Playwright Gary Morgenstein and director Carlo Fiorletta are teaming up once again to bring audiences a unique sci-fi comedy to the stage. The pair have previously wowed audiences with a limited run of A Tomato Can’t Grow In The Bronx, about which reviewer Kenn Gold said, “Morgenstein has done it again, delivering the goods in a believable way, and brilliantly expanding the audiences’ understanding of some very complex people in whom the audience is able to see as reflections from their own life.” (You can read Kenn’s full review here) Morgenstein’s first play, Ponzi Man, also garnered him notice for its frank and sometimes controversial dialogue. Before directing A Tomato Can’t Grow In The Bronx, Fiorletta wrote and directed two award-winning short movies, Nipple Nazis and Calamity 666.
About collaborating with Fiorletta, Morgenstein said, “Like all great collaborations, whether it’s Matt Stone and Trey Parker, or Charlie Sheen and Chuck Lorre (hey they had quite a good run), the most important factor is trust and respect. Carlo is wonderfully gifted and he and I share a similar vision of theatre. Be honest, entertain. Above all, you must have fun. I mean, Mad Mel and the Marradians is a play about aliens in pearl necklaces invading Earth. You gotta laugh.”
Angry aliens. Doomed Earth. Another day in New York. In the sci-fi political romp Mad Mel and the Marradians — premiering Monday, July 11, opening night of the 12th Annual Midtown International Theatre Festival — the fate of the human race depends upon an egotistical author whose phony scholarship has stumbled upon a deadly plot by the ancient alien race, the Marradians.
A Co-Production of the Midtown International Theatre Festival, Mad Mel and the Marradians stars Jordan Auslander (Phlegm), William Beckwith (Larynx), Rachel Caccese (Joan), Rob Gaines (Mel) and Mary Riley (Anita). The play will be performed at the Abingdon Theatre, 312 West 36th Street in New York on Monday, July 11 at 6PM; Saturday, July 16, at 2:30PM; Tuesday, July 19, at 8:30PM; Sunday, July 24, at 6PM; and Thursday, July 28, at 8PM. Tickets are $18-$15 and are available at https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/834935 or by phone at 866-811-4111.
In Mad Mel and the Marradians, the ambitions of Imperial Chancellor Larynx of Marradia — a planet very far away — to become High Priest Dubya are threatened by writer Melvin Worthington. In his best-selling “scholarly” books about the Marradians and their visit to Earth 30,000 years ago (which he thinks he has totally made up), Worthington stumbles upon a secret that threatens the existence of the human race – bringing the aliens to Manhattan to stop him.
As the Marradians would say: Kabob drek manu, Terrans!
