The Flamingo Kid opened May 24, 2019, at Hartford Stage in Hartford, Connecticut. Book and Lyrics by Robert L. Freedman. Music by Scott Frankel. Directed by Darko Tresnjak. Choreographed by Denis Jones. Based on the screenplay by Neal Marshall and Garry Marshall.
The Plot: In the summer of ’63, against the wishes of his father, Brooklyn teenager Jeffrey Winnick leaves behind his blue-collar roots for an exciting job working as a cabana boy at the colorful El Flamingo — a posh private club on Long Island. There, Jeffrey meets Karla, a forward-thinking young woman from California. The music, the romance, the beach are magical — until tensions grow between father and son when a slick club member takes Jeffrey under his wing.
Since the invention of American musical theater, lyricists seeking a rhyme for “love” have been stuck with just a few wan possibilities, including “dove,” “above,” the odd “glove” and the truly desperate “shove.” So, first, let me congratulate Robert L. Freedman for conscripting “mazel tov” to the cause, in a doozy of a song called “The Cookie Crumbles.”
That song, a highlight of “The Flamingo Kid,” which opened last week at Hartford Stage, is a blistering warning from a suburban matron, circa 1963, about what happens when a woman makes the wrong choice at an early age. “Time rolls along. You’ll play Mah-Jongg. And that’s your life.” Let’s just add that “life” is soon paired with “knife.” Even aside from Mr. Freedman’s sharp rhymes — and the sinuous, sulfurous music by Scott Frankel — “The Cookie Crumbles” checks off all the boxes of what great musical theater songs should do.
It addresses the plot moment: Phyllis Brody is telling her love-struck niece, Karla, not to get too involved with a sweet but feckless cabana boy at the El Flamingo beach club where the show takes place. It deepens our understanding of Phyllis’s character while reaching out to larger issues, in this case feminist ones. And as sung by Lesli Margherita in the show’s standout performance, it provides a bravura moment…
Creative Team: Alexander Dodge (Set Design). Linda Cho (Costumes). Philip Rosenberg (Lighting). Peter Hylenski (Sound). Aaron Rhyne (Projection Design). Charles LaPointe (Hair Design). Bruce Coughlin (Orchestrations). Thomas Murray (Music Director).
The Cast: Jimmy Brewer (Jeffrey), Samantha Massell (Karla), Liz Larsen (Ruth), Adam Heller (Arthur), Mark Kudisch (Phil), Lesli Margherita (Phyllis), Alex Wyse (Hawk), Ben Fankhauser (Steve), Joyce (Lindsay Brent Carothers), Alejandro (Omar Lopez-Cepero), Ben Bogen, Michael Hartung, Jean Kauffman, Ken Krugman, Taylor Lloyd, Anna Noble, Erin Leigh Peck, Gregory Rodriguez, Steve Routman, William Squier, Kathy Voytko, Price Waldman, Jayke Workman, Kelli Youngman, Stuart Zagnit (Ensemble).
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, the Best Musical Tony Winner of 2014, opened on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre on November 17, 2013. Book by Robert L. Freedman, Music by Steven Lutvak, Lyrics by Robert L. Freedman & Steven Lutvak. Directed by Darko Tresnjak. Set in Edwardian London, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder traces the brilliant trajectory of Monty Navarro (played by Bryce Pinkham)—charmer, seducer and avenger—on his quest for recognition and family fortune. Jefferson Mays plays all eight eccentric members of the wealthy and powerful D’Ysquith family who go on to their great rewards in the course of the story.
Also featured in the cast: Lisa O’Hare (Sibella), Lauren Worsham (Phoebe), Jane Carr (Miss Shingle), Joanna Glushak (Lady Eugenia), Catherine Walker (Miss Barley), Price Waldman (Inspector Pinckney), Jeff Kready (Tom Copley), Jennifer Smith (Tour Guide), Eddie Korbich (Magistrate), and Pamela Bob and Mark Ledbetter (swings).
Jefferson Mays, Jennifer Smith, Bryce Pinkham
Peggy Hickey (Choreographer) and Darko Tresnjak (Director)
Choreography by Peggy Hickey. Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick. Musical Director, Paul Staroba. Associate Musical Director, Mike Ruckles. Scenic Design, Alexander Dodge. Costume Design, Linda Cho. Sound Design, Dan Moses Schreier. Lighting Design by Philip Rosenberg. Casting by Jay Binder.
The World Premiere, starring Jefferson Mays and Ken Barnett, took place at Hartford Stage in Hartford, Connecticut, October 11 – November 11, 2012, followed by a co-production at The Old Globe in San Diego, California, March 8 – April 14, 2013.
Also featured in the cast were Lisa O’Hare, Chilina Kennedy, Heather Ayers, Rachel Izen, Kendal Sparks and Price Waldman.
Buy the original Broadway cast recording, featuring a 40-page booklet with complete lyrics, show photos, and an essay by renowned theater writer and critic David Cote here
An adaption for the stage of the Disney Channel films Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2, written in collaboration with Faye Greenberg and David Lawrence (High School Musical) for Disney Theatricals.
Robert L. Freedman and Faye Greenberg have written a new one-man play, The Beast of Broadway: The Life and Times of David Merrick, (pictured at left) about the legendary producer. The play premieres on March 4, 2010, at TheatreZone in Naples Florida, in a production starring David Garrison, directed by Mark Danni, and produced by Danni and Larry Goodsight. For more information click here. To read a newspaper article about the production, click here.
