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BEARDO
Royalty, peasantry, sex, dirt, grandeur and hemophilia.
some tracks from the show (live recording):
**Best Political-Historical Thesis Disguised as a Wildly Funny and Louche "Songplay", 2011 SF Bay Guardian Theater Awards**
**Best Theater Company, SF Weekly Best of 2011**
**Best of 2011, Honorable Mention, The Idiolect, SF Chronicle**
**Finalist, 2012 Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater**
PRESS
"Malloy's score revels in echoes of everything from American and Tuvan cowboy to Prokofiev, Bartók, Kurt Weill, Borodin and Tchaikovsky.
Purists may scoff at some of the details, but Beardo is no history lesson. It's a riff on the Rasputin legend, from the hypnotic sway he exerted and the bouts of drinking and sexual overindulgence to his famously prolonged assassination...Beardo rides high on its impressionistic scenes and Malloy's enticing score. The quintet and Davaran provide expert accompaniment. The voices ring true in every song. And when that large chorus lifts the rafters in sober, a cappella peasant chorale, the effect is nothing less than magic."
-Robert Hurwitt, San Francico Chrionicle
"Shotgun Players hits a raucous, ribald, and consistently clever bull's eye with Beardo, the latest from the creators of 2008's Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage. Each detail of this exquisite production — from a pitch-perfect cast to the rich palette employed by composer Dave Malloy to Christine Crook's gorgeously layered, vibrantly crimson-marked costuming — serves an inspired reappraisal of madness and revolution in and beyond the never-named Romanov household..A transcultural mashup of outlaw whimsy, class war, and the banalities of upper-class decadence take flight in some inspired set pieces too fresh to give away here, and a wonderfully orchestrated score.
Composer and musical director Dave Malloy, whose gifts for composition and drama have been growing apace since relocating to New York City,... conjures a very convincing Russian cabaret atmosphere. Doses of Rachmaninoff and other authentic samplings strategically arise amid his brisk Weimar-esque rhythms, lilting melodies, and one fantastic choral arrangement — a startling convergence of roughly 40 "peasants" who suddenly erupt into song."
-Robert Avila, San Francisco Bay Guardian
"Braveheart has nothing on Beardo, the swarthy hero of Shotgun Players' new, bizarre rock musical about a Russian monk who infiltrates the palace of Emporer Nicholas II...Beardo might be the edgiest production ever mounted by Shotgun Players. It's richly salacious and crudely violent...The music, composed by Dave Malloy, is densely lyrical and harmonically jagged."
-Rachel Swan, East Bay Express
"Beardo is ambitious, tuneful, and mind-blowingly weird...Every aspect of the production is outstanding, beginning with Patrick Dooley's direction. He creates an atmosphere of freewheeling invention, giving his actors and his technical crew plenty of opportunities to show their stuff. As a result, the show thrums with creative energy. Malloy's eclectic, densely textured score, performed by an excellent string quintet, includes echoes of Tuvan cowboy music, Patsy Cline, and Prince, with a little bit of Borodin and Prokofiev thrown in. He even offers up a surprisingly somber choral piece performed by more than three dozen peasants — a brief interval of serious historical context between the second and third acts."
-Chris Jensen, SF Weekly
Book & Lyrics by Jason Craig
Music by Dave Malloy
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World Premiere:
A Shotgun Players Production
March 23 - May 1, 2011
Ashby Stage, Berkeley CA
Directed by Patrick Dooley
CAST
Kevin Clarke - Tsar
Ashkon Davaran - Beardo
Dave Garrett - Yusapoof
JP Gonzalez - Murderer
Juliet Heller - Servant/Delicate Child Boy
Anna Ishida - Tsarista
Sarah Mitchell - Shack Woman/Lady
Josh Pollock - Shack Man/Murderer
Eleanor Reinholdt - Lady
Felix Scharr - Servant
MUSICIANS
Jessica Ling - Violin I
Jo Gray - Violin II
Charles Montague - Viola
Gael Alcock - Violoncello
Olive Mitra - Bass
Ashkon Davaran, Josh Pollock - Guitars
CREW
Kristoffer Barrera - Sound Board Operator
Chris Black - Choreography
Lisa Clark - Set Designer
Christine Crook - Costume Designer
Heather Gallagher - Master Electrician
April George - Stage Manager
Juliet Heller - Assistant Director/Choir Wrangler
Anne Kendall - Technical Director
Tunuviel Luv - Properties Designer
Michael Palumbo - Lighting Designer
Ashley Rogers - Assistant Costume Designer
Felix Scharr - Assistant Stage Manager/Band Manager
Brendan West - Sound Designer
CHOIR
Elinor Bell,
Rolanda Bell,
Piet Bereal,
George Chan, Ron Dritz, Lisa Drostova,
Hannah Dworkin,
Sarah Elovich,
Ben Euphrat,
Catz Forsman, Jean Forsman, Luisa Frasconi,
Monique Gonsalves,
Lisa Hensley, Wylie Herman,
Sharon Huff,
Alexis Lane Jensen,
Chris Kelly,
Emily Klion,
Ryan Marchand, James Mayagoitia,
Sophia Rose Mor,
Lisa Marie Newton,
Andre Nigoghossian,
Sonjay Odds, Talya Patrick,
Judy Philips, Carina Lastimosa Salazar,
Stephen Salzma, Alex Shafer,
Anna Smith,
Bill Tankovich,
Seth Thygesen,
Valentine,
Stephen Vaught,
Wanda Ziemba,
Ignacio Zulueta
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