Made Me Nuclear, the Operetta
They radiated him, but they couldn’t silence him - Charlie Lustman, surviving cancer one song at a time. Made Me Nuclear Lustman’s pop music operetta may have come from his personal story but it is a universal one familiar to survivors everywhere. Blending humor and intimacy this is a show for anyone who has faced a challenge in life. A theatrical adaptation of the album by the same name - Made Me Nuclear.
Santa Monica, CA, August 09, 2008 --(PR.com)-- They radiated him, but they couldn’t silence him: Charlie Lustman, surviving cancer one song at a time. Made Me Nuclear, Lustman’s pop music operetta blends humor and intimacy to tell a story that is both a personal and a universal one, familiar to survivors everywhere. This is an evening of theatre that is for everyone who has ever faced a challenge in life. It opens at Santa Monica Playhouse on Friday, September 5th, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. and continues Fridays and Saturdays through October 11th, 2008.
Performer/songwriter Charlie Lustman grew up in Los Angeles. He started composing pop songs as a teenager and after graduating from Berklee College of Music in Boston traveled the world for ten years, lived and performed in Copenhagen with his band “The Heart and Souls,” and in the early 1990s produced and recorded his first studio album, The Golden Road, Vol. I. He also wrote songs for several renowned acts in Scandinavia who wanted to sing in English, and it was there that he released his second studio album, SHAYA, in 2006.
TV audiences will recognize him as the composer and performer of the theme song on ABC’s “The Mike and Maty show,” but Lustman is perhaps best known to Los Angeles audiences for his role in rescuing and reopening The Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax Avenue, the last remaining silent cinema in the world, which he turned into a one-of-a-kind successful working revival theatre lauded by film buffs globally.
From 1999 to 2006 he brought silent movies back to the screen with live musical accompaniment. In 2006, undergoing chemotherapy following surgery to remove the cancer in his jawbone and not able to devote his attention full time to the theatre, he sold it to focus on regaining his health. This life change brokered a return to his first passion – music. Throughout his illness, surgeries, and chemotherapy, Lustman wrote music. Finished with treatments, and remarkably with a completely rebuilt jaw, he embarked on a national tour of Denmark in conjunction with the release of his second album (produced and recorded while undergoing chemotherapy treatments following his surgeries). All this time he was at work to express in song what he had just experienced. Upon his return to California he completed and produced his third studio album, Made Me Nuclear, arguably the first pop album about surviving cancer. Released in July of 2008, “A-dollar-a-disc” will be donated to The Sarcoma Alliance, the only national organization dedicated to helping those afflicted with this rare disease. Made Me Nuclear the operetta is the theatrical adaptation of the album.
Director Chris DeCarlo has been directing, writing and acting in Los Angeles for over forty years and is acknowledged for his critically acclaimed crafting of world and American premiere productions by such renowned playwrights as Michel Garneau, Stephen King, Brenda Krantz, Robert B. Parker, Sheila Rae, Annie Reiner, Sammy Shore, Robert Waldman, David Williamson, and Lois Wyse, including five of Playwright Jerry Mayer’s plays, most recently the LA Times recommended “Dietrich & Chevalier, the musical.” He has directed more than two hundred plays on three continents, from the Henry Street Settlement Theatre in New York to the Dream Factory in Warwickshire and the gargantuan Hitomi Memorial Hall in Tokyo. As a performer, DeCarlo has created more than 300 roles, with over 10,000 on-stage performances. Over a quarter of a million people have been touched by his award-winning characterization of Yiddish humorist Sholom Aleichem.
Sound design is by John Ugarte and lighting design is by The Attic Room, a full-service design team specializing in lighting for the intimate stage. Charlie Lustman’s costumes are by Ri. Made Me Nuclear is presented by The Sarcoma Alliance (www.TheSarcomaAlliance.com). Founded by sarcoma survivors, its mission is to guide, educate and support people with sarcomas and their family, friends and caregivers.
Made Me Nuclear opens for previews September 4th, 2008 and plays on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. through October 11th, 2008. Tickets for the gala preview, which includes a post-show reception, are $50.00 and for all other performances $25.00. Purchase tickets online at www.MadeMeNuclear.com or call 1-866-468-3399.
