What happens when three young sketch comedy writers come together to produce a musical based on a work that has already been produced (and has sort of already failed)?! Well… I guess you can find out by watching (but first reading about) the GLORIOUS hilarity of Zipperface!!?!: The Hobo Musical.  The RBW ‘comedy musical’ will be featured in just two weeks at the 2009 New York Fringe Festival, the largest multi-art festival in all of Northern America! In a recent conversation with David Rothstadt, co producer, co writer, and leading star of the show, I learned that this musical is anything short of, ‘original and inspired’

The Creation & Concept:  

Three fresh Rutgers College Graduates, Jon Bershad, 22, Andy Wolf, 23, and Dave Rothstadt, 22, make quite the trio on and off the stage; these three young lads show an exuberant amount of versatility while assuming various roles in this theatrical production.  The collaborative group met at Rutgers University in 2005 through CAP (college ave plays) a theater group on the New Brunswick Campus, where they would later find themselves joining forces in comedy-sketch Group ‘Wacky Hijinks’. David, Jon, and Andy sparked an immediate connection as they have shared similar experiences growing up in New Jersey. They also have shared a common ground and understanding of ‘the absurd’, and not only put a new ‘twist’ on ‘funny’, but have built a small empire upon their new invention.

It took the team of Zipperface!!?!: The Hobo Musical approximately one year to work up songs, characters, add/cut scenes, and audition for quiescently the most HOBO-EY (if you will) hobo cast, man could find. This comedy musical based on the 1989 soft-core porn murder mystery “that no one saw and fewer liked”, will appeal to any theater buff or just someone with a good sense of humor.

Zipperface!!?!: The Hobo Musical !!?!....

You may be asking yourself, “So…. What exactly is this The Hobo Musical”?! Well, it’s safe to say it’s all in the title. The show is an adaptation from a low budget film called Zipperface. The film was hand picked by the guys of ‘RBW’, to prove the very point that very bad movies becoming very bad plays SHOULD be funny. They were provoked to create the show to capture just where the Off-Broadway world is headed these days. However, unlike many aspiring artists, the guys didn’t just alt to post another highly-influential blog about how much Legally Blonde ‘sucks’, the team of ZF!!?! THM decided to creatively execute their point. Zipperface!!?!: The Hobo Musical is full of the homeless, the eccentric, prostitute-ey, and even the robotic!  ZF!!?!:THM is centered around a masked killer hunting and stabbing S&M Hookers and the sexy detective that’s tracing all of his moves; expect nothing short of the outlandish and the silly from this madcap musical!

The Team:

With the combination of twenty-four cast and crew members, including cast members Lauren Perri (Lisa Rider), J. Michael Polisano (Micheal Walker), Big Rich Armstead (Jeremiah) and crew members; Director Greg Bing (also a member of Wacky Hijinks), assistant director (Jon Bershad), music director (Zach Wiseley) and choreographer Nadia Swanson. Each has played significantly important parts in ensuing a kind of ‘smooth and constructive’ production for an ultimately successful musical.  Amongst such success, one of the most outrageous parts of the show is the musical direction. David Rothstadt and Zach Wisely coordinated and produce all of the bizarreish numbers with a clever and catchy style that will certainly have you showing your copy of ZF: THM playbill to a friend (or maybe…5)

A SNEAK PEAK: Song titles include “Lets Put on a Terrible Play (Based on a Terrible Movie, ‘So I Killed another S&M Hooker Tonight’, and ‘I Am Dead (So am I) (So am I)’.
 

Zipperface!!?!: The Hobo Musical.  When, Where, HOW?!

The show is approximately 110 minutes. Playing at 161A. Chrystie Street - NY, NY
The running dates for the show are scheduled for:

        August 15 @ 11:15 PM
        August 20 @ 8:15 PM
        August 23 @ 7:15 PM
        August 28 @ 3:00 PM
        August 30 @ Noon

Buy your tickets now on ticket web for only $15, and don’t miss the Witty laughable obscurity of ZIPPERFACE!!?! : THE HOBO MUSICAL!
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