Stephen Bogardus and Burke Moses head the cast of the 1990 Tony Award-winning Best Musical. Bogardus stars as writer Stine with Moses his detective alter ego and nemesis, Stone. The company also features Tami Tappan Damiano as Gabby/Bobbi, Kevin Earley as Jimmy Powers, Vicki Lewis as Donna/Oolie and Alli Mauzey as Mallory/Avril with Daniel Guzman as Munoz, Marguerite MacIntyre as Alaura/Carla and Michael Lerner as Buddy Fidler.
The ensemble comprises Stephen Breithaupt, Randy Brenner, Eric Leviton, Wes Ramsey, Teresa Marie Sanchez, Brent Schindele, Joe Souza, Herschel Sparber, Anne Fraser Thomas and Freyda Thomas.
City of Angels, which will officially open Jan. 25 and play through Feb. 5, is directed by Joe Leonardo with choreography by Kay Cole and musical direction by Gerald Sternbach. The creative team also features Brad Kaye (set design), Tom Ruzika (lighting design), Phil Allen (sound design) and Alex Jaeger (costume design).
City of Angels, according to press notes, is a spoof of “the private eye movies of the 1940's. The story follows Stine, a fiction writer in Hollywood trying to adapt his own detective novel into a screenplay. As the action begins, we meet Stone, Stine's detective, in the hospital with a bullet wound. As Stone relates the story of his injury, Stine begins to rewrite his story. As he rewrites, the ‘movie’ is rewound and the actors move and speak backwards. As Stine buries himself in the fantasy world of his detective story, however, his personal life begins to fall apart. When his wife leaves him, he must make some decisions about what is really important in his life.”
City of Angels features a book by Larry Gelbart, lyrics by The Woman in White’s David Zippel and music by the late Cy Coleman. The musical opened at Broadway’s Virginia Theatre Dec. 1989, playing 24 previews and 879 regular performances before closing Jan. 19, 1992. The original cast included Gregg Edelman, James Naughton and Randy Graff. City of Angels plays Tuesday-Friday evenings at 8 PM, Saturdays at 2 and 8 PM and Sundays at 2 and 7 PM. Tickets, priced $60-$75, are available by calling (310) 825-2101 or by visiting www.reprise.org. The UCLA Freud Playhouse is located in Macgowan Hall.
