Do you remember Desperately Seeking Susan the Musical? Well get ready for Desperately Seeking the Exit!!!

[songanddanceman2]

Hey Folks
Im sure many of you remember the flop West End musical Desperately Seeking Susan the Musical that closed after 4 weeks in the West End. Well now the writer of the show Peter Michael Marino has written a brilliant 1 man comedic show about the whole experience of that musical called Desperately Seeking the Exit (the name comes from the review headline for the musical in one of the major papers)

The show opens in New York in May (as well as a few other US Cities). Then my company Vertigo Theatre Productions are bringing Peter and his show to Manchester in July for 2 nights only at Taurus Bar on July 30th and 31st. The show will then head to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for 4 weeks.

If you love theatre you will love this, i personally (and the reason i picked up the project) thinks its a rare thing to hear someone involved in a major flop musical laugh about it and talk about it openly. It's a brave show, very funny and very insightful in to the many things that went wrong leading to the closure of the show.

Tickets will be on sale from April 2nd via Quaytickets.

I hope some of you guys can make it to the show.

Show
In 2007, American actor and playwright Peter Michael Marino wrote a huge musical based on the American film “Desperately Seeking Susan” featuring the music of the American band Blondie. It opened on London’s West End…and shuttered a month later. WHOOPS! This comic solo train ride about a collective train wreck fills in the blanks of how the £4 million musical was made and unmade. From hatching the idea, to deals with producers, MGM, Debbie Harry and even Madonna; all the way to thrilling workshops, dangerous previews, scathing reviews, closing night and beyond. This 60-minute true tale not only traces the evolution of the high-profile musical from conception to closing, but the journey of an American writer finding his voice in a foreign country that speaks the same language.

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Debbie Harry/Madonna Musical Disaster Dissected in 'Desperately Seeking The Exit'.
Directed by Obie Winner John Clancy

Writer/Performer Peter Michael Marino presents a comic autopsy on his $6 million West End musical fiasco 'Desperately Seeking Susan' in D'Desperately Seeking The Exit'.
Directed by Obie Award winner John Clancy, performances of this site-specific, solo tell-all comedy begin May 3rd at the Triple Crown Underground.
The American premiere will be followed by the UK premiere at Manchester, England's Taurus Bar, presented by Vertigo Productions, and a run at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

In 2007, American playwright Peter Michael Marino wrote a musical based on the film "Desperately Seeking Susan" featuring the music of Blondie. It opened on London's West End...and closed a month later. 'Desperately Seeking The Exit' offers a behind-the-scenes peek at how this £4 million musical was made and unmade: hatching the idea, deals with MGM, Debbie Harry and even Madonna; the workshops, the previews, the scathing reviews and the closing night. Once you're in, there's no way out!

Peter Michael Marino is a writer, actor, director and teacher.
He received the 2010 and 2011 Backstage Reader's Choice Award for Favorite Comedy Teacher for his acclaimed "Flying Solo" classes at The PIT. He also received the Back Stage Bistro Award for his cabaret spoof, 'Lance Jonathan: More About Me!'
He is the co-writer of the lesbian pulp homage Hollywood Nurses. He has directed and developed shows with Delilah Dix (Ars Nova, Laurie Beechman Theatre and Edinburgh Fringe), Mark Giordano's 'Mad Man' (The PIT), Sheila Head's 'Head Games' (IO West, Ars Nova), and Alicia Levy's 'Chickapalooza' (The PIT, Ars Nova).
As a performer, he appeared in 'Stomp' for five years off-Broadway and on tour, as well as in numerous regional productions and workshops.

John Clancy is an Obie Award-winning director, playwright, and a partner in Clancy Productions, an acclaimed international theatrical touring and production company.
He is the founding Artistic Director of The Present Company and a founding Artistic Director of The New York International Fringe Festival. He has directed six Scotsman Fringe First winning productions at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, including 'Americana Absurdum' (Brian Parks), 'Cincinnati' (Don Nigro), 'Horse Country' (C.J. Hopkins), 'Screwmachine/Eycandy' (C.J. Hopkins) and his own 'Fatboy'.
Both 'Horse Country' and 'Cincinnati' went on to win The Best of the Fringe Award at the Adelaide Fringe in 2004. In 2002 he received a Glasgow Herald Angel for excellence in direction at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
John was awarded The New York Magazine Award in 1997 for "creativity, enterprise and vision".

'Desperately Seeking The Exit' runs May 3rd, 4th, 11th, 17th, and 18th at 7pm & May 10th at 8PM.
Tickets are "Pay What You May," available on a first-come, first served basis; no advance reservations will be taken.
Triple Crown Underground. is located at 330 7th Ave at 28th St, accessible from the 1 train at 28th Street. A full bar is available.

www.SeekingTheExit.com.

[songanddanceman2]

Yeeeah, thanks for putting the US Press release up (nice to see Vertigo get a mention in the US releases). It really is a rather brilliant show

[MamasDoin'Fine]

I'd LOVE to see this!
I'm gonna make a note of the Manc dates and you can take me out for dinner after!
Long over due a trip upt North!

[songanddanceman2]

That would be awesome.
By dinner do you mean drinking to much and throwing up in public? coz im awesome at that lol

[songanddanceman2]

Artwork for the Manchester Production

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Skip the solids, we'll just do liquids!!

[Phantom of London]

I didn't see Desperate Seeking Susan, likewise Gone With The Wind and Imagine This, because I went with the reviews, it is my loss, at the I had issues about going to shows by myself.

Incidentally this is more of a criticism of the Broadway board, because a show lost money and flopped, doesn't mean it was a failure!! Good the creator can now take his show with a pinch of salt.

