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The Spitfire Grill (musical)
Encyclopedia
James Valcq
James Valcq is an American musical theatre composer, lyricist, and librettist.-Biography:Valcq is among the “new guard” of theatre composers championed by Playwrights Horizons and Ira Weitzman, who co-produced the 2001 Off-Broadway production of The Spitfire Grill for which Valcq composed the...
and lyrics and book by Fred Alley
Fred Alley
Fred Alley was an American musical theatre lyricist and librettist who died unexpectedly just as his work gained national recognition. His collaboration on the musical The Spitfire Grill with composer James Valcq won the American Academy of Arts and Letters' prestigious Richard Rodgers Production...
, based on the film by Lee David Zlotoff
Lee David Zlotoff
Lee David Zlotoff is a producer, director and screenwriter best known as the creator of the TV series MacGyver. He started as a screenwriter writing for Hill Street Blues in 1981. He then became a producer of Remington Steele in 1982....
. The Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
production by Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
began previews at the Duke Theatre on 42nd Street on September 7, 2001 and concluded its scheduled run on October 14, 2001. It won the Richard Rodgers Production Award, administered by The American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 250-member honor society; its goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Located in Washington Heights, a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan in New York, it shares Audubon Terrace, its Beaux Arts campus on...
. The musical depicts the journey of a young woman just released from prison who decides to start her life anew in a rural Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
town. She precipitates a journey within the town itself toward its own tenuous reawakening.
History
Authors James ValcqJames Valcq
James Valcq is an American musical theatre composer, lyricist, and librettist.-Biography:Valcq is among the “new guard” of theatre composers championed by Playwrights Horizons and Ira Weitzman, who co-produced the 2001 Off-Broadway production of The Spitfire Grill for which Valcq composed the...
and Fred Alley
Fred Alley
Fred Alley was an American musical theatre lyricist and librettist who died unexpectedly just as his work gained national recognition. His collaboration on the musical The Spitfire Grill with composer James Valcq won the American Academy of Arts and Letters' prestigious Richard Rodgers Production...
had been friends since high school music camp in 1980, but it wasn’t until 1994 that they collaborated on The Passage for Alley’s American Folklore Theatre
American Folklore Theatre
The American Folklore Theatre is a professional theater company that creates, develops, and produces musicals and plays based on the populist culture and heritage of the United States. Located in Door County, Wisconsin, the company began in 1970 as The Heritage Ensemble, performing on the stage of...
in Wisconsin. New York-based Valcq was seeking a follow-up project for the pair after his Zombies from The Beyond
Zombies from The Beyond
Zombies from The Beyond is an American musical comedy with book, music, and lyrics by James Valcq. It opened Off-Broadway on October 11, 1995 at the Players Theatre. The show examines American ideals and foibles during the era of President Dwight D...
closed Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
in 1995. They wanted to create a piece of populist theatre with elements of myth and folktale. Upon seeing the film The Spitfire Grill
The Spitfire Grill
The Spitfire Grill is a 1996 American motion picture that tells a story of a woman who was just released from prison and goes to work in a small-town café known as The Spitfire Grill. A central theme is redemption....
, they had found their vehicle. Actual writing of the musical commenced in October 1999.
A demo tape of a few songs from the score found its way to David Saint
David Saint
Now in his 14th season at George Street Playhouse, Artistic Director David Saint has directed twenty-six mainstage productions, most recently Marlo Thomas and Keith Carradine in Arthur Laurents’ New Year’s Eve, Matthew Arkin in Donald Marguiles’ Sight Unseen, Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys, William...
, Artistic Director of the George Street Playhouse
George Street Playhouse
George Street Playhouse is a theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey, one of the state's preeminent professional theatres committed to the production of new and established plays....
in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. The theatre presented a workshop of the show in June, 2000 featuring Helen Gallagher
Helen Gallagher
Helen Gallagher is an American actress, dancer, singer and makeup artist.-Early years:Born in Brooklyn, she was raised in Scarsdale, New York for several years until the Wall Street crash which heralded the Great Depression, and her family moved to the Bronx. Her parents separated and she was...
as Hannah, and produced the world premiere production in November 2000 featuring Beth Fowler
Beth Fowler
Beth Fowler is an American actress and singer.Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Fowler was a teacher with a fondness for Broadway theatre when she decided to audition for Gantry in 1970. She was signed for the chorus and as understudy for the lead, but the show unfortunately closed on opening night...
as Hannah. Throughout the process, Arthur Laurents
Arthur Laurents
Arthur Laurents was an American playwright, stage director and screenwriter.After writing scripts for radio shows after college and then training films for the U.S...
mentored the creative team, encouraging them to find their own emotional truth in the material. The ending of the musical is entirely different from the ending of the film.
