Since I have a Google alert set for the phrase “Zipperface Hobo Musical”, I learn about any appearance of our show on the web as fast as I do for my other Google alerts, “Jon Bershad” and “Gypsy Curse+How To” (don’t ask about that last one. It’s just a hobby). Which is why I’m able to tell you about our “Interview” over at nytheatre.com.
I, of course, have the word interview in quotes because it was less an actual interview than a simple three question form that was sent to all of the productions in the festival. Still, our answers sum up the show pretty well and it is free advertising so the whole thing is pretty cool. If you’d like to read what we said, click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page (alphabetical order curses us yet again).
…however…if you haven’t clicked on that link yet and since this is our blog, I can reprint the nytheatre.com piece (with a few handy additions of my own thrown in) to make it look more like the intensive artist profile we would have liked. Enjoy!
My meeting with the creators of the fascinating new musical Zipperface!!?!: The Hobo Musical, was to be held in the trendy Williamsburg area of Brooklyn where they had just attended a new art exhibit held in a tiny loft. Dave Rothstadt and Andy Wolf, two thirds of the creative trio, sat in front of me in the oxygen bar, comparing notes on the works they had just observed while having their conversation frequently interrupted by phone calls from high powered Hollywood execs. Every few moments, a beautiful girl would walk by and her gaze would instantly fly to the two young men as if she were a passing a horrible car accident on the highway and desperately wanted to have sex with it. Of course, this type of attention had become so familiar to the men since their show had become the talk of the Fringe Festival a few months earlier, that they hardly noticed.
A few minutes later, Jon Bershad, the handsomest, coolest, and all around most talented member of the three, pulled up in his Porsche and strode over to the table.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said, his strong voice piercing the air like a hot knife going through butter. Butter that desperately wants to have sex with it. “My charity car wash with the Victoria’s Secret models went late because afterwards I had sex with all of them.”
“Right,” said Andy, sipping from his $3,000 glass of wine. “How typical of you. Shall we start the interview?”
NYT: What is your show about and what can audiences expect when they see it?
ZFHM: Zipperface!!?!: The Hobo Musical is a parody of lazy movie-based musicals, executed through the adaptation of a 1989 soft-core porn murder mystery that no one saw and fewer liked. The adaptation is presented by a cast of charming, musical hobos, who have learned from Broadway that you don’t have to write your own story to put on a show. All you need to do is take an existing screenplay, shove in a few songs and voila, you’ve got yourself a hit! The screenplay that they’ve chosen and now attempt to present to the audience is Zipperface, a low-budget film about a masked killer hunting S&M hookers with a machete and Lisa Rider, the beautiful detective on his trail. While the satire and parody elements are visible to those who look for them, other viewers (who aren’t obsessed with Broadway musicals) can expect a wacky musical murder mystery, filled with catchy tunes, lovably eccentric characters, sexy hookers, and maybe an epic robot battle or two.
NYT: Why is your show pertinent to today’s times and/or why should your show be the choice for audiences to see?
ZFHM: In a time where every hit musical is either based on a movie with a derivative story or a jukebox musical written around derivative songs, it seems like no one is attempting to write an original musical anymore. Musicals are a medium unto themselves and deserve writing catered to them, without which the art-form will slowly swallow itself until there’s nothing left. We believe that this ultimate destination is closer than some might think.In addition, when economic troubles have got everyone down, a wacky musical comedy is just what the doctor ordered… right before he found out his 401k was depleted and killed himself. If audiences are looking to just forget their problems, laugh and have a raucous good time, then this is the show for them.
NYT: Why did you choose to present this show?
ZFHM: The three writers of this piece have a very conflicted love/hate relationship with Broadway musicals. It was out of this ambivalence that Zipperface!!?!: The Hobo Musical first sprouted. After a successful run New Jersey, an independent festival such as FringeNYC was the perfect home for this musical about musicals … and S&M gimp killers.
There was much more to the interview but unfortunately, I was so taken aback by the group’s poise, charm, and hilarious anecdotes about hanging out with celebrities that I forgot to turn my tape recorder on. Suffice it to say that everything they said was really, really clever and that their show (which opens August 15th by the way) is going to be totally awesome.
See? Isn’t that way of presenting our answers so much better than just posting them all in a row? Anyway, I’ve gotta go plan tonight’s rehearsal and schedule another car wash, so I’ll see y’all later!
In a photo feature previewing this year’s Fringe Festival, they chose us as one of 18 shows to highlight. That’s 18 out of 201, folks. That makes us better than 91.04% of the shows in Fringe! It’s true, it’s math!