"O'Connor & Vogel: Guy & Doll" at DON'T TELL MAMA

"O'Connor & Vogel: Guy & Doll" with Brian Tom O'Connor & Debra Vogel opened at DON'T TELL MAMA (343 West 46th Street, NYC - 212-757-0788 - http://www.donttellmama.com/) on Monday, June 17th, with additional performances scheduled for Mondays, June 24th & July 1st, as well as Thursdays, July 11th, 18th & 25th - all shows at 7:00 pm. Musical Director is Darryl Curry, with direction by Elfin Frederick.

"It all starts with seduction." Those are the opening words of "O'Connor & Vogel: Guy & Doll," a hilarious and touching new cabaret/theatre revue starring Debra Vogel & Brian Tom O'Connor. And from there the whole saga of the war of the sexes is spun through song. From sex to fear to marriage, through conflict, jealousy, regret, and on to joyful resignation, O'Connor & Vogel mine the grand treasure trove of the musical theatre for humor and poignancy. They will be joined on stage by musical director and arranger Darryl Curry at the piano.

The working title of "Guy & Doll" was "&," but Debra and Brian found that as a title it left a few people confused. "But the ampersand says so much about what we're about," says O'Connor. "There's the romantic link between two peopleÆÆwhich is what so many great songs are about, there's the on-stage partnership of the duet format, and there's the fact that so many magnificent numbers were written by great songwriting teams, such as Rogers & Hammerstein, Lerner & Lane, and Styne, Comden & Green, all of whom are represented in the show." Of course, the great solo tunesmiths like Cole Porter and Irving Berlin aren't left out, but O'Connor & Vogel like to think of them as "Porter & Porter" and "Berlin & Berlin" since they wrote both the music and the lyrics so memorably.

One of the things that sets "O'Connor & Vogel: Guy & Doll" apart from other cabaret evenings, is that O'Connor and Vogel stage each song as a scene between two characters, instead of simply standing in front of a microphone and singing. "We were very influenced by Nichols & May," says director Elfin Frederick, "and we wanted to present that kind of evening, but in song." Several of the songs, however, are sung straightforwardly to the audience. Brian and Debra feel that even in an evening of character songs, the audience likes to get a sense of who the performers are. "We make sure that among the comedy and the characterizations, there is a healthy dose of simple, direct emotion, as ourselves."

Another distinctive feature is that the material is culled not from the love ballads of the (often younger) romantic leads, but from the character duets, usually sung by the comic couple or the veteran character actors ÆÆ for instance, "I'll Never Be Jealous Again," which was sung by Eddie Foy Jr. and Reta Shaw in THE PAJAMA GAME, and "Take A Job" from DO RE MI, which starred Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker in the original Broadway cast.

Debra Vogel is a regular performer at DON'T TELL MAMA (343 West 46th Street, NYC - 212-757-0788 - http://www.donttellmama.com/), where she recently sang the world premiere of the art songs of Frederic Mompou. Her musical theatre credits include roles in GEORGE M, MY FAIR LADY, ROSE MARIE, THE VAGABOND KING, and Villa Lobos' THE GIRL FROM THE CLOUDS, as well as in new works such as THE SNOW QUEEN (title role), THE TEDDY BEAR HABIT and DORIAN GRAY: A MUSICAL FABLE. She has also acted in YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, OTHELLO, Ionesco's EXIT THE KING, and THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE. Debra has created several cabaret shows, ("Debra Vogel: An Evening of Love;" "Love Addiction and Other Affairs of the Heart;" "Foreign Affairs"), which she has performed with Darryl Curry at various clubs in New York City.

Actor, singer and director Brian Tom O'Connor recently played Mushnik in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at the Lycian Centre, and the title role in THE AMERICAN at the Wiener Unterhaltungs Theater in Vienna. He performed in the musical, PAPER TIGER at New York Theatre Ensemble, and played Herod in Oscar Wilde's SALOME. His regional theatre credits include ROUGH CROSSING, THE MAN OF DESTINY, and INCIDENT AT VICHY. Other New York credits include THE CHERRY ORCHARD, THREE SISTERS, and MEASURE FOR MEASURE (all directed by Elfin Frederick), MORNING MILKING, EVENING MILKING, MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, THE IMPRESARIO, and SQUEEZE. He performed in the New Moon Theatre Company's THE BIG REWARD, which was written and directed by Rosemary Foley and Mr. O'Connor. His recent film credits include "The Claddagh Story" and "A Reasonable Hypothesis."

Darryl Curry is a composer, arranger, performer and musical director whose work ranges from jazz to musical theatre to sacred music. Mr. Curry has written the musicals THE ELEPHANT PIECE, QUITTERS, GEORGE Q, and DORIAN GRAY, as well as incidental music for the 1999 Twentieth Anniversary production of THE ELEPHANT MAN. He has two commissioned works, "The 46th Street Mass," and the ballet, "My Shadow." Darryl lives and writes in New York and is Director of Music at St. Clement's Episcopal Church. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Temple University and the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York.

Elfin Frederick directed Ms. Vogel's previous cabaret outings, and also directed Mr. O'Connor in THREE SISTERS, THE CHERRY ORCHARD, and MEASURE FOR MEASURE. Elfin's previous cabaret shows include LaRocco & Austin's "Push my Buttons" at Eighty Eights, "Love Addiction and Other Affairs of the Heart" at Panache, "The Debra Vogel Fantasy Hour" at Paper Moon, and, at Don't Tell Mama, "A Valentine's Day Celebration" and "Are We Having Any Fun." He also directed productions of the musicals, ARMS AKIMBO and BRIGADOON. Elfin plays the violin whenever he can, and recently he shared the stage with Mr. O'Connor, in the role of Joseph, a violin-playing political prisoner in the Viennese world-premiere of Kirt Gunn's THE AMERICAN.

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