Archive: Arts & Entertainment

FitzandStartz Productions launches its inaugural season in November 2016 with an original musical for all ages: Winter Tales, with book & lyrics by Rachel Lampert and music by Lesley Greene, the founders of the new company. Winter Tales runs for four performances only: Saturday, November 14 at 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM, and Saturday, November 21 at 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM. All performances will be held at Kitchen Theatre Company.
 
Rebecca, who is "nine, almost ten - almost double digits," is a very bright child, a very capable child. She generally uses very good judgment. Well, most of the time. There was the time she decided to cut her own bangs. And the time she decided to re-color her room using her finger-paints. And, she once dressed up the cat in the flower girl's outfit she was supposed to wear to her Aunt Helen's wedding. But those things had happened a very long time ago.
 
Then one cold winter day, school is cancelled with little notice, and Rebecca's mother leaves her daughter home alone for the very first time. Rebecca promises to play with her cat Muriel, read a book, maybe do some drawing. Her mother warns that she only needs to remember one very important thing:  "Do not be foolish."
 
We wish we could tell you that Rebecca heeds her mother's advice. Instead, she ends up leaving the house and finds herself in a mysterious frozen land on the way to unexpected adventures. Filled with music and movement, Winter Tales is a seasonal treat for all ages.
 
Winter Tales features a cast of twelve. It is an ensemble piece featuring Morgan Blanchard, Will Champion Elisheva Glaser, Lesley Greene, Christian Henry, Caitlin Mallory, Stephen Nunley, Camilla Schade, and Maria Scherer with real-life almost ten-year-old Austyn Johnson playing Rebecca. Muriel the Cat is played by Anastasia Remoundos, and the Ice Man is played by Johnny Shea.

Playwright/lyricist/director Rachel Lampert, who also serves as KTC's Artistic Director, has authored many original productions for family audiences (The Odyssey Part I, A December Suite, The Sisters Fitzenstarts Fall Recital, The Emmett & Hambone Stories and Fools! Schmools!) as well as adaptations of A Christmas Carol, Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore and The Mikado.

Composer Lesley Greene has written a provocative score with haunting and mysterious melodies.  She has composed music for the Kitchen Theatre productions of Physics Fair, Park Play, Emmett & Ella's Big Apple Escapade, Fools! Schmools!, and more.

"Rachel and I have worked together for eighteen years. We have written over 15 musicals for family audiences, and we plan to write more!" says Lesley Greene, co-Director of the new company. "Starting FitzandStartz Productions is allowing us to concentrate our efforts on these shows, separate from the work we both do at Kitchen Theatre Company."

Lampert concurs. "Lesley and I love the marriage of music, movement, and great story telling. Developing musicals for family audiences are wonderful ways for me to stretch my "choreographer/mover/lyricist" muscles and Lesley her "composer/musician" side. We also both love working with younger actors. And, we get to have some terrific well-known Ithaca actors in the cast."

The set designer, Tyler M. Perry, will transform Kitchen's Mainstage production of I and You (also his design) to create an environment for Winter Tales. Music Director Richard Montgomery will accompany the songs on piano. The costume designer is Maxine Etchison. KTC artistic intern Melyssa Hall will be Associate Director.
 
This spring FitzandStartz Productions will produce I Have a Song to Sing, O! - a sing-a-long Gilbert & Sullivan production for the whole family.
 
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