Ira Weitzman, Associate Producer of musicals at Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
, and Tim Sanford, the Artistic Director, saw the George Street production and announced that The Spitfire Grill would open the 2000-2001 season at Playwrights Horizons after a May workshop. Tragically, one week before the workshop, Alley suffered a fatal heart attack while jogging in the woods near his Wisconsin home. He died at the age of 38.
Two weeks later, The Spitfire Grill was presented with the Richard Rodgers Production Award http://www.artsandletters.org/index.php?page=award_display&called_award=Rodgers&sort_by=last_name&award_name=Richard%20Rodgers%20Awards%20for%20Musical%20Theater. Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
chairs the committee that chose the The Spitfire Grill as the winner. The remainder of the group comprised Lynn Ahrens
Lynn Ahrens
Lynn Ahrens is an American writer and lyricist for the musical theatre, television and film. She has collaborated with Stephen Flaherty for many years...
, Jack Beeson
Jack Beeson
Jack Beeson was an American composer. He was known particularly for his operas, the best known of which are Lizzie Borden, Hello Out There! and The Sweet Bye and Bye.-Biography:...
, John Guare
John Guare
John Guare is an American playwright. He is best known as the author of The House of Blue Leaves, Six Degrees of Separation, and Landscape of the Body...
, Sheldon Harnick
Sheldon Harnick
Sheldon Harnick is an American lyricist best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on hit musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof....
, R. W. B. Lewis
R. W. B. Lewis
Richard Warrington Baldwin Lewis was an American literary scholar and critic. He gained a wider reputation when he won a 1976 Pulitzer Prize for biography, the first National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction, and a Bancroft Prize for his biography of Edith Wharton...
, Richard Maltby, Jr.
Richard Maltby, Jr.
Richard Eldridge Maltby, Jr. is an American theatre director and producer, lyricist, and screenwriter. He is also well known as a constructor of cryptic crossword puzzles. He has done this for Harper's Magazine, sometimes in collaboration with E. R...
, and Robert Ward.
The Off-Broadway production featured Phyllis Somerville
Phyllis Somerville
Phyllis Somerville, born 1944, is an American stage, screen, and television actress. Her most prominent role to date was in 2006 as the mother of the sexual predator played by Jackie Earle Haley in Todd Field's Little Children....
as Hannah, Garrett Long as Percy, and Liz Callaway
Liz Callaway
Liz Callaway is an American actress and singer, famous for providing the singing voices of many female characters in films, such as Anya in Anastasia, Odette in The Swan Princess, and Kiara in The Lion King II:Simba's Pride....
as Shelby. It was directed by David Saint. The show received Best Musical nominations from the Outer Critics Circle
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
and Drama League
Drama League Award
The Drama League Awards, created in 1935, honor distinguished productions and performances both on Broadway and Off-Broadway, in addition to recognizing exemplary career achievements in theatre, musical theatre, and directing...
, as well as Drama Desk nominations for Garrett Long as Outstanding Actress in a Musical and Liz Callaway as Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical.
Since the Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
production, The Spitfire Grill has been produced more than 350 times worldwide in regional theatres, festivals, stock, community and school productions. Foreign language versions have been produced in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in 2005, in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
in 2007, and in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in 2009. Notable American versions include a co-production by American Folklore Theatre (co-founded by Fred Alley) and Skylight Opera Theatre
Skylight opera theatre
The Skylight Opera Theatre is a professional light opera company located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1959, Skylight performs in the 358-seat Cabot Theatre at the Broadway Theatre Center in Milwaukee...
