Transport Group, the winner of a special 2007 Drama Desk Award and a 2007 Obie Award, will present the world premiere of Being Audrey, music and lyrics by Ellen Weiss; book by James Hindman; additional book and lyrics by Cheryl Stern; developed with Jack Cummings III and Adam R. Perlman; musical direction, arrangements, and orchestrations by Lanny Meyers; musical staging and choreography by Scott Rink; and directed by Jack Cummings III, beginning Friday, March 27, at 8:00pm at 220 East 4 Street, between Avenues A and B. The opening is set for Sunday, April 5, at 3pm.
In Being Audrey, Claire Stark is the New York woman who has it all: a fabulous life, the husband of her dreams, and a view of Tiffany's from her Fifth Avenue apartment. When calamity strikes and her fairytale world threatens to collapse, Claire seeks refuge in her imagination, where she embarks on a hilarious, romantic adventure inspired by the films of her heroine, Audrey Hepburn. As Hepburn's characters in the classic films Roman Holiday, Funny Face, Love in the Afternoon, Sabrina, and Breakfast at Tiffany's, Claire's fantastical escape appears complete until she must confront the reality of what she stands to lose. Being Audrey celebrates the variety of life and the themes embodied by one of America's most beloved and enduring movie stars.
Cheryl Stern (The Women, Laughing Room Only) stars as Claire Stark, and is joined in the cast by Brian Sutherland (1776, Steel Pier); Stephen Berger (Into The Woods, The Dinner Party); Andrea Bianchi (The Cocoanuts, Italian-American Reconciliation); Valerie Fagan (Forbidden Broadway); Michael Maricondi (NJ Rep's Cupid and Psyche); Mark Ledbetter (Mary Poppins, The Drowsy Chaperone tour); and Blair Ross (42nd Street).
The set design for Being Audrey is by Sandra Goldmark; costume design is by Kathryn Rohe; lighting design is by R. Lee Kennedy; sound design is by Michael Rasbury; casting is by Nora Brennan Casting; production stage manager is Theresa Flanagan.
In 2006, Ellen Weiss wrote the original vocal and harmonica score for Transport Group's revival of the play All The Way Home. In 2005, she was one of the writers for the company's historic production of The Audience, nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical. A member of the Lehman Engle B.M.I. Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop and a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University Drama Dept., her other works include Memorable, (director Larry Fuller) presented by the York Theater Company, The Little Match Girl, Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, Requiem for William (director Jack Cummings III). Her songs have been recorded and performed by renowned Broadway Stars Donna Murphy, Daisy Egan, Barbara Walsh, Brent Barret, Stephen Bogardus, Danny Burstein, Sarah Uriarte Berry and the late Laurie Beechman. Ellen's CD Sapphire Streams: Songs of Samba and Swing includes the world famous Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo and New York Voices' Darmon Meader's saxophone and Lauren Kinhan's amazing vocals.
James Hindman is currently performing on Broadway in the new Disney Musical, Mary Poppins. He wrote and conceived Pete ‘n' Keely which received an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination (Best Off-Broadway Musical) and two Drama Desk nominations. He also received a Drama Desk nomination for his contribution to the Off Broadway musical, The Audience. He co-wrote A Christmas Survival Guide and Heaven Help Us which premiered at Florida Stage (Carbonell Award Nom.) and The Denver Theatre Center. He co-wrote I Love New York (Bistro Award). His plays, Incubus (Riverside Theatre Award) and Mercada (accepted: NY Fringe Festival, Vineyard Theatre reading), are currently being developed at The Lark Play Development Center. He also co-wrote Are We There Yet? which has been performed around the country including productions at Westchester Broadway Theatre and Queens Theatre In The Park. Currently he is working on a new musical Coming To America which had its first production at Kalliope Stage in Cleveland, OH. He and co-writer Ray Roderick were commissioned to develop a show for Busch Gardens Theme Park. As an actor, James' Broadway and touring credits include: The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1776, City of Angels, A Grand Night for Singing, Once Upon a Mattress, Falsettos, Dancing at Lughnasa, Cats and Joseph... Off-Broadway: The Foreigner, First Lady Suite, A Man Of No Importance, Bat Boy, Merrily We Roll Along, Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah and Surviving Grace. Television: The Sopranos, Law and Order (all three).
