“PRISTINE REVIVAL” OF THE FANTASTICKS—THE ORIGINAL FRINGE MUSICAL OF 1959—ANNOUNCED AS GOOD PEOPLE THEATER COMPANY’S 2014 FRINGE FESTIVAL SHOW

THE FANTASTICKS - the original fringe musical (1959)

Media contacts:
Ashley Hanson ([email protected] or 530-906-5042)
Kimberly Fox ([email protected] or 323-302-1354)

**Reprise of canonic classic features award-winning production team from last year’s Fringe sell-out musical, A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE; aims to remind all Fringe’rs that small shows can (and do) make history

June 5 Preview, June 6 Opening. Running through June 29 at the 2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival (Project #1513)**

LOS ANGELES, May 1, 2014 — Today Good People Theater Company announced its next production: Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s beloved musical, THE FANTASTICKS. Playing as part of the 2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival, the show features the award winning production team of last year’s Fringe sell-out success, A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, including award winning Musical Director Corey Hirsch (LA Drama Critics Circle 2013).

According to Producer/Director Janet Miller, THE FANTASTICKS continues Good People’s Fringe Festival legacy of spare, meticulous presentations of classic musical theater works. “People think they know this show. But it’s a piece that’s staged so many times, it’s possible to lose our sense of the original—its clarity, its simplicity, and the off-beat innovative style that had a lot of people in the 1960s scratching their heads, trying to figure out if THE FANTASTICKS was great, or just odd.”

Miller’s goal with this production is to “give Fringe audiences a pristine revival,” incorporating important original details like a harpist in the ensemble. “We’re hoping to inspire a larger conversation about fringe works—then and now. THE FANTASTICKS truly is the original fringe musical, including fulfilling every fringe producer’s dream of running, literally, forever. With so many new works being shown, we think the Fringe Festival is a great context for reprising this piece. And besides, it’s a fun show!”

Good People’s Fringe Festival production of THE FANTASTICKS runs for 13 performances at the Lillian Theatre Hollywood (1076 Lillian Way at Santa Monica Boulevard). The show previews on Thursday, June 5 at 8pm, opens on Friday, June 6 at 8pm and closes on Sunday, June 29 with a 1pm matinee. Preview tickets are $10. General run tickets are $20 general admission and $10 for students and seniors, with additional discounts available for Fringe insiders (Citizens and Participants). Show time details and ticket sales are available online at THE FANTASTICKS Fringe Project Page: www.hff14.org/1513.

As a part of their commitment to “good people doing good work,” the GPTC also announced a special “Charity of Choice” performance on Saturday, June 28 at 2pm. As the fathers in THE FANTASTICKS would agree, healthy gardens and happy children go together. So 100% of the ticket proceeds from this performance will be donated to Little Green Fingers LA, a local non-profit that creates community gardens and encourages kids 5 and up to “get dirty and eat healthy.” (www.LittleGreenFingersLA.org)

ABOUT GOOD PEOPLE THEATER COMPANY
www.goodpeopletheaterco.org

The Good People Theater Company is dedicated to presenting revivals of musicals and plays in the intimacy of 99-seat theater spaces, produced to the highest standards by actors and theater techs of many generations. Our goals as an organization:

• Contribute to Living History: We are dedicated to thoughtful revival productions because we believe in theater’s fundamental role in the miraculous tradition of storytelling and are dedicated to keeping that history alive.

• Sell the Value of the Live Experience: We wish to prove that presenting live theater of quality is a unique “off line” arts experience that can both inspire and engage audiences who’ve not yet seen this work and bring the joy of familiarity and reconsideration to audiences who know these works well.

• Clean Storytelling: We believe there’s artistic merit in striving to present a style of spare, focused theater that honors the author’s storytelling as directly as possible.

• A Proper Forum for a Unique Talent: We believe Janet Miller—the company’s founding artistic director—is a walking theater encyclopedia and a true triple threat as a director of straight plays, a director of musicals and a choreographer. We believe Janet is one-of-a-kind. She deserves a professional forum for her talents and ideas.

• Do Some Good: We believe quality theater changes people—the actors, theater techs, musicians, and audiences young and old who experience it—for the better. It’s important to us to be good, to do good (including a charity fundraiser performance in every run) and to make a difference.

ABOUT JANET MILLER
www.janetmiller.net

Janet Miller is a producer, director, choreographer and educator. Her choreography has been showcased Off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre in The Marvelous Wonderettes. She received a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Choreographer for this production. Janet garnered a LA Stage Alliance Ovation nomination for her work on TMW, a Garland, a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Choreography, a BroadwayWorld LA Award nomination for Best Choreography and was part of the team that won the Ovation Award for Best Intimate Musical in 2007. She also received a Garland and a LADCC choreography award for Winter Wonderettes.

Miller choreographed the European Premiere of The Marvelous Wonderettes for Teatro Franco Parenti in Milan Italy. She staged her award winning Wonderettes step-touch extensively throughout the US, most notably at Northlight in Chicago, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Capital Repertory in Albany, NY, Sacramento Music Circus, Pittsburgh CLO, The Plymouth Playhouse in Minneapolis, Cabrillo Music Theatre in Thousand Oaks, CA, Moonlight Stage Productions in Vista, CA, McCoy Rigby Entertainment, and The Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in Auburn, NY.

Miller was the Resident Director for Phantom Projects Theatre Group, based at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. In 2010, she directed Lydia R. Diamond’s adaptation of the Toni Morrison book, The Bluest Eye to critical acclaim. The following season, Phantom remounted this production at the Miles Playhouse in Santa Monica. Also for Phantom Projects, Miller directed The Miracle Worker, The Crucible, Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) Grapes of Wrath, The Giver and The Importance of Being Earnest.
Miller’s work has appeared on both coasts in productions of Side By Side By Sondheim, South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, Kiss Me Kate, Jesus Christ Superstar, Anything Goes, Baby, The Fantasticks, Annie Get Your Gun, Dames At Sea, Charlie Brown, Urinetown, The Odd Couple, The Nerd, The Man Who Came To Dinner, The Rimers of Eldritch, and Taming of the Shrew to name a few. She has a special expertise in tap, which she has taught and choreographed worldwide most recently in China and Thailand. She was one of the founding members of Golden State Theatre, the Family Theatre of La Mirada, for eighteen years, directing and choreographing over 50 productions. Miller is the recipient of the 2003 Excellence in Art Award for Drama from the city of Torrance, where she was the Artistic Director/Resident Director at the Torrance Theatre Company for seven years, directing sixteen shows during her tenure. She is also the Artistic Director for the MB Players.
Miller holds a B.A. in musical theatre from CSUN, and an M.A. in theatre from CSULA. She is adjunct faculty at CSUN, CSULA and Cerritos College, and is a proud member of SDC.

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