At Bucks Playhouse, a show about reproductive rights set in the 1800s
The show will be part concert, part preview, part interview. Lyricist Amanda Green, who developed the concept, and composer Curtis Moore will talk about the process of creating a Broadway musical.
A musical about abortion? That’s the idea behind “Female Troubles,” a show now in development, perhaps en route to Broadway.
Two-time Tony-nominated lyricist Amanda Green and her theater partner, composer Curtis Moore, will stage a one-night presentation of Female Troubles at Bucks County Playhouse, part of the Playhouse’s annual Oscar Hammerstein Festival, with this portion appropriately dedicated to preparing, sharpening, and practicing musicals on their way to Broadway.
“Women’s reproductive freedom is something I care about deeply, and the situation has been eroding for a decade. It’s been alarming, and now there’s a fire in the building.”
Saturday’s show will be part concert, part preview, part interview. Playhouse executive producer Robyn Goodman will interview Green and Moore about the process of developing a Broadway musical.
“There’s always a long road to Broadway,” said Green, who wrote the lyrics for Broadway’s “Mr. Saturday Night,” starring Billy Crystal, and was nominated for a 2022 Tony Award for her work. “I have a track record, so it’s not unheard of. The musical is very strong and very entertaining, so we feel very bullish about it.”
Running the songs and other aspects by an audience will help, she said. “Absolutely, it matters. It’s the only way to gauge if something is working. You can’t develop a show without the most important collaborator — the audience — telling you what is landing with them and what isn’t.”
Green said she has always been interested in the people who have provided abortions and wanted somehow to write them into a musical.
“Women’s reproductive freedom is something I care about deeply, and the situation has been eroding for a decade,” she said. “It’s been alarming, and now there’s a fire in the building.”
Most of the work that went into creating Female Troubles happened well before the recent headlines involving a possible U.S. Supreme Court overturn of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
Doing research, Green came upon Madame Restell, the trade name of a woman who sold birth control pills and performed abortions in the 1800s. Female Troubles describes the journey of two unmarried women who found themselves pregnant and turned to someone like Restell for help.
“The stakes are very real,” said Green.
She said she chose to set the play in the 1800s because raising sensitive issues is sometimes easier when seen through the lens of an earlier time. “It’s hard to have perspective speaking about what happening today in today’s world, and we also want it to be funny,” Green said.
While the initial idea for Female Troubles was hers, the rest, she said, has been an evolving collaboration with her partners — Moore, who was nominated for an Emmy for his music on Amazon Prime’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and writers Jennifer Crittenden (Seinfeld) and Gabrielle Allan (HBO’s Emmy-winning Veep).
Green grew up in the world of theater. Her mother, Phyllis Newman, was a singer and actor and her father, Adolph Green, was a well-known lyricist and playwright who worked with longtime collaborator Betty Comden. His credits include works on stage (Peter Pan, Applause, Singin’ in the Rain) and on screen (Singin’ In the Rain, Auntie Mame).
“I never had any other ambition than to be in the theater, because that’s what my parents did,” Green said. “I loved what they were doing. They and all their friends were smart and funny, and they loved what they did, so I never wanted to do anything else.”
Her parents praised good grades, she said, but “if you said something funny or you wrote a parody, that was the coin of the realm.”
June 18 only, Bucks County Playhouse, 70 S. Main St., New Hope, 215-862-2121 or bcptheater.org
‘Curse of the Starving Class’
Curse of the COVID shut down EgoPo Classic Theater’s production of Sam Shepard’s “Curse of the Starving Class” just days before opening in March 2020. Imagined then as the final show in EgoPo’s year-long festival of Shepard plays, it now closes EgoPo’s current season dedicated to awakenings and transformations. Shepard described this piece, which includes a guest appearance by an actual sheep, as his most autobiographical play. It examines the intergenerational legacy of violence and trauma. “Our production is a visceral and expressionist journey into the experience of a family in tumult,” EgoPo’s founding artistic director, Lane Savadove, said in a statement.
Through June 26, EgoPo Classic Theater at the URBN Center Annex Black Box Theater at Drexel University, 3401 Filbert St., Philadelphia, 267-273-1414 or egopo.org
‘The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged’
Got 80 minutes? That’s all it takes to get the entire run of novelist Jane Austen’s heroines, friends, and love interests. Yes, we’re talking Emma, Elinor, Mr. Darcy, and more in “The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged” presented by Tiny Dynamite.
Through June 26, live. Available for streaming June 29 through July 17. Tiny Dynamite at the Louis Bluver Theatre at the Drake, 302 S. Hicks St., Philadelphia, 215-399-0088 or tinydynamite.org.
‘Into the Woods’
Arden Theatre Company’s production of “Into the Woods,” a Stephen Sondheim musical, has been extended until July 10. The cast features a number of Philly acting pros, among them Scott Greer, Katherine Fried, and Ben Dibble. The story is a mash-up of every child’s fairy tale you’ve ever heard of, plus maybe a couple new ones. Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Jack, of Jack and the Beanstalk fame, all show up, each with wishes, each facing tough choices. In other news, Arden announced it would relaunch its children’s theater program in December starting with “Charlotte’s Web.”
Through July 10, Arden Theatre Co., 40 N. Second St., Philadelphia. 215-922-1122 or ardentheatre.org Read critic Julia M. Klein’s review here.
‘72 Miles to Go …'
Seventy-two miles separate a recently deported mother in Nogales, Mexico, from her children and husband in Tucson, Ariz. Their love binds them, but much is lost, as the politics of immigration drags on. Erlina Ortiz and Seth Rozin direct InterAct Theatre Co.’s production of Hilary Bettis’ “72 Miles to Go …” On Sunday, June 19, Blanca Pancheo, co-director of the New Sanctuary Movement Philadelphia, will appear on stage after the show in conversation with Rozin. On June 23, Philippe Weisz, director of Legal Services of HIAS Pennsylvania, an immigrant assistance organization, will speak, and on June 26, Will Gonzalez, executive director of Ceiba Philadelphia, a coalition of Latino community organizations, will take the stage after the show.
Through June 26, InterAct Theatre Co. at the Drake, 302 S. Hicks St. Philadelphia. 215-568-8079 or interacttheatre.org
‘I’m in Therapy’
There’s still time to catch Steve Solomon’s “My Mother’s Italian, My Father’s Jewish, & I’m in Therapy” through June 19 at the Delaware Theatre Co. in Wilmington. The theater company has announced its upcoming season, opening with the world premiere of “Here You Come Again” on Sept. 14. Before then, on June 21, Jenna Pastuszek presents “Me, Myself & Barbra,” a one-woman show/concert dedicated to Barbra Streisand. Jason Cohen rocks “The Return of Jerry Lee Lewis” on June 29. Both concert/shows are outdoors. Bring your own chair.
Through June 19. Delaware Theatre Co., 200 Water St., Wilmington, 302-594-1100 or delawaretheatre.org
Check with individual venues for COVID-19 protocols.