After 2 workshops over the last 3 years and 3+ weeks of rehearsal, Theatre Movement Bazaar’s Tiny Little Town opens tonight!
It’s been quite a ride…as they usually are. The main difference this time for me has been all the stuff happening outside of the show.
Challenges
I lost my dear friend André in December and went back to NJ for the funeral at the beginning of the year. He would always come to see our shows when he was in town. Afterwards we’d sit around and laugh about it as he asked many, many questions about the process of creating the shows and all about the people in them. He was a huge fan. So there’s been some sadness as we create this beauty.
And then…Loretta & I started getting some work done on our house which displaced us for a few weeks. We’re only back now, and it’s not fully complete, so that’s also been off-putting. The worst part of that was taking Grey in for a teeth cleaning only to find out he needed 6 teeth removed. We had no idea he was in such pain, but now that they’re gone, it’s obvious he was. 
So trying to manage my day-job, the show, Grey’s teeth and skittishness through all this has been…a challenge. Still…it’s all getting done and the show is a riot…so I’m happy.
The Show
The show is adapted from Nikolai Gogol’s The Inspector General, a show I’ve seen numerous adaptations of and have always loved.
For those who like to know the plot before showing up…the story is… officials in a small corrupt town mistake a stranger passing through for an important government inspector and work to bribe him so that they don’t get reported on to even more important government officials. The stranger is a bit of a con-man himself, so he leans into the role heavily. Of course, zaniness ensues as it all spirals out of control.
We’ve set the show in a small American town in the 1970s…you know…simpler times, when there was far less political corruption. 
This is the first full musical that TMB will produce, even though we’ve been adding songs to the shows for years. Again, it’s the uber-talented Wes Myers who has contributed an amazing score, full of pop/jazz and a lot of Romanian-influenced music. It’s fun. Richard Alger’s script is once again smart, fast-paced and ridiculous.
And…as always…it’s built on the stylized movement that Tina Kronis, and TMB, is famous for. You’ve seen it before in TRACK 3, Big Shot, & Grail Project among other projects. Well the big difference here is that we have a cast of 12! More people…more energy. That’s the way it works, right?
A Teaser (from the 2022 workshop)
The cast includes:
Nick Apostolina, Joey Aquino, Prisca Kim, Ishiki Mucchal, Jesse Myers, Isaiah Noriega, Lamont Oakley, Nikhil Pai, Paula Rebelo, Kasper Svendsen, and Eddie Vona.
For more info on the cast/crew, here’s the program I put together for the show in a pdf format: TLT program -Jan 2024- FINAL.pdf (996.8 KB)
We open tonight and run on Thu, Fri, Sat & Suns through Feb 18th. You can see the performance calendar I put on my forum in the link on the sidebar. Hopefully we sell enough that we get a one week extension, but that’s never a guarantee so get your tickets now.
I’ll drop some photos once we get those.
I hope to see you at the theatre! 
p.s. If you want to get even more of a taste of TMB’s work, check out their YouTube channel. That’s a rabbit-hole you’ll definitely enjoy.
