carol Burnett Show. It Must Be Him will begin performaces on August 24 with its official opening September 1 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre. The show is set to close September 26. It Must Be Him is directed by Daniel Kutner.
The cast of It Must Be Him features 3-time Emmy® Award nominee Peter Scolari and Emmy® Award and Golden Globe® Award nominee Liz Torres, along with Patrick Cummings (Happiness), Tony® Award nominee Stephanie D'Abruzzo (Avenue Q), Harris Doran (Love Jerry), Ryan Duncan (Altar Boyz), John Treacy Egan (The Producers), Tony® Award nominee Jonathan C. Kaplan (Falsettos), David Margulies (45 Seconds From Broadway), Tony® Award nominee Alice Playten (Henry, Sweet Henry), Edward Staudenmayer (Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me) and Jessica Tyler Wright (Sweeney Todd).
In It Must Be Him, Louie Wexler (Scolari), a whiz kid comedy writer from the heyday of variety television, is now down on his luck. With his devoted agent (Egan), and his considerably less devoted housekeeper (Torres) by his side, Louie finds himself broke, lonely, and on the wrong side of middle age. Desperate to rekindle his fading career, save his posh Beverly Hills home and find the man of his dreams, Louie searches high and low for one last shot at his own real-life happy ending.
Special musical material is written by Larry Grossman (music) and Ryan Cunningham (lyrics). The creative team features Wendy Seyb (choreography), Court Watson (scenic design), Laurie Churba (costume design), Joel Silver (lighting design) and Duncan Edwards (sound design).
It Must Be Him preview performance schedule is as follows: Tuesday, 8/24 at 7:00 PM, Wednesday, 8/25 at 7:00 PM, Thursday, 8/26 at 7:00 PM, Friday, 8/27 at 7:00 PM, Saturday, 8/28 at 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM, Sunday, 8/29 at 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM, Monday, 8/30 at 7:00 PM, and Tuesday 8/31 at 7:00 PM. Beginning on Friday, September 3, the performance schedule is as follows Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 7:00 PM, with 3:00 PM matinees on Saturday and Sunday. (Please note: there is an added 7:00 PM performance on Wednesday, 9/8, as there will be no performance on Monday, 9/6.)
Tickets, priced at $65.00, will be available beginning on Tuesday, July 20 via www.ticketcentral.com /(212) 279-4200, or in person at the Peter J. Sharp Theatre Box Office (416 West 42nd Street).
Kenny Solms (Playwright). If variety is the spice of life, Kenny Solms has tasted great success. He began his career in New York, where he teamed up with New York University classmate Gail Parent to create revue material for Leonard Sillman's last Broadway revue New Faces and for New York's famed Upstairs at the Downstairs. His association with Ms. Parent subsequently became one of the most successful and celebrated comedy partnerships.
Following the runaway success of three comedy albums (including the hilarious spoof of the Luci Baines Johnson Wedding, Our Wedding Album), and a season of Steve Allen's "Comedy Hour," Solms co-created and wrote the classic Emmy® Award winning "Carol Burnett Show," for which he also received the Writer's Guild of America Award.
He wrote numerous specials, including those for Julie Andrews, Ann-Margret, Danny Thomas, The Osmonds, Mary Tyler Moore, Bing Crosby, Second City, Lily Tomlin, Dick Van Dyke, Anne Bancroft, Bill Cosby, Sills and Burnett at the Met, which won him the Peabody Award, "Burnett Discovers Domingo," a CBS special starring Carol Burnett and Placido Domingo which won the Montreaux Prize, and the Emmy Award winning Neil Diamond Special, "Hello Again." Solms also wrote and produced "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," the critically acclaimed "3 Girls 3" and Home Box Office's first two original comedy specials starring Carol Burnett and Martin Mull.
Television, however, has never been Solms' sole domain. Lorelei, starring Carol Channing, lured Kenny back to Broadway to write the new book for the Jule Styne / Comden & Green musical based on "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." During Lorelei's two year run, he collaborated with Gail Parent again on the screenplay for her novel 'Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York ' starring Roy Scheider and Jeannie Berlin.
Solms also conceived and wrote Perfectly Frank, a Frank Loesser revue which enjoyed a successful run at the Westwood playhouse in Los Angeles before its Broadway run. A year later, he produced it for Showtime starring Cloris Leachman. He wrote the book for What the World Needs Now, the songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, which had its world premiere at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre, and has workshopped Ain't that a Kick in the Head, based on the songs of Sammy Cahn, as a musical for Broadway.
