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SPIT IT OUT! just finished a successful run at the
highly regarded Midtown International Theatre
Festival.
Some press for our recent run in the Midtown Interntational Theater Festival!
We are in development for future productions. Stay tunded for news!
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News from American Theater Web MITF Roundup
Spit It Out! 7/21/2005 Midtown International Theatre Festival |
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Amy Coleman and Valerie Smaldone make a grand unlikely pair of friends in their new play with music. Smaldone plays Kara, an uptight television talk show host. Coleman is Hannah, a jazz-singer who has yet to make it. One day they meet at a spa where both have come to retreat from the stresses of their lives. Hannah's marijuana hound of a husband has just spent their last $9,000 on a new guitar for his collection. Kara's simply trying to unwind from the hassles of trying to figure out what her next hot-topic show will be about and tending to her seemingly always ill spouse, Mike. It's a random encounter that is followed by another and another. Soon the women are fast friends, and coming to realize that each one has something to learn from the other. Interspersed with these scenes are Coleman's smoky renditions of standards and several original tunes. Coleman and Smaldone share a terrific chemistry. Audiences will see where "Spit" is headed as soon as Hannah's cell phone goes off at the spa, annoying Kara immeasurably. It somehow doesn't matter; these women, neuroses and all, charm. Supporting these two actresses in Sarah Garfield's economical production is Stephen Bienskie, a mercurial, impish performer who plays all of the guys in these women's lives, from Kara's ultra-fey assistant to the 26-year-old boy toy with whom Kara has an affair to a Latin drag queen who waits on the duo at the downtown restaurant, Lips.” Spit It Out!” which derives its title from Hannah's advice to Kara that she just needs to "spit it out", serves as a light buddy play for the busy summer Festival season. |
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from BroadwayWorld.com
July 20, 2005 - by BWW News Desk
Spit It Out! , a new musical co-written by and starring Valerie Smaldone and Amy Coleman, opened at the Midtown International Theatre Festival on July 18th and will run through August 6th at the WorkShop Theatre (312 W. 36th St., 4th floor).
A Two Sides of a Coin production, the show is a "comical and endearing look at an unlikely friendship between two women that develops when their paths in life collide as Kara Angelo (Smaldone), a career-driven successful television talk show host meets the down on her luck blues singer, Hanna Cohen (Coleman)," according to Spit It Out! 's website. As the show's tagline puts it, "When you're in the middle of a break-up, nobody hears you scream. Except your best friend."
As described on her website, Smaldone is a five time Billboard Magazine Award-winner, best known for holding the #1 position in the New York radio market as mid-day host of 106.7 Lite-FM. Among her prominent radio credits are co-creator, writer, producer and host of several nationally syndicated programs which featured interviews with top recording artists of our day, including Paul McCartney, Elton John, Sting and Celine Dion. She is also a successful voice over-artist and has recorded over 1,000 voiceovers from commercials, to television news promos to movie trailers.
Coleman received Backstage Magazine 's Best Vocalist of the Year award for her cabaret Face to the Wall, a piece set to the words and music of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. She fronts an all-female blues band called Sweet Potata (with whom she released the CD Soul Kiss ), and recently released her first solo CD on Regular Records, entitled Flame On. Regionally, she has appeared in J esus Christ Superstar, Little Shop of Horrors, and also played Janis Joplin in the original production of Beehive at the Village Gate. Coleman appeared as Vickie for three years in the hit off-Broadway production of The Last Session.
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Spit It Out! has
been performed twice as a reading as part of the new writers
series sponsored by the Academy of Television Arts &
Sciences at HBO. It debuted as a fully produced play at
the Downstairs Cabaret Theatre in Rochester, New York for
a brief run. The following year Spit It Out! was performed
for a period of 4 months at the legendary Il Cortile Restaurant
on Mulberry Street starring the two authors of the piece.
While it played there to
an audience who received the benefit of a gourmet meal
prior to the show and during the intermission, the play
was seen by award winning composer Stephen Schwartz, actor
Danny Aiello, sportscaster Michael Kay, and Francis
Anthony, the love chef!
Spit It Out! not only features
Amy Coleman and Valerie Smaldone as Hannah Cohen and Kara
Angelo, but also showcases the many talents of Stephen
Bienskie who performs 7 different roles!
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| Comments from
people who have seen the play |
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“I look forward
to supporting the development and success of
the witty and inspiring message being molded by Smaldone
and Coleman.”
Michael Alden (Producer)
“Creative, compelling and pretty to look at.”
Andrew Rosen (Regional VP-Clear Channel)
“Spit It Out!
makes living life on life’s terms a hopeful
and funny experience. The story is funny and deeply
touching."
Susanne White (producer)
"I
loved it!" Danny Aiello (actor) |
“A
refreshing marvel of unexpected human connection
and friendship.”
Tsidii Le Loka (Rafiki in The Lion
King, original cast).
“I attended a
reading of Spit It Out! and found it funny and smart.
I look forward to seeing it develop in future incarnations”.
Stephen Schwartz (composer and
lyricist of Wicked).
"It's
wonderful. Really honest, and completely truthful...
really personal yet universal. Truth always wins."
Paul Provenza (actor-comedian, director-producer) |
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