(2002) which featured Phyllis Somerville as Hannah, the West Coast premiere at Laguna Playhouse (2002) which won the OC Award for Best Musical, and the Idaho Shakespeare Festival production in 2006 which was conducted by James Valcq. The musical had its UK premiere at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe in a production by the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is a conservatoire of music, drama, and dance in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Educational Association, it is the busiest performing arts venue in Scotland...
and its Australian premiere in July 2010 by The Margaret River Theatre Group.
Synopsis
Act IRural Wisconsin. February. A young woman named Percy Talbott (originally played by Garrett Long) gazes out the window of her prison cell. She’s about to be released. In her pocket is a photograph clipped from a travel book. The caption reads, “Autumn colors along Copper Creek near Gilead, Wisconsin”. ("A Ring Around the Moon") Arriving in Gilead, Percy reports to the local Sheriff, Joe Sutter (originally played by Steven Pasquale
Steven Pasquale
Steven Pasquale is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Sean Garrity in the critically acclaimed series Rescue Me. He made his debut on the HBO series Six Feet Under, playing a love interest for David. He also starred in the film Aliens vs...
). He leads her through the deserted streets to a ramshackle diner called the Spitfire Grill, run by a crusty old widow, Hannah Ferguson (originally played by Phyllis Somerville
Phyllis Somerville
Phyllis Somerville, born 1944, is an American stage, screen, and television actress. Her most prominent role to date was in 2006 as the mother of the sexual predator played by Jackie Earle Haley in Todd Field's Little Children....
), who has a bad hip and sharp tongue. Joe persuades Hannah to take Percy on as a boarder and give her work as a waitress.
Percy sets to work in a swirl of small town suspicions led by Effy (originally played by Mary Gordon Murray), the postmistress who’s also village busybody. ("Something’s Cooking at the Spitfire Grill") In the face of all the gossip and Hannah’s constant haranguing, Percy begins to wonder whether she made a mistake in coming to Gilead. ("Coffee Cups and Gossip") Her thoughts are interrupted by a cry from Hannah, who has tripped on the stairs and broken her leg. Against the better wishes of her fiercely protective nephew Caleb (originally played by Armand Schultz), Hannah has Percy take over the Spitfire. But when it comes to cooking, Percy is clueless. ("Into the Frying Pan") That night, without explaining why, Hannah reluctantly asks Percy to wrap a towel around a loaf of bread and to leave it near the old stump out back of the Grill.
Percy is joined at the Spitfire by Caleb’s wife Shelby (originally played by Liz Callaway
Liz Callaway
Liz Callaway is an American actress and singer, famous for providing the singing voices of many female characters in films, such as Anya in Anastasia, Odette in The Swan Princess, and Kiara in The Lion King II:Simba's Pride....
), an excellent cook. In the heat of the kitchen the two women are drawn together. Shelby tells Percy about Hannah and Gilead’s past – the day her childhood hero went off to war and her hometown changed forever. ("When Hope Goes")
Wanting to escape painful memories, Hannah has had the Grill on the real estate market for ten years with no takers. In a moment of inspiration, Percy proposes a way for Hannah to get rid of the Spitfire and make some money at the same time: a raffle. For a hundred dollars and an essay about why they might want the Grill, anyone can enter. At first Hannah resists, but slowly, something about the craziness of the idea convinces her that it just might work. As the rest of the town watches the long Wisconsin winter stubbornly give way to spring ("Ice and Snow"), the women at the Spitfire plan the details of the contest. Percy and Shelby share a vision of life as they wish it were while writing the advertisement for the raffle. ("The Colors of Paradise")
Caleb spots the contest ads as they begin to appear in out-of-town papers. Without a decent job since the local quarry closed, Caleb has been left trying to sell real estate that no one wants. His frustration turns against a world where it is no longer enough to be a hard-working man. ("Digging Stone")
During a parole session with Sheriff Joe Sutter, Percy tells something of her bleak past growing up in the West Virginia coal mines. Joe in turn spills out his dissatisfaction with life in Gilead. ("This Wide Woods")
As summer approaches, the very first raffle entry arrives in the mail, complete with a hundred dollars and a rather depressing essay which stirs up some of Hannah’s old wounds. ("Forgotten Lullaby") That night, while placing the usual loaf of bread out back, Percy encounters a silent visitor (originally played by Stephen Sinclair). She attempts to make conversation but the mysterious man merely takes the bread and flees. Weeks go by and essays begin to pour into the Grill from far and wide. ("Shoot the Moon")
Act II
Hannah, Percy and Shelby sit in the Grill after hours, reading essays and drinking from a jug of Hannah’s infamous applejack. As they read the letters, some funny, some sad, Hannah expresses her appreciation for what Percy and Shelby have done. ("Come Alive Again") Before long it seems everyone in town is helping Hannah to sift through the letters, and a magical shift occurs not only at the Spitfire, but throughout Gilead as well.
