Andy Warhol Musical: In Rehearsal – on stage until July 14, 2018 (Toronto)

Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory defined an era and launched a movement in many art disciplines — film, visual art, theatre, music, dance, life in general. ANDY WARHOL MUSICAL explores the ethos of the Silver Factory and the people who created that scene.

Based on verbatim quotes — sourced from media interviews, documentaries, journals and other materials — ANDY WARHOL MUSICAL  gives us the wild collection of beauties, talkers, artists, poets, musicians, dancers, philosophers, models, drag queens, socialites and amphetamine takers who were at the Silver Factory.

Among the real-life people whose actual words tell the show’s stories are:
• Billy Linich, a loyal and loving friend to Warhol;
• Gerard Malanga, Warhol’s assistant in silk-screening who also created the dances in front of the Velvet Underground along with Mary Woronov;
• Ondine, a friend of Billy’s and the star of many Warhol films;
• Brigid Berlin, a longtime friend of Warhol and an artist in her own right;
• the female superstars – Baby Jane Holzer, Edie Sedgwick, Ultra-Violet, Viva and Nico;
• the drag queens – Candy Darling, Holly Woodlawn and Jackie Curtis;
• Freddie Herko, a brilliant dancer and the first drug casualty in the group;
• an assortment of art curators, patrons, biographers, and other celebrities who frequented the Silver Factory.

ANDY WARHOL MUSICAL is written and directed by Vinetta Strombergs, whose previous Fringe show, THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS THE MUSICAL was a sell-out hit at the 2013 Fringe Toronto and then transferred for a commercial run at the Panasonic Theatre. Her immersive production of STUPID FUCKING BIRD was a critical success and popular hit at a pop-up venue on King Street West.

The songs and music are by Robert Swerdlow and come from his seminal early 1970s musical JUSTINE, which was performed at the Global Village, a warehouse space in Toronto very much in the style of the Silver Factory in New York. That musical was renamed LOVE ME, LOVE MY CHILDREN and transferred to New York, where it had a very successful Obie-Award-winning Off-Broadway run, starring Salome Bey. The songs and music are from this earlier musical and have been further developed, with new arrangements by Peter Nunn, a member of the group Honeymoon Suite. The choreography is by accomplished musical theatre director, choreographer and performer Gino Berti. The set design and projections are by the dean of Canadian theatre designers, Jim Plaxton.

The 12-member cast consists of: Autumn-Joy Dames, Breanne Dietrich, Chase Winnicky, Christopher Wilson, Devin Chin–Cheong, Duff MacDonald, Jewelle Blackman, Julia Carrer, Kurtis Leon Baker, Sara Hinding, Sarah Gibbons and Stacey Kay.

Andy Warhol Musical
Toronto Fringe Festival

July 4 – 14, 2018
Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace, 16 Ryerson Avenue

4 July  7:00 PM
7 July  5:45 PM
8 July  12:00 PM

10 July  6:15 PM
11 July  11:30 PM
12 July  1:45 PM
14 July  9:15 PM

Tickets $11 • Available at the theatre box office before each performance and in advance (with $2 service fee) online , and by phone at 416-966-1062.

Show website: https://www.popuptheatre.ca/

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THE CAST BIOS

Autumn-Joy Dames
Originally from The Bahamas, Autumn-Joy is thrilled to be making her Toronto Fringe Festival debut in this incredible production of Andy Warhol Musical: In Rehearsal. She is a graduate of Holland College’s Theatre Performance Program. Select theatre credits include: Cocolette in Shopkins Live!   (North American tour/ Koba Entertainment)  Sister Mary Robert in Sister Act (Lower Ossington Theatre) Sandy in Grease,  Charlenein Ain’t Misbehaving (Regency Theatre).

Breanne Dietrich
Breanne Dietrich is thrilled to be making her Fringe debut alongside such a wonderful team! Breanne is a Toronto based actor, singer and voice teacher. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from The Boston Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music in Classical Voice from Western University. Favourite credits include Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins (The LOT), Vivienne in Legally Blonde (The LOT), Abby in Musical of Musicals(Papermill). Also an avid cabaret performer, Breanne has performed her cabaret ‘The House That Built Me’ in New York, Boston and Toronto.

Chase Winnicky
After spending the last 8 months touring overseas, Chase is thrilled to be back home in Toronto and working on this brilliant new piece with this Cast and Crew. Past credits include: Principal Vocalist/Vocal Captain aboard the Oceania Marina (Norwegian Creative Studios/Oceania Cruise Lines), The Drowsy Chaperone, Stage Door (Randolph College), The Nutcracker ’17 (The National Ballet of Canada), The Addams Family(Dry Cold Productions) and the World Premiere of QUO VADIS s’ fastest raps in a South Carolina Walgreens. @StaceyKayMusic