Broadway Sings the Music of Jule Styne was a musical-variety special for Great Performances on PBS. Robert was chosen personally by Jule Styne to write the script, and enjoyed a collaboration with producers Fritz Holt and Barry Brown until Fritz, who was to direct, became too ill to continue. Legendary theatre director Joe Layton was brought in at the eleventh hour, and the special went on to win a couple of Emmys (for Musical Direction and Arrangements).
Jule Styne himself appeared in the special, along with his frequent collaborators Sammy Cahn, Arthur Laurents, and Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Robert spent many unforgettable hours interviewing these musical theatre legends who had inspired his own aspirations in the field.
With Jule Styne at the St. James Theatre during taping
In addition to film clips featuring Barbra Streisand, Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, and Jimmy Durante, many stars appeared live (on tape) in tribute to Jule, including: Carol Channing (“Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend”), Chita Rivera (“Every Street’s A Boulevard in Old New York”), Patti Austin (“Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out To Dry”), Melissa Manchester (“The Music That Makes Me Dance”), Donna McKechnie and Ann Reinking (“Let Me Entertain You”), Linda Lavin (“Some People”), Maurice Hines (“All I Need Is The Girl”), Phyllis Newman (“A Perfect Relationship”), Hal Linden (“Long Before I Knew You”), and Vic Damone and Diahann Carroll (“Time After Time”). If you look closely, Robert can be seen applauding with the audience at the St. James Theatre.
Loosely inspired by Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper, Grand Duchy is a 30’s-style screwball comedy that tells the story of a Prince and a Rebel who switch places and turn everything upside down in the tiniest country in Europe.
With book and lyrics by Robert L. Freedman and music by John Bayless, Grand Duchy began as a graduate thesis project at NYU. Ira Weitzman, then the director of Musical Theatre development for off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons, saw the first act of Grand Duchy and offered Robert and John a staged reading when the show was completed.
In March, 1984, the staged reading of Grand Duchy was performed twice at Playwrights Horizons, with a cast including Reathel Bean, Stephen Berger, Stephen Bogardus, Michael Brian, Ron Fassler, Diane Fratantoni, Jane Galloway, Mary-Pat Green, Myvanwy Jenn, Jean Kauffman, Clark Sayre, Janie Sell and David Wohl, directed by Michael Leeds. Despite a positive response, buzz about a production at Goodspeed, and other venues, never came to fruition.
Two years later, New Jersey’s Papermill Playhouse produced a staged reading starring Brent Barrett, Jane Connell, Larry Francer, Jean Kauffman, Marcia Lewis, Paige O’Hara, Roxanne Paker and John Sher, among others, directed by Philip Wm. McKinley.
In August, 2000, another staged reading was produced at the Falcon Theatre in Burbank, California, starring John Alee, David Burnham, Richard Fox, Fiama Fricano, Jean Kauffman, Robert Mandan, Marian Mercer, Sean Smith, Clay Storseth, Elizabeth Ann Traub, and others, directed by Jules Aaron.
Finally (and not a moment too soon), in November, 2003, Grand Duchy received its world premiere production, directed by Clark Sayre (who was in the 1984 reading at Playwrights Horizons) at the Charger Theatre, at Dos Pueblos High School, near Santa Barbara, California.
In 1999, Broadway composer Jerry Herman (Hello, Dolly!, Mame, La Cage Aux Folles) asked Robert to write the book for his new musical, Miss Spectacular. In 2002 Jerry Herman released a recording of the score of Miss Spectacular, as a concept album. The songs are performed by Christine Baranski, Michael Feinstein, Davis Gaines, Debbie Gravitte, Steve Lawrence, Karen Morrow and Faith Prince.
Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak’s musical won the 2006 California Musical Theatre Award from Beverly Hills Theatre Guild and was presented in a staged reading on June 4, 2006, in Beverly Hills. Featured in the cast were John Rubinstein, Kaitlin Hopkins, Josh Radnor, Jean Louisa Kelly, Stan Chandler, Corinne Kason, Michael Kostroff, Ron Orbach, Tregoney Shepherd and Steve Vinovich. Based on the book by Greg Mitchell, Campaign of the Century centers on the comic chicanery, media manipulation, and outrageous shenanigans surrounding Upton Sinclair’s race for Governor of California in 1934.
A staged reading of Campaign of the Century was held on September 19, 2005, at 3:00 and 7:00pm, at Makor, 35 West 67th St., NYC, under the auspices of the New York Musical Theatre Festival. The cast featured Tony winner Michael Rupert as Upton Sinclair, with Sally Mayes, Evan Pappas, Stacie Morgain Lewis, Elsa Carmona, Michael DeVries, Sean Allan Krill, Ron Orbach, Tom Alan Robbins, and KT Sullivan. Steven Lutvak was the Musical Director and Robert L. Freedman directed.
Michael Rupert
A concert version of the show starring Michael Rupert was presented as the closing event of this year’s Chicago Humanities Festival on November 14, 2004. The cast included Rob Alton, Roger Anderson, Brian Herriott, Trace Hultgren, Glory Kissel, Frances Limoncelli, Susie McMonagle, Rachel Rockwell, Malcolm Rothman, Daniel Tatar and Tracy Warren. Robert directed, and Steven Lutvak was musical director.
Staged readings of Campaign of the Century were previously held in December, 2003, and May, 2004, at American Musical Theatre of San Jose, with a cast that included Augie Amato, Elsa Carmona, David Curley, Richard Frederick, Angela Gunter, John Hickok, Corinne Kason, Dana Lewenthal, Meg MacKay, Craig Mason, Marsha Mercant, Timothy Meyers, Ren Reynolds, and Diana Torres-Koss. The readings were produced by Marc Jacobs, and directed by Robert L. Freedman. The musical director was Craig Bohmler.