Late one October night on the back porch, Joe tells Percy that he no longer wants to leave Gilead. He plans to build a house on a plot of land his father has given to him. ("Forest For the Trees") Deeply troubled, Percy abruptly rejects Joe’s proposal of marriage and confides to Shelby the harsh details of her life. Impregnated by her stepfather when she was 16, Percy suffered untold abuse resulting in the loss of her unborn child. While on the run, she killed her stepfather with his own straight razor. Shelby comforts Percy and gently sings her to sleep. ("Wild Bird")
When Percy awakens, she sees the mysterious visitor and at last realizes he is none other than Eli, Hannah’s own son. Eli leads Percy deep into the forest and then to a clearing atop a hill. The leaves have turned to autumn colors and as the sun rises, they burn like flame. ("Shine")
Transformed by her hilltop vision, Percy leads Eli back to the Grill to re-unite him with Hannah after so many years. In a painful confrontation, Shelby and Caleb recognize Eli and react with such shock at his battered appearance and broken demeanor that Eli flees. Hannah finally admits that Eli had been a deserter in the Vietnam war. The shame of it killed her husband. And though Hannah has taken care of Eli’s basic needs, she has kept his presence in the woods a secret from the entire town. Percy pleads with Hannah to express her forgiveness to Eli. Day passes into night and Hannah calls out to her son. ("Way Back Home") Out of the shadows, Eli appears in the Grill once more. Hannah reaches out her hand to welcome him home.
On the last day of the contest, everybody reads their favorite essay. Finally Hannah reads the words that have touched her the most: the ad describing the Grill, written by Percy and Shelby. In gratitude for their role in re-uniting mother and son, while admitting she’s not offering much in return, Hannah turns over the Grill to Percy and Shelby. ("Finale")
Critical reception
In New YorkNew York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine, John Simon wrote, “It is not often that material moves me to tears, but this was one of those occasions. The Spitfire Grill has the heart and soul that your Producers and Full Montys cannot begin to approach. What even in normal times would be a joy is, in these troubled ones, sheer nourishment.” He later included the show in his “Best of 2001” list. Other critics also commented on the show’s poignancy vis-à-vis the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
. “If after the events of recent weeks you need any reason at all to embrace life again, the musical you've been waiting for has arrived. The Spitfire Grill is one of the most heartfelt musicals of recent years, its homespun charms as inviting as a warm winter blanket” wrote Matthew Murray reviewing the show for Talkin’ Broadway http://www.talkinbroadway.com. The Wall Street Journal’s Amy Gamerman wrote, “The Spitfire Grill feels as if it has been transplanted to Times Square directly from an obscure patch of the American heartland. The longing for a place like Gilead, well removed from the big, troublesome world, is real enough – perhaps now more than ever. The show’s creators tap into that longing with unembarassed directness. At a time when cynicism seems downright unpatriotic, sophisticates may find themselves powerless to resist. Well before the show reaches its conclusion, many of the New York city slickers in the audience may be ready to enter Percy’s raffle themselves.” Elysa Gardner in USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
wrote that the score offered “some of the most engaging and instantly infectious melodies I’ve heard in a musical in some time. Valcq’s resonant, folk-based orchestrations make the fetching tunes even more accessible and poignant. Open your heart and visit the Spitfire Grill.”
Victor Gluck of the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
described it as “a lovely new musical in the Rodgers and Hammerstein tradition.” In Show Business Weekly
Show Business Weekly
Show Business, also known as Show Business Weekly, is a performing arts trade magazine published by Manhattan-based publisher Show Business Inc. The magazine's editorial mission is to guide actors, singers and dancers toward success in their performing arts careers...
