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The Fabulous Lipitones

 

 

A high note leaves a barbershop quartet without their fourth member just before the national competition. When the voice of “Bob” is heard through the phone the Lipitones are all ears… but when they meet him in person, he’s not quite what they expected. A comedy of misunderstanding, stereotypes, and the path to perfect harmony.

The Fabulous Lipitones written by John Markus and Mark St. Germain, with original music by Rancy Courts, and original lyrics by Mark St. Germain will play from June 1, 2016 through June 26, 2016 in the Gompertz Theatre. Subscriptions and Single Tickets are available online by clicking the links or by calling the FST Box Office at 941-366-9000. SUBSCRIBE NOW to the Mainstage Season and see three shows for as little as $39!

Dining is available in The Green Room at the following times:
2:00pm performances: reservations begin at 12:15pm
3:00pm performances: dining is available post-show
7:00pm performances: reservations begin at 5:15pm
8:00pm performances: reservations begin at 6:15pm
To view our menu, click here.To view the Gompertz Theatre seating chart, click here.

To view a large print version of the playbill click here.

Do you need a ride to the theatre? Click here to find out more about our partnership with iTN Suncoast.

The Fabulous Lipitones is a timely entertaining comedy with music (barbershop quartet). This is a crowd pleaser for all ages due to the recent resurgence of a cappella groups. The story is sentimental yet comedic in nature as it delves into acceptance of “the other” and how we as humans deal with each other’s differences. Although the play is universal for all audience members, there are occasional sexual innuendos in reference to online dating; however, the language of the play is clean.

 

 
CREATIVE

Director  |  John Markus
Music Director  |  Steven Freeman
Scenic Designer  |  Isabel & Moriah Curley-Clay
Costume Designer  |  April Soroko
Lighting Designer  |  Christopher Bailey
Sound Designer  |  Jason Romney

CAST

Howard Dunphy  |  D.C. Anderson*
Wally Smith  |  Joel Blum*
Baba Mati Singh (Bob)  |  Levin Valayil*
Phil Rizzardi  |  Scott Wakefield*

* Denotes member Actors’ Equity Association. The Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

D.C. ANDERSON (Howard Dunphy) returns to FST having been ‘Wilbur’ in Hairspray last season. Broadway: Phantom of the Opera. National Tours: Martin Guerre, Nicholas Nickleby, Pippin, Phantom. Regional: Guthrie, Goodspeed, Rep Theatre of SL, Steppenwolf. Three films in 2016: Oppenheimer Strategies, Miles, Fair Market Value. TV: The Mysteries of Laura, Lady Blue. Over 100 songs (many original), 9 CD’s on iTunes. Video: YouTube. Website: dcanderson.net

 

JOEL BLUM (Wally Smith) Broadway: Show Boat (Tony nomination), Steel Pier (Tony nomination), 42nd Street, Music Man, Christmas Carol, After the Night and the Music. Off Broadway/On Tour: Golf-The Musical (2004 Drama Desk nomination for Best Supporting Actor), World Goes ‘Round, Dr. Doolittle (w/Tommy Tune, Co-Choreographer), numerous regional theater including Tin Pan Ally Rag, (Barrymore award). TV: Law and Order twice, Sopranos, Ed, The Tonight Show, Sonny and Cher, Bob Hope, and Liberace.

 

LEVIN VALAYIL (Baba Mati Singh (Bob) hails from Sugar Land, Texas and is thrilled to make his Florida Studio Theatre debut with The Fabulous Lipitones. Levin recently starred in Poster Boy at the Williamstown Theater Festival directed by Broadway director Stafford Arima. Levin also previously starred in Bollywood and Vine as Bhuvan, a new musical off Broadway in New York City. Levin has received his MFA in Musical Theater from Boston Conservatory and his Bachelors in Voice/Piano Performance and Music Therapy from Berklee College of Music. He is a licensed Music Therapist along with being a performer. 

 

SCOTT WAKEFIELD (Phil Rizzardi) Broadway: It Ain’t Nothin’ But The Blues; Ring Of Fire; Hands On A Hardbody. Off-Broadway: Texas In Paris (York Theater); Paint Your Wagon (City Center); Going Somewhere Definite (Atlantic Theater) and others. Scott runs a cattle ranch, vacations at Civil War battlefield sites, and plays Martin guitars. He has recorded two CDs of original music, Older Than Dirt and Vegetarian Nightmare, which have each sold tens of copies. ScottWakefield.com.