Kenny has been head writer and producer for numerous television variety specials, including "Texaco Star Theatre's Salute to Broadway," "Disneyland's 30th Anniversary Special," "Live and In Person," "The Homemade Comedy Special," "Disneyland's Summer Vacation Party" and "Showtime's Joan Rivers' Salute to Heidi Abromowitz." He served as executive producer on "Bruce Willis: the Return of Bruno," produced and wrote four "This Is Your Life" specials for NBC and his first directorial assignment was an original production of "Plaza Suite" for ABC which he also produced and which starred Carol Burnett, Dabney Coleman, Richard Crenna and HAl Holbrook. His first foray for Fox Broadcasting was headwriting "The 43rd Annual Emmy Awards," giving Fox its highest rating ever for a special. He served as a comedy consultant on King World's "New Candid Camera," and produced and wrote "The Original Amateur Hour," a series for the Family Channel, "Carol Burnett...a Reunion" for CBS, "Legend to Legend" for NBC, two more "This Is Your Life" specials for NBC, "Kelsey Grammer Salutes Jack Benny" for NBC, and episodes for the highly rated "Touched by an Angel," one starring his mentor, Carol Burnett.
Daniel Kutner (Director) is currently the full-time associate director to Broadway legend Harold Prince. Projects with Mr. Prince include Lovemusik by Alfred Uhry at Manhattan Theatre Club's Biltmore Theatre on Broadway and the recent Paradise Found, a new musical by Richard Nelson, Ellen Fitzhugh, & Jonathan Tunick which premiered at London's Menier Chocolate Factory this past spring. Dan directed the world premiere, Drama Desk nominated, Off-Broadway hit musical, I Love You Because at the Village Theater, having directed it previously at the National Alliance of Musical Theater. Most recently, Dan co-conceived and directed Lea Salonga's sold-out debut at the famed Cafe Carlyle, Lea Salonga: The Journey So Far. Other credits include a new version of Kander and Ebb's And The World Goes Round which inaugurated the Gettysburg Arts Festival in Pennsylvania and subsequently played the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia. Dan has also helmed Manhattan Theatre Club's 2008 Spring Musical Gala at The Hilton Grand Ballroom, and the 2009 Gala at Cipriani's. New work includes readings of Doug Parker & Denver Cassado's musical, Life On The Mississippi at The York Theatre starring Ashley Brown and Charlie Schulman and Michael Roberts' musical, My American Family, starring Stephanie J. Block, which will receive a production later this year.
A Temple University graduate and a Philadelphia native, Dan was named the Inaugural Directing Fellow at the Philadelphia Theatre Company, having worked alongside Mary B. Robinson, Tony® winner Anna D. Shapiro, David Warren and Pam MacKinnon. In New York, Dan has been the Robert Moss Directing Resident at Playwrights Horizons having worked with Richard Nelson on the world premiere musical, My Life with Albertine (starring Brent Carver & Kelli O'Hara), and John Benjamin Hickey on Theresa Rebeck's world premiere Bad Dates, starring Julie White. Upcoming projects: Garbo Returns, a new play by Kristof Bathory starring Tovah Feldshuh, and Deep Cover, a new musical by Michael Wolk with Gorgeous Entertainment.
Off The Aisle Productions, founded by Orin Wolf and David F. Schwartz, recently produced A View From the Bridge (Tony® nominated), Groundswell (The New Group), and Assume the Position with Robert Wuhl. Other productions include: Irving Berlin's I Love a Piano, History of the Word, and 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother Starring Judy Gold. Orin and David are founders of the theatrical booking agency OBB/Off Broadway Booking, which currently represents numerous titles (www.obbnyc.com). Orin conceived History of the Word, which was presented at Crossroads and the Vineyard Theatre, and was awarded the T-Fellowship for Creative Producing at Columbia University in conjunction with Hal Prince. A partner with the boutique entertainment law firm Feldshon & Schwartz, David represents Broadway and Off-Broadway producers, talent and creatives, NYMF and clients in other fields including film, television, music and art. Orin and David are graduates of the Commercial Theatre Institute.
Information on the Peter Jay Sharp Theater
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