Dr. Seuss meets zombies in a creepily over-perfect 1950s suburb. Young Bobbi, an intelligent but immature young woman, is tormented by zombies in her nightmares—and horrified to learn from the headlines that her visions are coming true! Under pressure from her parents she agrees to attend college, where she finds out how these nightmares started—and how they will end.
The show premiered to SOLD OUT audiences at the Players Theater Boo Festival for Halloween 2014. And that after its IndieGogo fundraising campaign had succeeded at 143%.
The audience at the premiere was enthusiastic: Ilene Skeen, creator of Barebrush Media, described it as “an edgy fantasy… Deliciously scary.” James Huntington, of the The Village Light Opera Group, wrote “The story is clever, the music has real melodies… [it’s] a wonderful piece of entertainment.”
Originally a compact 22 minutes long, The Can Opener will continue at the Frigid NY Festival in an expanded and elaborated form. Kenneth Oefelein, who directed the premiere, will continue to shape the performance in its new, longer form.
Four members of the cast will continue the roles they premiered: Sharon Lam is young Bobbi, Rose Marie Rupley is Mother; Meghan Pulles and Andrew Blair are the zombies! Kevin Tucker will join the show in the role of Father.
Matthew Zachary Johnson, the playwright, lyricst and composer of The Can Opener, has written new songs and dialogue to elaborate the show and develop the characters. Johnson is the composer of a frequently-performed body of classical saxophone music. He serves on the faculty at The New School. His book “Dancing with the Muses: A Historical Approach to Basic Concepts of Music” has a 5-star rating on Amazon.
Johnson’s prior theater work, The Boston Tea Party Opera, premiered at the New York International Fringe Festival, summer 2014. David Koteles at NY Theater Now described Johnson as “a young, enormously talented composer” and pointed out the “clever rhymes more typically heard in a Sondheim score than opera”; the show was “refreshingly smart and articulate.” Koteles declared, “Let it be known, Johnson is a composer to watch.” The show was also covered in The Huffington Post.
The Can Opener, a horror-farce and a true musical, is as different as can be from Johnson’s opera.
There are 5 performances of The Can Opener at the Frigid NY Festival:
- Thu, 19-Feb 2015, 8:50pm
- Tue, 24-Feb 2015, 7:10pm
- Fri, 27-Feb 2015, 5:10pm
- Tue, 3-Mar 2015, 10:30pm
- Thu, 5-Mar 2015, 5:30pm
The Kraine Theater, 85 E 4th St, near 2nd Ave, in the East Village – NYC.
Tickets and more information available at:
http://www.thecanopenermusical.com
