Be Emphatic!

May 16 – 25, 1996

Part of the Seven Minute Series

Ontological Theater at St. Mark's Church, New York City

 

Produced by Hangdog Theater

 

Directed by Robert Cucuzza 

 

With

Rebecca Finnegan

Sally Eberhardt

Herman Eberhardt

David Cote
Alicia Cheng
Robert Cucuzza

Jennifer Woodward

Mike Rubens

Johanna S. Meyer

Christopher Batonhorst

Gary Brownlee

Susie Sokol

James Urbaniak

Alicia McMillen

Joy Garnett

Richard Maxwell

David Neumann

 

Dance Captain: Johanna S. Meyer

Costume Designer: Jennifer Krasinski

Assistant to Mr. Callahan: Herman Eberhardt

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Projecting a voice as strong as molten steel, Rebecca Finnegan brings down the house with an old-fashioned show-stopping Broadway number. But wait a minute, who are those people running out on stage? A caveman? A hula dancer? A waiter? A belly dancer? A creepy faceless girl lurking in the background? 

 

In a daring turn bordering on insanity, Hangdog Theater presents a show-stopping musical number from the Broadway flop, "I Had A Ball," as it was performed on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1963, three days before the show closed. Recreating the number as best it can (complete with celebrity host Buddy Hackett), this rogue band of performers joyously celebrates voices hitting and missing, dance steps landing in the right and the wrong places, and altogether failing to hit the mark in the same mammoth energetic proportions of the Broadway show's original cast.