Fred
Barton aka Miss Gulch Returns - The 20th Anniversary Production
"Miss
Gulch Returns ... the 20th Anniversary Production" is Fred Barton's
legendary "One-Man, One Piano Metaphorical Musical Tour De Force"
and it will open at DILLON'S (245 West 54th Street, NYC - 212-307-9797)
on Tuesday, January 6th for four Tuesdays, January 6th, 13th, 20th
& 27th. The show time is 8:00 pm, except for the performances on January
27th, which will be a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
and will start at 10:30 pm. There is a $15 cover, $10 food/drink minimum.
Fred Barton's
revue of songs & social commentary premiered at Palsson's Supper Club
in November 1983, where Fred played in the original FORBIDDEN BROADWAY.
"Miss Gulch Returns" played extended NYC cabaret engagements starting
in January 1984, followed by Fred's appearances around the country,
culminating with the still-selling 1986 CD. The show has enjoyed tremendous
success in independent productions at the Actors' Playhouse of Nashville,
The Richmond Triangle Players & Indianapolis's Theatre-On-The-Square,
who revived "Miss Gulch Returns" in October of 2002 as part of their
15th Anniversary retrospective of their most successful productions.
A new production is also scheduled for Cleveland in 2004. The Dillon's
engagement will mark Fred's first performance of the show in New York
City since a one-night-only benefit in 1993.
Of all Hollywood's
ornery old maids, crotchety battle-axes & crusty curmudgeons, Miss
Gulch, the dog-snatching, bicycle-riding, spiteful spinster-next-door
who had it in for Dorothy's little Toto, was the unquestioned queen.
Pity her! Born to higher things, why was she sentenced to serve forever
as two-dimensional comic relief? And why should her formidable figure
invariably inspire snickers? Perhaps today's sophisticates are amused
by quaint Hollywood psychology, in which a severe Miss Gulch becomes
a terrifying Wicked Witch in the subconscious mind of a pubescent
Midwestern teenager. Or is it possible that we prefer the safety of
identifying with victimized superstar heroines; that the startling
image of the underdog supporting-player's sexually frustrated spinster
hits a deep nerve of unsettling self-recognition that can acknowledge
only with laughter?
For more
information, see http://www.fredbarton.com/.
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