From press release:
Step into the world of a 1920’s Berlin Cabaret for an evening of song, story, and sin!
Soup Can Theatre is proud to present a bold and colourful new production that mergesmusical and comedy cabaret with immersive theatre. Following in the footsteps of the 2010 Fringe smash hit Love is a Poverty You Can Sell – which was also presented as part of the ‘Best of Fringe’ program and the 2012 Next Stage Festival – Love is a Poverty You Can Sell 2: Kisses for a Pfennig (German for ‘penny’) aims to recreate the mood and atmosphere of an authentic Berlin cabaret in ‘Bite’, a warm and scenic bar/music venue in the heart of downtown Toronto, and to seduce audiences with a tantalizing stage show rife with song and spectacle.
Love is a Poverty You Can Sell 2: Kisses for a Pfennig features music from across the decades, including the songs of German darling Marlene Dietrich, famed stage composer Kurt Weill, cabaret pioneer Frederick Hollander, Broadway legends Stephen Sondheim andKander & Ebb (Cabaret), the subversive musical hit Urinetown, American singer-songwriter giants Paul Williams and Harry Nilsson, and others. Bringing these memorable melodies to life is a live ten-piece orchestra and a top-notch cast of Bohemian riff-raff including Seth Drabinsky (Hedwig in Breath.Feel.Love’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Jennifer Walls andNatasha Negovanlis (cast members of Angelwalk’s Dora nominated revue Off Broadway, On Stage), Michael-David Blostein (the Emcee in Adam Brazier’s Hart House Theatre production of Cabaret), show-stopping “male actress” Christian Jeffries, and many returning cast members from the first Love is a Poverty You Can Sell. Also returning are audience favourites, emcees Hans and Jodel (Ryan Anning and Scott Dermody), who will liven the proceedings with their unique brand of corkscrew banter and add intrigue with a dark folk tale about a young butcher’s apprentice.
Love is a Poverty You Can Sell 2 won’t stop at the edge of the stage; mixing and mingling with the audience throughout the performance will be supporting performers, lovingly referred to as the “Bar Flies”, playing 1920’s cabaret denizens who will help break down the barrier between the past and the present. Patrons will also be able to visit the bar and enjoy a traditional German beverage; the Berliner Weisse – a centuries-old summer cocktail made from Weissbier (wheat beer) and real raspberry syrup.
Under the directorial eye of Sarah Thorpe and the baton of music director Pratik Gandhi, Love is a Poverty You Can Sell 2: Kisses for a Pfennig promises a hedonistic evening to remember!
Praise for the first
Love is a Poverty You Can Sell includes:
“Sultry … Seductive … Uniformly Delectable … N N N N N” – NOW Magazine
“Stellar … Constantly Delights … Note-Perfect Mingling of the Past with the Present … ★★★★” – Eye Weekly
“Immersive and Inventive … A Must-See” – Toronto Review of Books
“Smart … Stylish … I Loved the Whole of It” – Slotkin Letter
Performance Details:
Where: Bite – 423 College Street, just east of College and Bathurst.
When: July 3rd to 14th at 7pm (no show July 8th). 90 minute run time.
Tickets:
Tickets are $10 and available at www.fringetoronto.com, by phone at 416-966-1062, or in person at the venue starting one hour before show time.
Principal Cast:
Arthur Wright
Christian Jeffries
Cory Strong
Dayna Chernoff
Hayley Preziosi
Jeni Walls
Michael-David Blostein
Natalie Kulesza
Natasha Negovanlis
Ryan Anning
Scott Dermody
Seth Drabinsky
Creative and Production Team:
Director and Choreographer – Sarah Thorpe
Emcee Segment Writer and Co-Director – Justin Haigh
Music Director – Pratik Gandhi
Producers – Justin Haigh, Sarah Thorpe, Scott Dermody
Stage Manager – Samantha Lewis
Assistant Stage Manager – Leslie Thorpe-Dermody
About Soup Can Theatre:
Soup Can Theatre is a vibrant Toronto-based theatre company dedicated to the reinterpretation of classic theatre for a twenty-first century audience. Our aim is to use existing works as a means to explore and comment on contemporary issues and societal challenges, and in so doing, to offer our audiences a theatrical experience that is both entertaining and enriching. And sometimes we just like to have fun. Soup Can Theatre’s past productions include Love is a Poverty You Can Sell, Marat/Sade, Antigone, and an opera/theatre double bill presentation of A Hand of Bridge & No Exit.
www.SoupCanTheatre.com
www.Facebook.com/Groups/SoupCanTheatre
www.Twitter.com/SoupCanTheatre
Back Row: Hayley Preziosi, Dayna Chernoff, Arthur Wright (background), Michael-David Blostein (foreground), Christian Jeffries, Scott Dermody, Jennifer Walls Front Row: Ryan Anning, Natasha Negovanlis, Seth Drabinsky. Photo by Lauren Vandenbrook
