THE FITZGERALDS OF ST. PAUL

Book, Music and Lyrics by Christie Baugher

November 8 – 24, 2024

A Preview Production of a New Musical.

Directed & Choreographed by Danny Mefford.

Memory play meets gin-soaked vaudeville.  

Get ready for an exclusive sneak peek into a sensational new musical this November! Be among the first audiences to enjoy a preview production of The Fitzgeralds of St. Paul– book, lyrics, and music by talented Larson Grant recipient, Christie Baugher, with orchestrations by Frank Galgano and Matt Castle.

Join us as we proudly bring home a piece of a beloved Buffalonian and Irish American literary legend, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and his wife Zelda’s legacy. Immerse yourself in a mesmerizing blend of memory play and gin-soaked vaudeville, as we invite you to witness a fictionalized, hyper-theatrical portrayal of an infamous marriage. Experience the larger-than-life icons of a bygone era finally stepping forward to share their captivating story.

Directed by the acclaimed Danny Mefford, known for his work on Broadway hits like Dear Evan Hansen and Fun Home, and featuring stellar performances by Shannon O’Boyle and Jewell Wilson Bridges, The Fitzgeralds of St. Paul promises to be an unforgettable theatrical event.

Additional Programming:

Open Rehearsal (for Subscribers Only): Wednesday, October 30, 2024 at 6:30pm

Community Matinees ($12/Ticket):
Thursday, November 7, 2024 at 10:00am – *Currently SOLD OUT!
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 at 10:00am

Opening Night Reception: Friday, November 8, 2024 at 7:30pm
A casual reception with light appetizers (generously provided by our friends and sponsor, The Bijou) will follow the show, offering a chance to mingle and continue the conversation with the creative team. 

Pay-What-You-Will Performances*: 
Saturday, November 9, 2024 at 2:00pm
Saturday, November 9, 2024 at 7:30pm
Saturday, November 16, 2024 at 7:30pm
Saturday, November 23, 2024 at 7:30pm
(*Purchase in-person at the Box Office on the day of the performance. Seating subject to availability.)

Speaker Series & Special Event Reception: Sunday, November 10, 2024 at 1:30pm
Featuring distinguished speakers Christie Baugher, the writer and composer of the musical, and director Danny Mefford. This series will delve into the creative process behind bringing the Fitzgeralds’ story to life on stage. A small, casual reception with light appetizers will follow the show and Talk Back, offering a chance to mingle and continue the conversation with the creative team.

Talk Back Thursdays: Engage with the Creators! After every Thursday performance, stay for a free Talk Back where members of the creative team discuss their roles and answer your questions about their creative journey.
Thursday, November 7, 2024 at 10:00am
Thursday, November 14, 2024 at 7:30pm
Thursday, November 21, 2024 at 7:30pm

Open Captioned Performance: Saturday, November 16, 2024 at 2:00pm
(Open Captioned Performances: An LED captioning screen, located in the South East corner of the theatre displays the dialogue and any other audio portion of the production in text form in sync with the performance. For questions about reserving seating in view of the captioning signage, please contact ICTC’s Box Office at 716-853-4282 (voice), or email BoxOffice@irishclassical.com.)

Closing Performance & Special Event Reception: Sunday, November 24, 2024 at 2:00pm. Join us for a special Closing Performance, followed by a reception to honor two families whose incredible contributions have been instrumental in the creation of The Andrews Theatre at 625 Main Street. This performance is dedicated to The McGuire Family and Larry Quinn, who have played pivotal roles in ICTC’s journey over the last 25+ years. As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of our home at 625 Main Street, we invite you to mingle with ICTC Board Members, creative professionals, and VIPs who have shaped our history. Raise a glass of champagne with us in gratitude for their unwavering support and commitment to the arts.

A Note from the Composer, Lyricist & Playwright:

In my experience, time is linear — but life isn’t.  Our memories zig zag and loop around themselves as we reflect and try to make sense of our experiences.  For those of us who are neurodivergent in some way, navigating the spirals and refractions of memory can be a particularly intense experience, in both good ways and bad.  

Those of us who tell stories also see those pathways as an invitation to explore.  But what if your desire to make sense of your own story is at odds with your ability to do so?  That’s the question I’ve been wrestling with in the ten years that I’ve been working on The Fitzgeralds of St. Paul.  Zelda Fitzgerald once famously said, “I hate a room without an open suitcase in it — it seems so permanent.”  What better place to explore the depths of a fractured memory than a room full of them?

The story we as a culture are now told about Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald is complicated by almost a century of other people’s ideas about them — ideas about mental health, addiction, celebrity, wealth and class, gender politics in relationships, professional jealousy, plagiarism, and what it means to be both a success and a failure in the shadow of the American Dream.  The Fitzgeralds were in many ways the first “influencers” — by being wildly, unapologetically themselves in a very public way, they became famous for a kind of aspirational excess that was ultimately their undoing.