 

JOHN MARKUS (Director/Playwright) Emmy Award-winning writer John Markus began his career in high school, supplying jokes about his rural Ohio hometown to Broadway columnist Earl Wilson. After graduating from Stanford University he moved to Los Angeles where he landed a job writing a revival of the animated Mighty Mouse. After an assignment on Paramount’s Emmy-winning Taxi, Markus joined the original writing staff of The Cosby Show, moving to New York where the show was produced. Promoted to Supervising Producer after the first six episodes, he returned for the show’s second season as co-executive producer and show runner. He remained headwriter with the acclaimed series until 1991. During his tenure, he wrote or co-wrote 67 episodes, earning an Emmy, a Peabody, back-to-back Humanitas prizes, and a People’s Choice award for “The Greatest Sitcom of All Time.” He next co-created the Cosby spin-off A Different World, which ran for six seasons on NBC. Markus next co-created the critically-acclaimed Lateline with Al Franken for Paramount Network Television and NBC. He was consulting producer on The Larry Sanders Show, co-writing the Emmy-nominated Ellen Degeneres episode, Ellen: Is She Or Isn’t She? A play, The Sons of Liberty, his first collaboration with Mark St. Germain, was staged as a prototype for an NBC television series at the American Place Theater and directed by Jerry Zaks. He became theater-struck. The Fabulous Lipitones, the story of a barbershop quartet that loses its lead singer to a strenuously high B-flat, debuted at Goodspeed in Connecticut. This play with music, co-authored with Mark St. Germain, has had several productions, including George Street Playhouse in New Jersey and Taproot Theatre Company in Seattle, with Markus directing the show at The Julie Harris Theater in Wellfleet, The Colony in Burbank and Virginia Rep. Markus just finished The Kings of BBQ Barbecue Kuwait, an award-winning documentary film chronicling the mission of cooking authentic-style BBQ for our troops stationed in The Mideast. He created the Destination America television series, BBQ Pitmasters, which takes the first in-depth look at the world of competition barbecue. Back in ‘99, Markus was served some bad ribs grilled by now-Senator Al Franken, which set him on a quest: what is true low-and-slow Southern-style BBQ, and how does one make it? In the course of his culinary journey, he apprenticed under world champion pitmasters Paul Kirk of Kansas City, aka The Baron of Barbecue, and Chris Lilly of Big Bob Gibson in Decatur, Alabama. Just last year, The Kansas City Barbecue Society awarded him a PhB-an honorary status bestowed upon only a handful of proven pitmasters.

STEVEN FREEMAN (Musical Director) is currently part of the musical team of Matilda, the Musical on Broadway. A veteran of The Fabulous Lipitones, he is pleased to return to Howard’s basement for this production at FST. Other New York credits include Billy Elliot, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, Damn Yankees, Chicago, and Grease (with Rosie O’Donnell). He has musically supervised international companies of Chicago in Buenos Aires, Moscow, Montreal, Seoul and Tokyo. He conducted the New York premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s Saturday Night. After joining the original company of Forever Plaid Off-Broadway, he traveled to the west coast to open the show in LA where he received the LA Drama Critics Award for Best Musical Direction.In 1993, he supervised the West End premiere of Plaid at the Apollo Theatre in London. He made his Carnegie Hall debut as a guest vocalist for A Celebration of MGM Musicals. Regional theaters include the George Street Playhouse, the Berkshire Theater Festival, Paper Mill Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Old Globe Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, North Shore Music Theater and the Cape Playhouse.

ROY JOHNS (Stage Manager) is pleased to be back for another season at FST. He has had an exciting and varied career both on stage and behind the scenes from Tokyo Disneyland to the White House. Past credits at FST include Alabama Story; Outside Mullingar; One Man, Two Guvnors; The Hound of the Baskervilles; Chapatti; Hairspray; and Taking Shakespeare.

ISABEL & MORIAH CURLEY-CLAY (Scenic Designers) are award winning scenic designers who’s theatrical work can be seen on regional stages all over the U.S. They have also done industrial design work with groups including The World of Coke, Orange, and West Quoddy Head National Park Visitors Center.  They were recently featured in American Theater Magazine’s Roll Call, 7 theatrical people to watch. Past designs at FST include Alabama Story,  Butler, Taking Shakespeare, Chapatti, Inspired Lunacy, Dancing Lessons, Hairspray and One Man, Two Guvnors. Isabel and Moriah are resident scenic designers at Horizon Theatre in Atlanta, GA, Artistic Associates at Theatrical Outfit and members of United Scenic Artists Local 829.
 