[hotjohn]

I will definitely put this on my list of must-see shows in Edinburgh in August. I'm up there for 16 nights so I'm certain to beat last year's total of 52 shows!

[songanddanceman2]

You will love it John, it's very funny and really insightful to how it all went wrong, he does not pull any punches.

[songanddanceman2]

http://westend.broadwayworld.com/article/DESPERATELY-SEEKING-THE-EXIT-Hits-Manchester-Direct-From-New-York-Courtesy-Of-Vertigo-20120309

[Scripps2]

I didn't realise Blondie were American until I read this thread.

Good to know that I'm not so old that I should have known that.

[songanddanceman2]

Well we aim to educate lol

Check out the awesome trailer for Desperately Seeking the Exit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDZgRLg34Sg&feature=youtu.be

[songanddanceman2]

Check out my 2 page interview with Peter Michael Marino the writer and performer of Desperately Seeking the Exit and the writer of Desperately Seeking Susan the Musical.

http://westend.broadwayworld.com/article/BWWUK-Interviews-WriterPerformer-Peter-Michael-Marino-Of-DESPERATELY-SEEKING-THE-EXIT-20120419

[songanddanceman2]

Mark Shenton from The Stage watched the show in America and wrote about this week.....and LOVED IT.

If you are in or close to Manchester make you sure you come and see this, it really is brilliant. Only a handful of tickets left for Tues 31st July performance.

Here is his write up/review

'Who doesn’t love a flop musical? The creators of them, that’s who! Peter Michael Marino wrote the book for one in London in 2007: a film-to-stage version of Desperately Seeking Susan that conscripted the songs of Blondie to tell its story, and after a successful workshop, arrived dead on arrival onstage at the Novello, recieving the sort of notices that were encapsulated by Charlie Spencer’s headline in the Telegraph: “Desperately Seeking the Exit”. Now Marino has conscripted that headline as the title to a virtuoso one-man show that he himself performs, with stunning energy and irresistible panache, that he’s bringing to the Edinburgh Fringe in August, but has been trying out at a comedy club on East 24th Street and Park, near the Flatiron building, where I saw it on Sunday.

He brilliantly and bitterly distilled his experiences on the show, channelling this thrilling, hilarious & anxiety-inducing ride on the coat-tails of a flop’s creation into something that is paradoxically a sure-fire hit. No one sets out to create a flop, of course; but for anyone who’s ever wondered how those wrong turns are made that result in them, here’s a show that itemises them in great and revealing detail.

Nor does he play the victim himself (or adopt the classic default position of blaming the critics for its failure): instead he gives a simultaneously objective yet also deeply personal account of the creative problems that the show encountered that proved why it inevitably failed — but also the personal cost to himself (in every sense) that made it so bruising, as everyone pulled in different directions at the same time on it and there was no one at the helm — either director or producer — who could keep all the participants working to the same end.'

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Its looking good that I may be able to make this now.

[songanddanceman2]

That would be awesome

[songanddanceman2]

Mon 30th July is now Off Sale (as we are oversold....whoops), only a couple of seats left for July 31st

[songanddanceman2]

WIN TICKETS TO THE UK PREMIERE OF DESPERATELY SEEKING THE EXIT

It’s one of the most talked about fringe shows of the year, the award nominated Vertigo Theatre Productions are bringing direct from New York, Peter Michael Marino in his hilarious one man comedy Desperately Seeking the Exit.
After thrilling audiences in L.A, Buffalo and New York (for an extended run) and receiving rave reviews from publications like The Stage, the show will have its UK Premiere in Manchester for 2 nights only at Taurus Bar on July 30th and 31st as part of The Greater Manchester Fringe. The show is now sold out apart from a few tickets for the July 31st performance, so this may be your only chance to catch the show before it heads to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for 4 weeks.

Story
In 2007, American writer/performer Peter Michael Marino wrote a musical based on the American film Desperately Seeking Susan, featuring the music of Blondie. It opened on London’s WEST END … and closed a month later. Whoops! Desperately Seeking the Exit offers a comical, tell-all, behind-the-scenes peek at how this £4m musical was made and unmade: hatching the idea, the deals with MGM, Debbie Harry and even Madonna, the workshops, the previews, the scathing reviews and the closing night. A unique and exciting show for anyone who likes to take a peek behind the curtain. Directed by Obie award winner John Clancy.

How to win tickets
To win tickets to the July 31st performance of Desperately Seeking the Exit at Taurus Bar just answer this easy question.

Name the pop diva who starred opposite Rosanna Arquette in the hit 80s movie Desperately Seeking Susan?

Please email [e-mail] with the answer and we will let you know in the next 2 weeks if you have won a pair of tickets to this exciting show.

Check out the trailer for the show
http://www.desperately.vertigotheatreproductions.co.uk/

[hotjohn]

I can't believe that when this show is in Edinburgh all the seats are free! How mad is that? I've got it down on my list of must-see shows for sure.

[songanddanceman2]

I know, i told him he should be bloody charging. I think hes doing a pay what you can thing on the door. Very excited to get here to Manchester, only a few weeks now till the red carpet performance here eeeek

[songanddanceman2]

Only a couple of tickets left via Quaytickets for next Tuesdays performance

[songanddanceman2]

The BBC have done an awesome article online on their national news website about Desperately Seeking the Exit called 'How to write a West End Flop'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18954647

[songanddanceman2]

First night last night was an out of this world success, the audience loved every second and it got a long standing O at the end. Audiences had fun on the red carpet as well, which will be out again for tonights last performance in Manchester. A couple of tickets left, just turn up at Taurus on Canal Street at 7.15pm

[Sister George]

Is it likely to sell out as I think I have a spare ticket for tonight?

[songanddanceman2]

We have a few tickets left, sadly had quite a few cancellations tonight.