RETURN TO THE BOARDS - AFTER 20 YEAR HIATUS

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 8, 2017

Linden Waddell
213.880.0502
[email protected]

Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh, Hello Linden!

AFTER 20 YEARS LINDEN WADDELL RETURNS TO THE BOARDS SINGING ALLAN SHERMAN’S ZANY PARODIES

HELLO AGAIN! THE SONGS OF ALLAN SHERMAN starring Linden Waddell makes its first appearance at Fringe. Opens June 4 and runs through June 24, 2017. http://hff17.com/4580

LOS ANGELES, May 8, 2017 – Local SoCal actress and singer Linden Waddell returns to the theatre after taking a 20-year hiatus, producing and starring in HELLO AGAIN! THE SONGS OF ALLAN SHERMAN for the 2017 Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Ms. Waddell, familiar to Los Angeles audiences as Jellylorum/Griddlebone, the comedic opera cat in “CATS” at the Shubert Theatre, and as Kate in “The Pirates of Penzance” at the Ahmanson, grew up in Downey, attended the prestigious LACC Theatre Academy and was making her living as an actress. She was an active member of the award-winning Colony Studio Theatre, was booking tv shows and commercials, and performing live throughout California and in the Phoenix area.

“I met my perfect man and got married. He’s still perfect – we’ve been married 27 years! We had a son in 1995 and pretty soon after I got right back in the biz,” she recalls. She performed in International City Theatre’s first Equity production “A…My Name is Alice” at the Center Theatre, continued with her rep company The Colony in Silver Lake, and picked up where she’d left off booking commercials, acting and singing. Things were humming right along. But in 1997, “I just threw up my hands to the Universe and said, ‘I give!,’” Linden remembers. At that time, she was rehearsing the role of Mrs. Molloy in “The Matchmaker” at The Colony – wearing a corset, no less – when she found out, 1 week before opening night, that she was pregnant with her second child.

“Morning sickness happens at ANY time – even during matinee and evening performances!” she said. Wearing special wristbands under her costume helped with nausea and there were buckets backstage. “Sometimes on stage I had to concentrate very hard not to throw up. Funny that I won an award for that performance!” Linden was awarded a Drama-Logue Award for the role.

Linden finished the 2-1/2 month run, letting her corset out little by little, but vowed to give up the business to raise two children. “I just couldn’t imagine juggling the selfish demands of show business while raising 2 kids. One, maybe, but TWO?”

Now that her son is graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in Film Studies this month, and her daughter began there this year as a freshman interested in Chemistry, Linden returns to her first love, theatre. “I began thinking about developing this show when I knew I’d soon become an empty nester. It’s my baby now,” she says.

This 1-woman musical cabaret revue highlights the humorous song parodies written by Allan Sherman, who became an instant celebrity when his first three Warner Bros. comedy albums shot to #1 in the early 1960’s. He won a Grammy Award for his internationally-known hit about a child’s letter home describing a miserable camp experience in “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh,” so this show says “Hello Again!” to the songs of Allan Sherman.

Directed and choreographed by award-winning director Janet Miller, with live accompaniment by renowned musical director Marjorie Poe, the 55-minute concert delights Sherman fans and newcomers by presenting some of his best-known works and also includes lesser-known material, sure to enlighten even the most diehard Sherman enthusiast.

HELLO AGAIN! THE SONGS OF ALLAN SHERMAN plays for 5 performances during the Hollywood Fringe Festival at Asylum @ Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre, 5636 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038, June 4 – 24, 2017. Performance times vary so check listings. Tickets are $15 general admission, with discounts available for Fringe insiders (Citizens and Participants). Show times, details and ticket sales are available online at the Fringe Project Page for HELLO AGAIN! THE SONGS OF ALLAN SHERMAN: http://hff17.com/4580.

“It’s great to be back on stage, especially with the appreciation and support of my family — that’s the icing on the cake!” she beamed.

FACT SHEET

WHAT:
Hello Again! The Songs of Allan Sherman

WHO:
Presented by: Linden Waddell
Directed & Choreographed by: Janet Miller
Musical Direction by: Marjorie Poe
Written by: Linden Waddell
Lyrics by: Allan Sherman

Performed by: Linden Waddell
Live accompaniment by: Marjorie Poe

WHERE:
Hollywood Fringe Festival
Asylum at Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre
5636 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038

WHEN:
5 Public Performances
Sunday June 4, 2017, 2:30pm (preview)
Friday June 9, 2017, 7:00pm
Sunday June 18, 2017, 4:00pm
Thursday June 22, 2017, 7:00pm
Saturday June 24, 2017, 11:30am

Run time: 55 minutes
Rated G – appropriate for audiences age 6+

ADMISSION:
Tickets are $15 General Admission
HOW:
Purchase Tickets Online: http://hff17.com/4580
Comps available for members of the press, upon request

SOCIAL MEDIA & LINKS

Weird Al meets Bette Midler!
Song parodies + chutzpah = fun!
Fab revue of zany lyrics, hilariously sung!

