From Press Release:
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.
Details
- Andy Warhol Musical: In Rehersal plays at the Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace. (16 Ryerson Ave.)
- Tickets are $13, including a $2 service charge. The festival also offers a range of money-saving passes and discounts for serious Fringers.
- Tickets can be purchased online, by telephone (416-966-1062), from the Festival Box Office at Scadding Court (707 Dundas St. W.), and — if any remain — from the venue’s box office starting one hour before curtain.
- Content Warnings: Mature language; Sexual content; Gunshots.
- This venue is wheelchair-accessible. Accessible seating is in the very front row.
- Be aware that Fringe performances always start exactly on time, and that latecomers are never admitted.
Performances
- Wednesday July 4th, 7:00 pm
- Saturday July 7th, 5:45 pm
- Sunday July 8th, 12:00 pm
- Tuesday July 10th, 6:15 pm
- Wednesday July 11th, 11:30 pm
- Thursday July 12th, 1:45 pm
- Saturday July 14th, 9:15 pm
