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The Girl who Forgot to Sing Badly by Dublin’s Theatre Lovett at The New Victory Theater
May 31, 2013 @ 7:00 pm - June 9, 2013 @ 5:00 pm
An event every week that begins at 7:00 pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, repeating indefinitely
The New Victory Theater presents Theatre Lovett’s
The Girl who Forgot to Sing Badly
at The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 West 42nd Street
New York Debut: May 31 – June 9, 2013
In this inventive one-man production, Louis Lovett spins a fantastical yarn about a young heroine who journeys over snowy lands and high seas to save the day and rescue an entire city. Commissioned by The Ark, written by accomplished Australian playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer (The Tragical Life of Cheeseboy, New Vic 2011) and helmed by celebrated director Lynne Parker, Theatre Lovett’s The Girl who Forgot to Sing Badly is Irish storytelling with a modern twist. The Girl who Forgot to Sing Badly is presented by The New Victory Theater and will make its NY premiere at The Duke on 42nd Street from May 31 through June 9, 2013.
Peggy O’Hegarty and her parents are packers. They pack fruit into tins, foxes into boxes, even the longest word in the dictionary into a single breath. All the while, Peggy sings with the voice of an angel – a grossly unfortunate angel, who can’t sing at all. One day, Peggy wakes up to find the entire town deserted. In The Girl who Forgot to Sing Badly, storyteller extraordinaire Lovett leads the audience on an untamed adventure as Peggy finds the courage to sing gloriously off-key. Aided only by an ingenious set designed by Paul O’Mahony—in which the world of a whole city is contained within one large, unfolding and magical crate—Lovett switches seamlessly from hero to villain and from man to mouse, employing improvisation and encouraging audience participation along the way.
The Girl who Forgot to Sing Badly by Theatre Lovett became a success when producer Muireann Ahern Lovett united the unique talents of Lovett and Kruckemeyer; the playwright was the perfect complement to the actor’s performance style. In a short while, The Girl who Forgot to Sing Badly made its world premiere in the spring of 2010, soon embarking on a tour throughout Ireland. Since then, the show has performed around the world, including presentations at the Imaginate Festival in Edinburgh, Southbank Centre in London, The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Pennsylvania, the 4th annual International Children’s Festival at PlayhouseSquare in Cleveland, Ohio, the International Performing Arts for Youth conference in Austin, Texas, and the 27thannual Pittsburgh International Children’s Festival, co-presented by the Pittsburgh International Children’s Theater and Giant Eagle. The New Victory Theater will mark the show’s New York debut.
The Girl who Forgot to Sing Badly is written by Finegan Kruckemeyer, directed by Lynne Parker and performed by Louis Lovett. Muireann Ahern Lovett joins as producer and Joint Artistic Director of Theatre Lovett. Maisie Lee serves as stage director, Sarah Durcan is the US tour consultant, Aidan Wallace is production manager and Hugh Roche Kelly is tour production manager. Voice-over is by Darragh Kelly, original set design is by Paul O’Mahony, costume design is by Joan O’Clery, lighting design is by Sinéad Wallace with additional lighting by John Comiskey. Sound and music design is by Carl Kennedy and Eoin McNinch is Chief LX and Relighter.
Performance Schedule: 10 performances
Fri 5/31 7pm
Sat 6/1 2pm and 7pm
Sun 6/2 12pm and 5pm
Fri 6/7 7pm
Sat 6/8 2pm and 7pm
Sun 6/9 12pm and 5pm
The Girl who Forgot to Sing Badly has a running time of 60 minutes, with no intermission, and is recommended for everyone ages seven and older.
This production of The Girl who Forgot to Sing Badly was originally commissioned by The Ark, A Cultural Centre for Children, Ireland, and produced by The Ark in association with Theatre Lovett.
General Ticket Information
Tickets for The Girl who Forgot to Sing Badly at The Duke on 42nd Street (229 West 42nd Street) cost $18 for Members and $25 Non-members.
Theater-goers who buy tickets for three or more New Victory shows qualify for free Membership benefits, including up to 35-percent savings on tickets all season long. To purchase tickets online, visit NewVictory.org, and to purchase by phone, call 646-223-3010. TheNew Victory Theater box office (209 West 42nd Street) is open Sunday and Monday from 11am-5pm and Tuesday through Saturday from 12pm-7pm. For more information, visit www.newvictory.org.
About Theatre Lovett
Theatre Lovett produces theater for family audiences that engages, entertains and inspires both adults and children alike. Louis Lovett, Joint Artistic Director of the company and performer in The Girl who Forgot to Sing Badly, is one of Ireland’s most critically acclaimed and experienced actors for young audiences. As well as its productions, Theatre Lovett has a unique training and mentorship program for artists, offers professional development opportunities for educators and has many strands of work under its outreach wing. They premiered The House that Jack Filled by Finegan Kruckemeyer at the 2012 Dublin Theatre Festival and are laying the tracks for two new shows set to premiere later this year. Theatre Lovett also commissioned B for Baby by Carmel Winters. Produced by Ireland’s National Theatre (The Abbey Theatre), B for Baby won Best New Play at the Irish Times Theatre Awards 2010 and a Best Actor nomination for Lovett. Additionally, Theatre Lovett is the 2011 winner of the David Manley Awards in the Arts category and the overall 2012 winners of the David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur’s Award.
About The New Victory Theater
Since The New Victory Theater opened its doors in 1995, it has become a cultural rite of passage for young New Yorkers, their families and schoolmates. At low ticket prices, The New Victory presents sophisticated, thought-provoking and professional productions that are as artistically rich as they are entertaining, resulting in season after season of multidisciplinary works from around the globe and close to home. The theater’s contributions to the cultural landscape of the city were celebrated by the prestigious New York critics’ organization, The Drama Desk, which presented The New Victory Theater with a 2012 Special Award for “providing enchanting, sophisticated children’s theater that appeals to the child in all of us, and for nurturing a love of theater in young people.”
About The New 42nd Street
An independent, nonprofit organization, The New 42nd Street was created to assume long-term responsibility and oversight for seven historic theaters between 42nd Street and 7th and 8th Avenues. The projects of The New 42nd Street include The NEW VICTORY Theater, a performing arts theater devoted to kids and families; the NEW 42ND STREET® Studios, a state-of-the-art, 10-story performing arts complex for rehearsal, performance and arts administration; and The Duke on 42nd Street, an intimate black-box theater.
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