Fringe Project Site http://hff17.com/4580
YouTube https://youtu.be/8ObE1Y6ZedM
Twitter @LindenW1 #HelloAgainSherman
Website: www.lindenwaddell.com
Review from CABARETSCENES:
http://cabaretscenes.org/2015/08/31/linden-waddell-the-songs-of-allan-sherman/
Review from critic Don Heckman, THE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF MUSIC:
https://irom.wordpress.com/2016/02/01/hello-again-the-songs-of-allan-sherman-by-linden-waddell-at-the-gardenia

PRESS CONTACT
Linden Waddell
213.880.0502
[email protected]

WHO’S WHO

Linden Waddell (Performer/Producer/Concept/Writer)
Linden Waddell has graced the stages of the Shubert Theatre (CATS), the Ahmanson Theatre (The Pirates of Penzance), the Colony Theatre (LA Stage Alliance Ovation nom – Working / Drama-Logue Award – The Matchmaker); the Long Beach Center Theatre (A…My Name is Alice – Robby Award nom); the Matrix (Stages – original cast album); the Cast (Captain Fabulous – west coast premiere); Hidden Valley Music Theatre (RLS: Recollections – world premiere); Arizona’s Herberger Theatre (Heartbeats) and Actor’s Lab (Six Women With Brain Death – AriZoni Award winner), among many others. Producer, writer, actress, singer, mom, proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA. Visit www.lindenwaddell.com

Marjorie Poe (Musical Director/Accompanist/Arranger)
Marjorie Poe is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and has taught music at several schools and colleges. Ms. Poe served as an award-winning musical director for dozens of Equity waiver theatre productions in LA and spent a handful of years on tour with Broadway road companies (Cats, Wizard of Oz, Sunset Boulevard and Meet Me in St. Louis). She has worked with Debbie Reynolds, Robert Morse, Debby Boone, Mary Jo Catlett, Jo Anne Worley, Mickey Rooney, Pat Boone and an assorted mix of large animals, as she was also an arranger/keyboardist with Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus, traveling with the “Greatest Show on Earth.” She composed an original score for the West Coast premiere of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby produced at the LACC Theatre Academy. Ms. Poe is a noted arranger and orchestrator.

Janet Miller (Director/Choreographer)
Janet Miller is a producer, director, choreographer and educator. She is a recipient of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Joel Hirschhorn Award for Career Achievement in Musical Theater. Her original 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 an Ovation nomination for her work on TMW, a Garland, a LADCC Award, and was part of the team that won the Ovation for Best Intimate Musical. Ms. Miller was thrilled to choreograph the European Premiere of TMW for Teatro Franco Parenti in Milan, Italy. Janet has staged her award-winning step touch extensively throughout the US.
Good People Theater Company is celebrating their four-year anniversary and Janet serves as Producing Artistic Director. GPTCo has seven productions under their belt, A Man of No Importance, Barrymore (2x) The Fantasticks, Closer Than Ever, Marry Me A Little, and The Toxic Avenger. The shows have been well received in Los Angeles by both critics and spectators. AMONI and Barrymore were both Ovation Recommended, and Barrymore received an Ovation nomination for Best Actor.
Ms. Miller has worked as director and/or choreographer on both coasts on such shows as Side By Side By Sondheim, South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, Kiss Me Kate, Jesus Christ Superstar, Anything Goes, Baby, Annie Get Your Gun, Dames At Sea, Charlie Brown, Urinetown, Bat Boy, The Odd Couple, The Nerd, The Man Who Came To Dinner, The Rimers of Eldritch, and Taming of the Shrew to name a few. JM holds a B.A. in musical theatre from CSU Northridge, an M.A. and an M.F.A. from CSU Los Angeles. She is adjunct faculty at College of the Desert and Copper Mountain College. Ms. Miller is a proud member of SDC.
www.janetmiller.net www.goodpeopletheaterco.org.

Allan Sherman (Lyricist)
Allan Sherman b. November 30, 1924 – d. November 20, 1973 was an American comedy writer and television producer who became famous as a song parodist in the early 1960’s. His first album, “My Son, the Folk Singer” (1962) became the fastest-selling record album up to that time. His biggest hit single was “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh,” a comic novelty song in which a boy describes his summer camp experiences to the tune of Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours.” Sherman shot to fame with 3 Number One albums and performed at Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, headlined in Las Vegas, sang on TV variety shows and guest-hosted The Tonight Show for a week. He recorded many more albums, wrote an autobiography, discovered and produced albums for Bill Cosby, and penned lyrics for an original Broadway musical.