The original musical "Abra Cadabra and the Fabulous Falconi with Book, Music and Lyrics by Michael L. Ricciardi and John D. Nugent opens Friday night, October 4th at 7:30pm at the Actor's Garden Theatre in Los Angeles (near the corner of Fountain and Wilton Place)
This Neil Simon type musical comedy tells the story of two childhood friends who each become professional and acclaimed magicians. ABE CADABRA (who invented the phrase "Abra Cadabra") and FRED FALCONI (a comedy magician) have just reached a financial crisis in our period musical set in 1999.
Abe's been thrown out of his home by his selfish son, David and Fred has been tapped out by losing (again) at the races on opening day of Santa Anita. They go looking for a place they can share together and find a run down set of condos that haven't been rented in five years, once owned by the late great billionaire Howard Hughes. The land lady MILDRED POTTS doesn't want to rent to anybody, but gets convinced to do so by the boys. Now into their life arrives their only grand children; two teenagers with happy hormones. They take one look at each other and it's love at first sight. And now the magic trick is not making something disappear, but keeping these two kids apart. It's a hysterical as the men argue over who is more responsible: Abe's grandson or Fred's granddaughter (the boy or the girl) After a duel is declared, the laughs get more hysterical as the moments pass.
The music and lyrics are catchy and hummable and the cast is first rate. For reservations call (818) 714-4771. We open Friday, October 4th and run 5 weekends thru November 3rd. This is one very funny show!
My writing partner is the amazing John D. Nugent. With this amazing musical collaborator, he and I have created about twenty-five musicals over the last eight years. We've had five produced professionally so far and now we are ready for musical number six.
John has always loved magic, and so have I. My cousin was James Crane, who before he became an award winning choreographer of pictures like "Rocky", "Save The Tiger," and "The China Syndrome" to name a few he was a great magician known as "Aubrey, The Great." It was Jim who introduced "shirt sleeve magic" to the world way back in1961. So when my partner said he wanted to create a musical all about magic, it was a challenge, because I didn't want to tell a story about Houdini or even any other famous magician. I wanted to tell a very human story and I wanted to make it a comedy.
So with the training of taking five years of comedy writing instruction from the legendary Danny Simon, brother of Neil, I knew I had to have two characters that would provide "conflict" by page three. I thought of two types of magicians: complete opposites. One would be a now retired, and once amazing traditional magician and the other would be a comedy magician like the great Carl Balentine, the "Victor Borge" of magic. I named the traditional guy "Abe Cadabra" who came up with the phrase "Abra Cadabra." The other had to have a fancy last name, that could be remembered easily. Thinking of the movie "The Maltese Falcon", I named the other one "Fred Falconi." Abe dreams of rejuvenating his career. All he needs to think of is a new gimmick and a new amazing trick, while Fred thinks magic is dead. All he wants is to play the horses. Now we needed to bring these two guys together somehow. I also wanted this to be a bit of a period piece, taking it away from today's internet wonders and computer spectaculars. The story takes place in 1999. Abe has just been thrown out of his selfish only son's house. Fred has just lost his last money at the opening day of Santa Anita. I wanted to place the story in Hollywood and I learned of some run down condos (now demolished) that had been around the base of the Hollywood sign that had belonged to Howard Hughes. I wanted to tie the Hollywood sign into the story, so I tied an important historical fact about the sign as part of the dramatic structure. John and I added a curmudgeon landlady with a secret heart of gold and we had a great start. Now what would divide two old friends who had to move in together because of financial necessity? Well, the "Odd Couple" was long ago taken and was sold hat by now.
So John and I determined that they weren't "The Odd Couple," but the "wrong couple to live together." Maybe they were both slobs. But the thing that made them alike was the fact that they each had one teenage grandchild, with over active hormones, and who each get "kicked out' out of their family homes at eighteen. The boy because he doesn't want to be a lawyer (just a magician like his grandfather) and the super talented, very creative girl because her parents simply don't understand her. Bring thes elements together and you have a new small cast ensemble type musical comedy called "Abra Cadabra and the Fabulous Falconi."
The new musical will open and play five weekends at the Actor's Garden Theatre at 1306 North Wilton Place In Los Angeles begining October 6, 2013. Auditions are Tuesday, August 6th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the theatre. If you'd like to audition just call the Creative Horizons "hot line" at 818-714-4771. The play is dedicated to Mr. Milt Larsen, the owner of the amazing "Magic Castle" in Los Angeles. By the way, dear Milt and my cousin Jim Crabe were boyhood friends in Santa Monica together, doing magic and making movies--their other passion. More news about the show in future blogs. Come and see this wonderful show when it opens in October.