As an actress, Cheryl Stern has appeared on Broadway with Cynthia Nixon, Jennifer Tilly and Kristen Johnston in The Women (Roundabout; filmed for PBS), Candide (NY City Opera) and was featured with Jackie Mason in Laughing Room Only. Off Broadway, Cheryl recently starred as Alice B. Toklas in 27 Rue de Fleurus. She won critical acclaim in the Drama Desk nominated production of First Lady Suite at Transport Group. Other Off Broadway credits include Requiem for William (also at Transport Group), I Love You, You're Perfect.., Game Show, That's Life! and The Immigrant. She has appeared in first national tours of A Grand Night for Singing, Les Miserables, Evita and Fiddler on the Roof. Cheryl also created the leading role of Maryanne in Hats! at the New Denver Civic Theatre. As a writer, credits include Transport Group productions of Normal (starring Barbara Walsh), The Audience, and Requiem for William. Other writing credits include Are We There Yet?, a new revue written with Jim Hindman, Ray Roderick and John Glaudini which had it's New York area premiere at the Westchester Broadway Theatre and is now being performed regionally, The Gene Game (EST), That's Life! (contributing writer of the Off Broadway revue) - Outer Critic's Nom, Buffalonia (solo performance, EST), Carnival of the Animals (new verses for Cleveland Orchestra), In the Cracks (Triad, CNBC's America's Talkin'), Littlest Light on the Christmas Tree (Vital Theatre), and A Christmas Survival Guide (contributing lyricist; Samuel French).
Founded in 2001, Transport Group, under the leadership of Jack Cummings III, Artistic Director, and Lori Fineman, Executive Director, is a not-for-profit theatre company that develops and produces work by American playwrights and composers with the aim of exploring the American consciousness in the 20th and 21st centuries. Transport Group presented its premiere production in 2002: Thornton Wilder's Our Town, which featured older actors in the roles of Emily and George and a twelve-year-old girl as the Stage Manager. Its second production, Requiem for William, an evening of seven seldom produced plays by William Inge, that featured a cast of 26 as well as original songs, premiered in 2003. In 2004 the company presented the first New York revival of Michael John LaChiusa's First Lady Suite, which received rave reviews, played to sold-out houses, and earned two Drama Desk Award nominations including outstanding revival of a musical. Recent productions include the world premiere of the musical The Audience, which featured a cast of 46 actors and earned three Drama Desk Award nominations, including outstanding musical; Normal, a new musical about a mother's battle to save her daughter from anorexia; cul-de-sac, a new play by Tony Award nominee John Cariani; the first New York revival of Tad Mosel's Pulitzer Prize play, All the Way Home; the 50th anniversary, Obie-winning production of William Inge's The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, the world premiere musicals Crossing Brooklyn and Marcy in the Galaxy, and the first New York revival of Irwin Shaw's Bury the Dead. Both First Lady Suite and Bury the Dead were filmed for the New York Performing Arts Library's Theatre on Film and Tape Archive. Transport Group is the winner of a special 2007 Drama Desk Award for its "breadth of vision and its presentation of challenging productions."
Being Audrey plays Thursday and Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 2pm and 8pm; Sunday at 3pm, and Monday at 7pm through April 26 at 220 East 4 Street, between Avenues A & B (6 to Astor Place, W/N to 8th Street or F/V to Second Avenue). There will be an added performance on Wednesday, April 1 at 8pm and the performance on Saturday, April 4 will have an early curtain at 7pm.