, David Hurst wrote that “The score by James Valcq is a mixture of country, bluegrass, and Broadway-styled pop ballads that is always stirring and pure Americana in sound with heartfelt lyrics by the late Fred Alley.” According to Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
, “In a genre known for being big and brassy, it's always a pleasure to come across a musical that revels in its quiet moments. That's why The Spitfire Grill is like a breath of fresh country air.” Jonathan Frank wrote in Sound Advice
Sound Advice
Sound Advice was a radio show on CBC Radio. It aired for fourteen years on Saturday afternoons, latterly on CBC Radio 2. The host was Rick Phillips. Its final broadcast was on March 29, 2008....
, “The Spitfire Grill has a simplicity and emotional resonance that has become all too rare in musical theater. This is a show that succeeds by not trying: it simply is.” He went on to describe the score as “simply astonishing, due no small part to Valcq's stunning arrangements, which consist of folk instruments and instrumentations, acting as a character unto themselves.” Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
s Joel Hirschhorn wrote that "Valcq's numbers are consistently exciting, aided by carefully devised orchestrations. More than most musicals, the underscoring feels like an extra character, brimming with creative cello, violin, mandolin, guitar and keyboard solos. Fred Alley wrote lyrics that contain the ring of plain-spoken, believable truth."
In The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Ben Brantley wrote that “the songs are shiny with tunefulness, hope, and all-American inflections of country and folk. Mr. Valcq’s score has a gentle American vernacular charm. Mr. Alley’s lyrics have a matching ease and simplicity.” Also in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Alvin Klein declared the show “a soul-satisfying new musical. The Spitfire Grill is a complete work of theatrical resourcefulness. A compelling story that flows with grace and carries the rush of anticipation. The warm, indigenous American folk sound of Mr. Valcq’s score is, harmonically and melodically, as theatrical as it is grass roots. Mr. Alley’s lyrics accomplish the considerable feat of poetically offering inspiration while holding the syrup. The musical is freeing. It is penetrated by honesty and it glows.”
Awards and nominations
- The New York/Off-Broadway Production received an Outer Critics Circle AwardOuter Critics Circle AwardThe Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
nomination for Best Off Broadway Musical.
- The New York/Off-Broadway Production received a Drama League AwardDrama League AwardThe Drama League Awards, created in 1935, honor distinguished productions and performances both on Broadway and Off-Broadway, in addition to recognizing exemplary career achievements in theatre, musical theatre, and directing...
nomination for Best Off Broadway Musical.
- The New York/Off-Broadway Production was nominated for two Drama Desk Awards: Outstanding Actress in a Musical (Garrett Long) and Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Liz CallawayLiz CallawayLiz Callaway is an American actress and singer, famous for providing the singing voices of many female characters in films, such as Anya in Anastasia, Odette in The Swan Princess, and Kiara in The Lion King II:Simba's Pride....
).
- The Washington DC production received 2 Helen Hayes AwardHelen Hayes AwardA Helen Hayes Award is a theater award named for the famed actress Helen Hayes to recognize excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are managed by Linda Levy Grossman. and presented by the Washington Theatre Awards Society.-Awards:The Helen Hayes...
nominations.
- The Los Angeles production received a Dramalogue Award nomination for Best Musical.
- The Laguna production won the OC Award for Best Musical. Actor Misty Cotton (as Percy) received a nomination for Best Performance in a Musical.
- The Chicago production received 3 Joseph Jefferson Award nominations.
- The San Francisco production won the Bay Area Critics Circle Award for Best Musical.
- The Dallas production received 4 Leon Rabin AwardLeon Rabin AwardsNamed after the Leon Rabin, an arts patron who devoted his life to the development of Dallas based arts and artists, the Leon Rabin Awards , the Awards served as an avenue to recognize the numerous artists who support these theatres, as well as a way to showcase the vast and diverse talent that...
nominations including Outstanding Production of a Musical, and won 2.
- The Florida production received 3 Carbonell Award nominations.
Recordings
The Off-BroadwayOff-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
cast album of The Spitfire Grill was produced by Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work....
in conjunction with the composer, and was intended to be primarily available through the theatre’s website http://www.playwrightshorizons.org/store_music.html.