Features & PR
Parade
'PARADE' MAKING REGIONAL DEBUT AT JCC CENTERSTAGE
When Janine Mercandetti heard about auditions for Parade, she was immediately intrigued. Mercandetti, who had just returned from working in Los Angeles professionally, was cast as Leo Frank’s steadfastly loyal wife, Lucille Frank. “The fact that Parade is a true story pulls at your heart strings,” says Mercandetti, who is making her debut with CenterStage. “It takes the show to a whole different level because you know that people actually lived through it.”
THEY PLAY THE SILVER BALL
A frequent presence on the Blackfriars stage (“A New Brain,” “Shipwrecked,” “Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris,” “Zorba,” “Debbie Does Dallas”), Mercandetti plans to seek her future in Los Angeles at the end of the summer. “It’s going to be bittersweet,” Mercandetti said of her depature. “I think all big change is bittersweet.” Mrs. Walker, she thinks, is a great role to go out on...
PORN-INSPIRED MUSICAL HAS NO NUDITY - JUST LOTS OF BIG INFLATABLE BANANAS
Initially, many of them struggled with whether the play was right for them. "I had actually said no originally," says Janine Mercandetti who plays Debbie's cheerleading nemesis, Lisa. "But the reason I said no was because I was kind of afraid of the whole experience . . . but then I realized that was not a good reason to say no.". . .
FINDING BEAUTY AMID CHAOS
Not surprisingly, Brel’s songs are stirring anthems of endurance for the four actors, who require a lot of wind to pull them off. Anything less wouldn’t do the songs justice, says Janine Mercandetti, who stars with Sarah Peters, Tom Ricci and Nicholas D. Rogers. “You have to live the song as you sing it,” says Mercandetti, “because each one is like a mini story with a beginning, middle and end. . .
A NEW BRAIN OPENS IN A NEW VENUE
Blackfriars Theatre artistic director John Haldoupis saw A New Brain...when it debuted at The Lincoln Center. "It's one of my all-time favorite shows." So, of course, he's been wondering when and with what cast Blackfriars would do the show...And as a testament to the strong script and score written by James Lapine and Finn, Haldoupis says he has one of the strongest casts he's put together in 30 years...
FANCIFUL TALE KICK-STARTS THE IMAGINATION
Janine Mercandetti and Jason Mincer both play at least a dozen characters — different genders, different backgrounds, different accents and dialects — as Louis’s memories morph and tumble over one another in the telling. Sometimes they’ll switch character in the middle of a scene. Sometimes they’ll switch character in the middle of a line. “It’s a big stretch, a challenge, which is what’s so appealing about it,” Mercandetti said. . .
SEASONS GREETINGS
The Paisley Sisters’ Christmas Special, a musical send-up of 1960s holiday television specials that debuted in Boston eight years ago, will receive its New York City premiere at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, Sept. 19-26 at the Sage Theatre, 711 Seventh Ave. . .
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