We are so excited to announce a new Northwest premiere of "Casablanca Casablanca, a Movie Musical". For some of you reading this notice, it is a long anticipated event. In 1993, while the neighboring community of Laguna Beach had been set ablaze from wildfires, the cast and crew of "Murder in Morocco" a few miles down the road in Newport Beach mustered their courage and vision to create a new musical comedy. The show featured a stellar cast of outstanding Orange County talent who had given their hearts to the production.
The special beauty of community theatre is that few, if any, ever come to work in a show without feeling the need to just be a part of creating theatre. And miraculously, with mostly amateurs at the helm, they somehow manage to pull off a memorable evening of theatre for the audiences and themselves. This love of theatre is compelling, and to be part of that kind of concerted effort is thrilling and forever memorable. That was how it was for our little musical comedy that spoofs the movies. Audiences and critics alike loved the show.
So, with wild predictions about its success in print and conversation, what happened between 1993 and now that kept this charming show gathering dust on a shelf?
In the early 1990's when our recently newly retitled show "Casablanca Casablanca, a Movie Musical" was originally created, Broadway musicals seem to have taken a hard left turn--pushing "musical comedy" into sublimated (if not annihilated) status.
Recent hit Broadway musicals had included the incredibly successful "Les Miserables" with its operetta-like music, tragic story line, and astonishing stagecraft, that claimed only one funny scene in the entire story. Then, of course, there was the mega-hit, "Phantom of the Opera" with its eerily seductive opera/rock score and, of course, its famous animated chandelier. Suddenly "musical comedy" could reasonably leave out the word "comedy".
Hits mounted in 1992-93 included "Kiss of the Spider Woman", "The Who's 'Tommy'", and, of course, London's, soon-to-be-Broadway-hit, "Sunset Boulevard." Musical Comedy as a style of musical theatre was being served primarily by overwhelming numbers of revivals of classic hits, including "Guys and Dolls" and "My Fair Lady." In other words if you wanted to laugh, you really had to go see something you had already seen. The prevailing wind for Broadway musicals was, for a while at least, primarily from Europe and/or from serious.
It was impossible to market our little musical comedy and go up against a tide of feeling from producing theatres that any new musicals must have depth and serious subject matter. We couldn't blame them. The times were serious, as could be evidenced by the mere fact that "Angels in America" had just opened on Broadway.
So, we shelved our little show and went on to find something more serious to write about. But then, in April 2001 a miracle happened. Mel Brooks--Mr. Zany himself--opened "The Producers" wherein he managed to insult everyone and everything and make people laugh about it. Suddenly, musical comedy was BAAAACKKK!
And just when we thought about dusting our little musical off and re-marketing it, 9/11 happened, a recession, and then fearfulness reared its ugly head. It didn't actually kill musical comedy, but what it did do was make a show that originated in Casablanca, Morocco with mysterious middle easterners as characters somewhat challenging to mount. Suddenly, our show was "politically incorrect."
Again, shelved, "Casablanca" seemed doomed to disappear. We decided, before putting it away forever into that cavern of lost shows, to clean up the storyline and erase the "suspicious" middle easterners and remove anything that could appear stereotypical about the region and its people from a show totally about movie stereotypes. Did we accomplish this? We must have, for the show did make it as one of 24 finalists (out of a field of more than 500) in the New York Musical Theatre Festival Next Link competition in 2009. They loved the show, and although it did not make the final 12 for festival production, we were highly encouraged by their enthusiasm for a 16-year-old musical comedy.
Suddenly, we knew it was time to bring back our delightfully fun, engaging, nostalgic tribute to American movies and American musical comedy. We are proud and thrilled to have it make its re-debut in the Northwest with the dedicated and talented team from Cascade Community Theatre. We hope many of you reading this will want to become a part of this moment, either as cast, crew, or audience.
For Terry Alaric and myself, it is very exciting to bring you this charming show we loved creating. Enjoy!
To hear the music and read reviews, go to www.casablancacasablanca.com.
Then check back here for information on auditions and production dates. If you do, it will be the most fun you've had in a long time.