These two people both died tragically young — Scott from a heart attack induced by his alcohol abuse at the age of 44 in 1940, and Zelda in a hospital fire in 1948 at the age of 47.  They didn’t live to see or understand the bigger picture of their lives — how complicated and beautiful they truly were, or the impact both their love story and their art would have on future generations.  My hope is that you as an audience walk away from this show with this: none of us have access to or control over the bigger picture of our lives, but we do have control over the stories we tell ourselves.  Be kind to yourself.  You did your best.  We all did.  To quote F. Scott Fitzgerald himself, “You mustn’t confuse a single failure with a final defeat…”

I’m thrilled to be partnering with Irish Classical Theatre Company to finally bring this show to life, and I can’t imagine a better first audience than Buffalo, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s boyhood home.  Thank you for being here.  I hope you enjoy the show.

-Christie Baugher

About the Composer & Playwright:

Christie Baugher is a Los Angeles-based musical storyteller for stage and screen originally from Louisville, Kentucky. Her musicals include The Fitzgeralds of St. Paul (2023 ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop in Los Angeles; official selection of the 2020 Pacific Playwrights Festival, South Coast Rep; sold out in concert at Joe’s Pub at the Public, 2019) and Leni Riefenstahl Is Going To Tell You The Truth. A recipient of the American Theatre Wing’s 2022 Jonathan Larson Grant and the ASCAP Foundation’s 2023 Harold Adamson Award for Lyrics, her work as a playwright and songwriter has been featured on five continents. Recently, Christie contributed songs to the off-Broadway productions of Gwen Kingston’s Anna Karenina: A Riff and Dana Aber’s Baggage at the Door. Her choral arrangements for New York’s Peace of Heart Choir are part of the rotating soundscape at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Christie is a graduate of the NYU/Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program (Cycle 21) and a proud member of ASCAP, the Dramatists Guild and Maestra. She is a 2015 honoree of the York’s NEO (new/emerging/outstanding) program, under the mentorship of Michael John LaChiusa. ChristieBaugher.com / @timidfrieda / https://www.fitzgeraldsmusical.com/

About the Director & Choreographer:

Danny Mefford has choreographed three Tony Award winners for Best Musical: Kimberly Akimbo, Dear Evan Hansen, and Fun Home. As a director, his work includes a national tour of Shrek, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee! at The Kennedy Center, Becoming Liv Ullman at the NY Fringe, and the upcoming projects The Gorgeous Nothings. Highlights of his work off-Broadway include Love’s Labour’s Lost (Drama Desk nomination, Best Choreography), Miss You Like Hell, February House, Much Ado About Nothing, and Good Person of Szechwan. He also choreographed an international tour of The Sound of Music. For television, he staged all the theatrical sequences for Rise on NBC, made several dances for Dickinson on Apple TV+, and choreographed a sequence for Fleischman Is in Trouble on FX. He has an MFA in Acting from Brown University/Trinity Rep and has degrees in Theatre and Political Science from the University of Evansville.

About the Music Director/Conductor/Piano:

Bridget Moriarty is the associate professor of theatre and resident music director, and the Sharon Onevelo Watkinson Endowed Professor of Theatre and Vocal Performance, at Niagara University and coordinator of the vocal curriculum.  She is an award-winning music director and has extensive credits as a singer on the music theatre, operatic, and symphonic stages. Niagara University music directing credits include Rent, Fun Home, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Songs for a New World, Legally Blonde, Little Shop of Horrors, Chicago, and She Loves Me. Bridget has performed with Symphoria!, the Syracuse Symphony, Greensboro Opera, Syracuse Opera, and Oswego Opera. On the concert stage, she has appeared in performances of Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Handel’s Messiah, and as a featured soloist in the 2013 & 2014 Greensboro Opera Galas. In 2015 Bridget won the Mid-Atlantic Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Award competition, and went on to receive the Mary Wolfman Award at the national level in 2016. Bridget is a proud member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts in vocal performance from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

About the Actors:

Shannon O’Boyle, SAG-AFTRA and AEA, is a conservatory-trained actress and teaching artist. Broadway: Once (Girl s/b), Kinky Boots (Nicola); TV: Manifest; Regional selects: 5-Star Theatricals: The Sound of Music (Maria), Playhouse Square: Lizzie (Lizzie Borden), Broadway at Sacramento: Legally Blonde (Vivienne), Berkeley Rep: Amélie, North Carolina Theatre: Newsies (Katherine). Film: A Marriage on the Rocks, The Seed of Truth, Blackwater. Shannon teaches youth at BGB Studio, at LAUSD high schools through Fountain Theatre’s Fountain Voices program, and as a private coach. She collaborates with a collective, YOCG, as a creative producer and director. @shansoboyle

Jewell Wilson Bridges is proud to be making his ICTC debut! His recent portrayal of a young Orson Welles in the film Voodoo MacBeth was hailed by Variety as “a star performance…a well-nigh fearless piece of work”. He has worked extensively on new musicals in NYC with Prospect Theater Co., the Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program at NYU-Tisch, NYMF, AMAS Musical Theatre, and the York. He has toured with Cameron Mackintosh & Trevor Nunn’s revival of My Fair Lady from the West End, Terry Johnson’s revival of La Cage aux Folles, and internationally with the new musical Academy, which won BEST MUSICAL at the Daegu Int’l Musical Festival. Special thanks to his manager Cyrena Esposito, his family, and to Dan for all their love and support.
insta: @jewellwilsonbridges