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The Patsy
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- Info
July 15 - August 13, 2011
The Duke on 42nd Street
229 W. 42nd StreetThe Patsy
By Barry Conners
Performed by David Greenspan
Directed by Jack Cummings IIIOriginally produced on Broadway in 1925 as a feisty living room comedy by Barry Conners and immortalized by the brilliant Marion Davies and Marie Dressler, Transport Group’s affectionate new adaptation of The Patsy, performed by Obie Award recipient David Greenspan, playfully resurrects this Cinderella story of a girl who is a little less beautiful and a little less loved and her fractious, gossipy family. Filled with familial intrigue, marital sparring, lovers in pursuit, country club scandals, a labors of the heart, Transport Group’s The Patsy explores one family’s aspirations of wealth, status, and love in pre-Depression America through one astonishing and virtuosic performer.
Jonas
Written and Performed by David GreenspanThe world premiere of a new one-act monologue written and performed by David Greenspan. This piece is a darkly funny and mercurial exploration of doppelgangers past and present and lives real and imagined. Join Greenspan in this thrilling and haunting journey of identity. Jonas will be performed on selected nights as a double feature with The Patsy.
- Cast & Creative
CAST & CREATIVE TEAM
Original Text by Barry Conner
Directed by Jack Cummings III
Set and Costume Design by Dane Laffery
Lighting Design by Mark Barton
Sound Design by Michal Rasbury
Dramaturgy by Kristina Corcoran Williams
Stage Managed by Theresa Flanagan
David Greenspan has directed and/or performed in his plays Jack, The Home Show Pieces and 2 Samuel 11, Etc. (Home), Dead Mother (Public), Go Back to Where You Are and She Stoops to Comedy (Playwrights Horizons, Obie), The Argument (Target Margin, Obie), The Myopia (Foundry), and with songwriter Stephin Merritt Coraline (MCC). He has received two performance Obies; one for Terrence McNally's Some Men and Goethe’s Faust, one for Mart Crowley’s The Boys in the Band. Other credits include Orlando, The Metal Children, The Royal Family, Cornbury, Beebo Brinker Chronicles, The Wax, Saved or Destroyed, Lipstick Traces, Benita Canova and Second-hand Smoke. Alumnus New Dramatists, Guggenheim and Lortel fellowships, Alpert Award and an Obie for Sustained Achievement.
Jack Cummings III: Co-founder and Artistic Director of Transport Group Theatre Company. Favorite TG credits include the critically acclaimed musical The Audience, which he conceived and directed (Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Director and Outstanding Musical), the first New York revival of Michael John LaChiusa’s First Lady Suite (Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Revival and Outstanding Featured Actress - Mary Testa), and the 50th anniversary production of William Inge’s The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, starring Tony winner Michele Pawk and OBIE winner Donna Lynne Champlin. Most recently Mr. Cummings directed the New York premiere of the musical See Rock City and Other Destinations and the critically-acclaimed revival of The Boys in the Band which received 5 Drama Desk Award nominations including Outstanding Direction of a Play. Other credits include the world premiere musical A Thousand Words Come To Mind by Michele Lowe and Scott Richards at The Zipper, A Streetcar Named Desire for Pennsylvania’s Gretna Theatre, Violet (Best Director and Best Musical, Virginia’s Style Magazine) for Richmond’s Barksdale Theatre, and A Tale of Two Cities for PBS. Jack received his MFA from The University of Virginia and his BA from The College of William and Mary. He is married to actress Barbara Walsh.- Media
Check out photos from our production of The Patsy & Jonas!
Here is a sneak peak of David Greenspan in The Patsy!Director Jack Cummings III and The Patsy star, David Greenspan, discuss the show.
- Reviews
Backstage 7/24/11
"The Patsy & Jonas"
“His double bill reminds us of what a unique artist Greenspan is, without question one of our
theater's treasures.”
“Greenspan's effortless transitions are aided by director Cummings' smart staging and designer
Michael Rasbury's judicious sound effects.”
“We've had so much fun watching The Patsy…both are worthwhile, as is this virtuosic evening.”
(Erik Haagensen)TheatreMania.com 7/25/11
"The Patsy and Jonas"
"[Greenspan] delivers a terrific master class in the art of bringing characters from a bygone era to life
on stage.”
“Provocatively modern.”“[The set is] a marvelous way of not only underscoring the unique theatricality of the shows, but also showcasing the performers' exceptional work in a terrifically simple jewel box-like setting.”
(Andy Propst)New York Times 7/26/11
"A One-Man Act: Mother, Sisters, Father, Lovers (Who Manage to Kiss)"
“A protean actor and playwright with an appetite for challenge and an abiding interest in the magic trickery of theater, Mr. Greenspan has retooled an antique Broadway vehicle as a sleek little solo roadster.”
“If Mr. Greenspan’s performance in “The Patsy” illustrates the actor as dexterous acrobat, “Jonas” reveals the actor as imaginative artist.”
“‘Jonas’ contains passages that rivet the attention with their lyricism and evocative detail”
(Charles Isherwood)Huffington Post 7/25/11
"One actor, many characters in comedy 'The Patsy'"
A “one-man whirlwind.”
“Greenspan is simply amazing to watch.”
“Greenspan presents credible, often heated dialogues among as many as four characters at a time.”
(Jennifer Farrar)New Jersey News Room 7/25/11
"REVIEW: David Greenspan plays 'The Patsy'"
“A solo tour-de-force.”
“David Greenspan is a veritable shape-shifter who transforms instantly into other people.”
“Yet another smart show from Transport Group Theatre Company.”
Praises Jack Cummings III’s “witty staging” and Greenspan’s “vivid artistry.”
(Michael Sommers)New York Press 7/24/11
"Heartbreak and True Love Amid Ukuleles and Jazz"
“Presented by the perennially ambitious The Transport Group.”
“Greenspan is a gift to theater lovers, the kind of sui generis performer who is a creature of the stage,
and his ample gifts are fully on display in The Patsy.”
“Immense, precise talent.”
(Mark Peikert)New York Post 7/24/11
"One man in many roles..."
“The Transport Group has been on a roll lately.”
“Efficient comic craft.”
(Elisabeth Vincentelli)New York Daily News 7/25/11
"'The Patsy': David Greenspan stars in one-man show like nobody's fool"
“Greenspan's singular performance style.”
“Greenspan performs it with a palpable joy.”
(Joe Dziemianowicz)Talkin' Broadway 7/24/11
"The Patsy & Jonas"
“The magic of Greenspan’s unique style and intense focus.”
“One of the safest and most irresistible experiences you’re likely to have in a theater all year.”
(Matthew Murray)