APRIL SOROKO (Costume Designer) FST Credits: Scenic and Costume Design for Talley’s Folly, The World Goes ‘Round, The 39 Steps, Androcles and the Lion, Race, The Savannah Disputation, Costume Design for Beehive: The ‘60’s Musical and Scenic Design for Pump Boys and Dinettes. Other notable credits: Costume Designer – The Cure at Troy at the Yale Repertory Theatre, Resident Costume and Scenic Designer at NCShakes 2003-2005, Scenic Designer – Napoleon – A Musical at New York Musical Festival, Resident Designer – Triad Stage 2001-2005. Member: USA Local 829. Education: MFA- Yale School of Drama (’98).  Assistant Professor- Scenic Design – Florida Atlantic University. Website: www.aprilsoroko.com
 

CHRISTOPHER BAILEY (Lighting Designer) is the Production Manager at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ where his design work includes 6 scenic designs and 9 sound designs for GSPs’ Educational Touring productions, 24 lighting designs and 39 sound designs for GSP’s mainstage productions.  He was recently Lighting Designer for the Off-Broadway production of Clever Little Lies at the Westside Theatre. He has also designed for:  The Pearl Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Delaware Theatre Company, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Ashlawn Highland Opera Festival, Irish Repertory Theatre, Westport Country Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, Jacob’s Pillow, and more.
 

JASON ROMNEY (Sound Designer) has designed sound for Alliance Theatre, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, Piedmont Opera, No Rules Theatre, Imagination Stage, Weston Playhouse, Utah Festival Opera, Elon University, Ravinia Festival, and others. He is an Associate Professor of Sound Design at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. His book: Digital Sound and Music: Concepts, Application, and Science will be available this year from Franklin Beedle Inc.

MARK ST. GERMAIN (Playwright) Mark St. Germain’s play Freud’s Last Session ran for two years Off-Broadway, closing July 24th, 2012. The play has been open in Argentina since January 2012 and in repertory in Sweden, Australia, Denmark. His play Becoming Dr. Ruth premiered in July 2012 at the Barrington Stage Company in the Berkshires, played at Hartford Theaterworks, and was brought to NYC to the Westside Theatre. Scott and Hem in the Garden of Allah co-premiered in the summer of 2013 at the Contemporary American Theater Festival and Barrington Stage Company. His play The Best of Enemies, first produced by the Barrington Stage Company, is now being produced throughout the country. The Fabulous Lipitones, a musical comedy co-written with John Markus, premiered at the Theatrical Outfit in Atlanta in summer, 2013, and then at Goodspeed Playhouse. Mark’s other plays include Camping With Henry and Tom (Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards), Ears on a Beatle, The God Committee, Out of Gas on Lover’s Leap, and Dancing Lessons (premiered at the Barrington Stage Festival). Mark wrote the Tammy Wynette Musical Stand By Your Man, which began at the Ryman Theater in Nashville. With composer Charles Strouse he co-wrote the book for his adaption of Dreiser’s American Tragedy. With composer Randy Courts, Mark has written the perennial musical The Gifts of the Magi as well as Johnny Pye and the Foolkiller (AT&T Award Grant) and Jack’s Holiday (Playwrights Horizons). Television work includes Writer/Creative Consultant for The Cosby Show and Dick Wolf’s Crime and Punishment. He co-wrote director Carroll Ballard’s film Duma and produced and directed the documentary My Dog, An Unconditional Love Story, with Richard Gere, Glenn Close, Edward Albee and others. Mark also wrote the award winning children’s book Three Cups. Mark is an Associate Artist of the Barrington Stage Company, a recipient of the William Inge Festival’s New Voices Award, and a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Writer’s Guild East. He is an alumnus of New Dramatists.

RANDY COURTS (Composer) has collaborated with playwright/lyricist Mark St. Germain on the musicals The Gifts of the Magi, Johnny Pye and the Foolkiller (AT&T New Plays of The Nineties Award), and Jack’s Holiday (three Outer Critics Circle Award nominations, including Best Musical). Courts and St. Germain contributed material to the hit revue A... My Name Is Still Alice and their musical Joseph and Mary was performed at the National Alliance of Musical Theaters festival, starring Kris Kristofferson. They received a commission for a new musical from Dreamworks through Playwrights Horizons and they adapted Walt Wangerin’s The Book of the Dun Cow for the tenth anniversary of The New Harmony Project, where they are regular participants. Courts is a member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild.

 

 

The Gompertz Theatre is located on the corner of First Street and Cocoanut Avenue inside of The Hegner Theatre Wing. For GPS purposes use the address of 1265 First Street, Sarasota, FL 34236. To see a list of our buildings and shows, please see below. For more information please call the FST Box Office at (941) 366-9000.

Do you need a ride to the theatre? Click here to find out more about our partnership with iTN Suncoast.

For those who require additional assistance or handicap parking/drop off, please see the map below. Handicap parking is reserved for patrons with a handicap tag and is in the lot across from the Hegner Theatre Wing. The area for drop off of handicap passengers/patrons for the Gompertz Theatre is along the corner of First Street and Cocoanut Avenue. If handicap parking is not available and you are dropping off a passenger, our lobby concierge would be happy to wait with them until you return. For any questions regarding handicap parking please call the box office at (941) 366-9000.