Santa Monica Playhouse is located at 1211 4th Street (between Arizona & Wilshire) in Santa Monica. Convenient inexpensive parking is located directly across the street in parking structure #1. By public transportation take the Santa Monica Blue Bus or the LA Metro Rapid #620 and exit at 4th and Wilshire.
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Note To PressS: Press Kit and photos are available online at www.MadeMeNuclear.com
Official Press Opening is Friday, September 5th, 2008 at 8:00 p.m.
Performer/songwriter Charlie Lustman grew up in Los Angeles. He started composing pop songs as a teenager and after graduating from Berklee College of Music in Boston traveled the world for ten years, lived and performed in Copenhagen with his band “The Heart and Souls,” and in the early 1990s produced and recorded his first studio album, The Golden Road, Vol. I. He also wrote songs for several renowned acts in Scandinavia who wanted to sing in English, and it was there that he released his second studio album, SHAYA, in 2006.
TV audiences will recognize him as the composer and performer of the theme song on ABC’s “The Mike and Maty show,” but Lustman is perhaps best known to Los Angeles audiences for his role in rescuing and reopening The Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax Avenue, the last remaining silent cinema in the world, which he turned into a one-of-a-kind successful working revival theatre lauded by film buffs globally.
From 1999 to 2006 he brought silent movies back to the screen with live musical accompaniment. In 2006, undergoing chemotherapy following surgery to remove the cancer in his jawbone and not able to devote his attention full time to the theatre, he sold it to focus on regaining his health. This life change brokered a return to his first passion – music. Throughout his illness, surgeries, and chemotherapy, Lustman wrote music. Finished with treatments, and remarkably with a completely rebuilt jaw, he embarked on a national tour of Denmark in conjunction with the release of his second album (produced and recorded while undergoing chemotherapy treatments following his surgeries). All this time he was at work to express in song what he had just experienced. Upon his return to California he completed and produced his third studio album, Made Me Nuclear, arguably the first pop album about surviving cancer. Released in July of 2008, “A-dollar-a-disc” will be donated to The Sarcoma Alliance, the only national organization dedicated to helping those afflicted with this rare disease. Made Me Nuclear the operetta is the theatrical adaptation of the album.
Director Chris DeCarlo has been directing, writing and acting in Los Angeles for over forty years and is acknowledged for his critically acclaimed crafting of world and American premiere productions by such renowned playwrights as Michel Garneau, Stephen King, Brenda Krantz, Robert B. Parker, Sheila Rae, Annie Reiner, Sammy Shore, Robert Waldman, David Williamson, and Lois Wyse, including five of Playwright Jerry Mayer’s plays, most recently the LA Times recommended “Dietrich & Chevalier, the musical.” He has directed more than two hundred plays on three continents, from the Henry Street Settlement Theatre in New York to the Dream Factory in Warwickshire and the gargantuan Hitomi Memorial Hall in Tokyo. As a performer, DeCarlo has created more than 300 roles, with over 10,000 on-stage performances. Over a quarter of a million people have been touched by his award-winning characterization of Yiddish humorist Sholom Aleichem.
Sound design is by John Ugarte and lighting design is by The Attic Room, a full-service design team specializing in lighting for the intimate stage. Charlie Lustman’s costumes are by Ri. Made Me Nuclear is presented by The Sarcoma Alliance (www.TheSarcomaAlliance.com). Founded by sarcoma survivors, its mission is to guide, educate and support people with sarcomas and their family, friends and caregivers.
Made Me Nuclear opens for previews September 4th, 2008 and plays on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. through October 11th, 2008. Tickets for the gala preview, which includes a post-show reception, are $50.00 and for all other performances $25.00. Purchase tickets online at www.MadeMeNuclear.com or call 1-866-468-3399.
Santa Monica Playhouse is located at 1211 4th Street (between Arizona & Wilshire) in Santa Monica. Convenient inexpensive parking is located directly across the street in parking structure #1. By public transportation take the Santa Monica Blue Bus or the LA Metro Rapid #620 and exit at 4th and Wilshire.
###
Note To PressS: Press Kit and photos are available online at www.MadeMeNuclear.com
Official Press Opening is Friday, September 5th, 2008 at 8:00 p.m.
Contact
Santa Monica Group Theatre/Santa Monica Playhouse
Sandra Zeitzew
310-394-9779 x651
SantaMonicaPlayhouse.com
Sandra Zeitzew
310-394-9779 x651
SantaMonicaPlayhouse.com
Contact
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