Come ALONG on The New Romantic Musical Comedy Ride
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Meet our recording cast and hear more music below
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Trent Saunders
AJ Shively
Ali Ewoldt
Trent Saunders (Hermes in Broadway's Hadestown, and the new hit Dead Outlaw) plays ZACK, Ali Ewoldt (Broadway's Christine in Phantom of the Opera, The King and I, Les Miserables) plays MINNIE, and Tony Award and Outer Critics Nominee, Lucille Lortel and Theatre World Award Winner, AJ Shively (Paradise Square, Bright Star, A Man of No Importance, Philadelphia, Here I Come! ) plays MILTON
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Come ALONG on The New Romantic Musical Comedy Ride
Conceived and Directed by
"Robert Olen Butler is, in short, the type
of writer one not only hopes to celebrate,
but wishes to protect."
- The New York Times
HEAR EXCERPTS BELOW FROM THE SUNG-THROUGH SCORE
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Ali Ewoldt
Trent Saunders
AJ Shively
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About COMPOSER LANNY MEYERS:
"As good a time at the theater as one with an
eye and ear for musical comedy might wish...
simply sparkles with fun and music...
by Lanny Meyers."
(Yiddle with a Fiddle)
- The New York Times
"The Ironworkers' Hayride is truly a unique theatrical experience. I love being able to blend the best elements of what you might call classic romantic musical comedy with authentic, intimate storytelling in an immersive setting. Transporting us to a factory saloon in the year 1911, the synergy of character, story and the ravishing sung-through musical score by Robert Olen Butler and Lanny Meyers is truly enchanting. Based on the success of our workshop production, we know audiences love it. We're eager to share this new, very fun immersive musical experience in our beautiful one-of-a-kind venue in the heart of Times Square, and we hope you will come along for the ride." - Lead Producer/ Director Michael Simon Hall
MORE ABOUT ROBERT OLEN BUTLER
THE CREATIVE TEAM
CLICK FOR BIOS
Book and Lyrics by
Lead Producer and Directed by
JAMIBETH MARGOLIS
LDK PRODUCTIONS
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The moment the audience enters this factory setting, they are stepping back a century in time, and are invited to join the ironworkers at their on-site watering hole, appropriately named the IRONMAN SALOON...
High spirits of turn-of-the-century ragtime jazz and good cheer fill the air, performed by an appropriately ragtag gang of ironworkers jamming in the corner. Everyone receives a warm welcome from the local folk and settles in to savor a comfy farm-fresh meal and drinks as we enjoy the infectious tunes of Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, Eubie Blake and Irving Berlin.
THE SETTING
Seen here is the true-life setting where our story begins: the JOSHUA HENDY IRONWORKS,
erected in the middle of an apricot orchard in Sunnyvale, California.
The quaint town is also known for their beautiful orange poppies. The year is 1911...
The Joshua Hendy Ironworks
Sunnyvale, California, 1911
MILTON
The socially awkward bachelor accountant for the Hendy Ironworks, with an obsession for numbers and a repressed, overly active imagination, and "irregular fellow". He is coerced into a blind date with a mysterious young lady with a disability...
ZACK
This ironworker used to bully MILTON as a kid, and still treats him like a "a hapless little brother" but now needs his help...He convinces MILTON to take his sister-in-law MINNIE on a blind date - The annual Ironworkers' Hayride. He confides,
" Look Milton, I haven't been dogging you about this for your sake, much as I...like you...it's Minnie who wants bad to go on this hayride, and I'm not about to disappoint her. Nobody but you knows about this leg thing. She walks real good and she dresses up nice. The others will think you're a regular fellow."
MINNIE
She will become affectionately known as "Minnie of the cork leg ...this very progressive girl."
Milton is informed, "She's easy on the eyes, I'm telling you, and that other thing, you know, it wears a shoe and stocking just like the good one." Minnie is joining the suffragist movement, fighting for the right for women to vote.
MAISIE
The hostess of the Ironman Saloon, she is the self-appointed chanteuse and town busybody. She has a secret thing for MILTON and she's not thrilled about this mysterious maiden MINNIE.
MILTON sings to the audience:
"I'm sitting on a stool at the bar counting the smoked almonds I'm eating and sort of working the numbers out, how many I need to eat to cover the cost of the beer in front of me and wishing I could dare pull out a scrap of paper and do some downright figuring. But that would undercut my standing among these fellows around me, who I'm here trying to be part of, the sorts of fellows who used to daily snap my suspenders and tweak my nose when we were all boys."
"You're going to cast your ballot in October, right Milton? For the women's vote in California?"
"Of course." says Milton, "You've educated me. You've exhorted me."
"It sounds like Minnie beseeching me. 'Waltz me, Milton, don't let my feet touch the ground.' That's what I would need to do. I see myself sweeping her up and it makes no difference what her legs are made of, with me she need never touch the ground."
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Milton and Minnie finally meet.
Milton sings to the audience...
"She is swell looking....
Her mouth is a sweet painted butterfly."
With a mix of trepidation and sweet hilarity, they depart the Ironman Saloon on their hayride with the audience in tow...
As the ravishing musical landscape expands, the space transforms, immersing the audience in a beautiful apricot orchard
beneath the setting sun...
We learn Minnie is far from a wall flower - she is quite progressive, and has plans to be a suffragette...
Together with the band, everyone sings the popular songs of the day like "Shine on Harvest Moon", and"Waltz Me Around Again Willie"...and Milton fantasizes he is dancing with "Minnie of the willow leg"...
...Milton creates his own private ballet as Minnie transforms the popular song into a ravishing coloratura aria...
He yearns to touch her, and wonders what would happen if he caressed her wooden appendage...
As the shimmering constellations are revealed
in the night sky, this very special, self-confident young lady
brings out something in Milton that he's never felt before...
What will happen next?
"...it stands to reason that a touch there would not constitute
an actual offense..."
Come ALONG on The New Romantic Musical Comedy Ride
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