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Glimpses of the Moon

"This is one of the best new musicals I've seen in ages... A well-crafted, witty musical comedy...a sparkling valentine to the Jazz Age."

BroadwayWorld.com

More information

Description

  • Full Length Musical
  • Dramatic Comedy
  • 90 minutes

  • Time Period: 1920s, 1910s / WWI
  • Target Audience: Adult, Pre-Teen (Age 11 - 13), Teen (Age 14 - 18), Appropriate for all audiences, Senior
  • Set Requirements: Unit Set/Multiple Settings, Bare Stage/Simple Set
  • Cautions: No Special Cautions
  • Orchestra Size: Small/Combo

  • Performance Group:
  • Large Stage, Dinner Theatre, Community Theatre, High School/Secondary, Professional Theatre, Shoestring Budget, Reader's Theatre, Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups, College Theatre / Student
Set amid the whirl of 1922 Manhattan society, this sparkling comedy features a jazzy danceable score and a timeless romantic story. With plenty of friends but little money, Susy Branch and her friend Nick Lansing devise a clever scheme to live beyond their means. They'll marry and live off the wedding gifts, while they help one another secure more suitable millionaire spouses. The plan works perfectly - until they fall in love.
REVIEWS:

"This is one of the best new musicals I've seen in ages... A well-crafted, witty musical comedy...a sparkling valentine to the Jazz Age."

BroadwayWorld.com

"...Clever and intelligent... A droll comedy that makes a pleasant evening's diversion."

 Variety

"It's an off-Broadway musical in the way that off-Broadway musicals used to be - derived from lofty literary works, and taking the high road in being smart."

Theatermania.com

"Glimpses of the Moon has already bested most of the current crop of musicals for civilized entertainment."

BroadwayWorld.com/Showtime

"I loved it! ...A dizzy delight of a musical."

Yahoo! Broadway

Premiere Production:

Glimpses of the Moon was first produced in the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel in NYC.

Characters

  • Casting: 3M, 3F
  • Casting Attributes: Reduced casting (Doubling Possible), Flexible casting
  • Casting Notes: Ideally, each week of the run could feature a different Guest-Star who can perform the Cabaret Singer role (it is also possible to have the actor who plays Ellie perform this role).
  • Chorus Size: No Chorus

  • SUSY BRANCH (late 20s) - Susy is bright, pretty and practical. Though born into society, her father's gambling habit and untimely death left her dependent on wealthy friends who appreciate her grace, charm, and enthusiasm.

  • WINTHROP "STREFFY" STREFFORD (35-50) - Streffy is British and proper, fourth in line to inherit a title and a large fortune. In the meantime, he is a career freeloader, dining out on rich Americans' fondness for European royalty. Though gossipy, selfish and a bit mean, he is fun to have around. He has long been secretly in love with Susy, but being too poor to have any chance to marry, he has settled for being her friend and confidante.

  • ELLIE VANDERLYN (late 40s) - Self-absorbed wealthy society matron. She is attractive, ambitious, self-centered, used to getting whatever she likes.

  • NELSON VANDERLYN (50-60) - Successful banker, he has endured 20 years of marriage to Ellie. And somehow, despite her mistreatment, remains steadfastly in love with her.

  • URSULA GILLOW (late 40s) - A vain society matron, even richer than the Vanderlyns. She and Ellie have a longstanding rivalry. (The same actor plays Coral, below.)

  • NICK LANSING (30s) - A scholar of classical archaeology who dreams of writing historical novels, Nick is romantic and passionate, well-traveled, curious. He appreciates beauty and the finer things, but has an old fashioned moral strength. He had a small inheritance but burned through it quickly several years earlier. Like Susy, he was born rich to a good family, went to the right schools and clubs, but is now without sufficient funds.

  • CORAL HICKS (20s) - Frowsy over-educated heiress from the Midwest. Her father founded a successful department store. She is serious, awkward, overly intellectual but socially inept. She knows everything in books and nothing about human interaction. This actor will also play Ursula and a Maid.

  • MAID (Female, 20-40) - A servant at the Vanderlyn's Newport mansion.

  • THE CABARET SINGER - (40s-70s) - This is a guest-starring part with a one-song walk-on and a few lines, requiring minimal preparation.

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