1812 Productions Presents the WORLD PREMIERE Musical
Cherry Bomb:
The Worst Act in Vaudeville for the Holidays
Book and Lyrics by Jennifer Childs
Music by James Sugg
December 11th-January 4th
Plays and Players Theatre
17th & Delancey Streets

1812 Productions is proud to present the world premiere musical extravaganza Cherry Bomb: The Worst Act in Vaudeville for the Holidays. Cherry Bomb is 1812 Productions' 9th annual Holiday Show. Cherry Bomb will be performed at Plays and Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey Streets. The show will run from December 11th through January 4th. Opening Night will be Wednesday December 17th at 7pm. Tickets can be purchased by calling (215) 592-9560 or online at www.1812productions.org.

Cherry Bomb is the original musical creation of comedy masterminds Jennifer Childs and James Sugg. The biggest undertaking in 1812 Productions' history, Cherry Bomb combines classic elements of burlesque, melodrama, double act antics, and even a conjurer of spirits. Through 1812 Productions' dedication to classic comedy forms, vaudeville has become a signature style for Philadelphia's all-comedy theatre company and Cherry Bomb will take Philadelphia's favorite Holiday tradition to a whole new level. Cherry Bomb will feature an all-star cast including Barrymore Award winners Mary Martello, Maureen Torsney-Weir, Dave Jadico, and Scott Greer as the man who made The Cherry Sisters famous, Oscar Hammerstein I. Joining these celebrated performers will be 1812 newcomers Megan Bellwoar, Mary McCool, and Charlotte Ford.

Cherry Bomb tells the real life story of The Cherry Sisters, infamous for being the worst act ever to grace the vaudeville stage. These five sisters from Iowa played to sold out houses-offering their original songs and tales of sobriety, morality, and ladylike decency. Making their living singing, dancing, and acting, the sisters were renowned for being able to neither sing, nor dance, nor act. Night after night, throngs of vaudeville thrill seekers would pack the aisles to watch the sisters' disastrous act unfold. One urban legend of vaudeville holds that the sisters were forced to perform behind a wire screen to keep from being injured by the rotten vegetation being thrown by the audience. The sisters even went so far as to sue a critic who wrote a scathing review of their act. In a trial held in the theatre where they performed, the sisters reprised their act for the judge-who then ruled in favor of the critic! Could the sisters really have been that awful? Were they willfully oblivious to the torrent of bad press? Or did they play a knowing part in the creation of their story? Audiences will get to judge for themselves as, in addition to its original book and score, Cherry Bomb presents the first performance of the Sisters' original act in almost a century!

"I first read the story of The Cherry Sisters 10 years ago when I was doing research for our first vaudeville, The Big Time," says the show's creator and director Jennifer Childs. "The total hilarity and outrageousness of five women committed to performing in such atrocious and unusual ways brought to mind everything from The Gong Show to American Idol to the performance of Pyramus and Thisbe by the mechanicals in A Midsummer Night's Dream. I have numerous questions about audiences' fascination with watching people do bad work and why this has been such a phenomenon throughout history. These questions, the Sisters' remarkable story, and my own obsession with vintage comedic forms were what led me to write Cherry Bomb."

It is fitting that Cherry Bomb will be performed on the historic Plays and Players stage, a theatre that was constructed at the height of the Cherry Sisters' fame. Jennifer Childs adds, "This production marks a big and exciting step forward for 1812. For the past nine years we have created for the holidays an original piece that looks at an era or area of comedic history. This will be the first time that that piece is a wholly original musical. I am lucky enough to be working on the music with the extraordinary James Sugg and to have amazing comedy minds like Mary Martello and Maureen Torsney-Weir in the cast."

Company History
Artistic Director Jennifer Childs and Resident Artist Pete Pryor founded 1812 Productions in the spring of 1998 with a goal to entertain and educate audiences through comedy, and to support and hire local artists. 1812 Productions is a multiple Barrymore Award winning theatre company. Their education program, 1812 Outreach, has received multiple nominations and been awarded the Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre Education and Community Service. On April 20, 2005, 1812 Productions received an honorary citation from the City of Philadelphia for outstanding work and commitment to the Philadelphia arts community. Most recently, 1812 Productions received three Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre for its 2007-2008 season. 1812 Productions, while continually on the search for a permanent home, continues to perform at various locations in Philadelphia.

Creative Team
Jennifer Childs (Director; Book and Lyrics): Jennifer Childs is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of 1812 Productions. Cherry Bomb marks the 11th original piece she has created for the company including personal favorites The Big Time, Like Crazy Like Wow and Always a Lady. She has been performing and directing in Philadelphia for the past sixteen years. Recent performances include Disco Descending at the Live Arts Festival and The Happiness Lecture with Bill Irwin at Philadelphia Theatre Company. She is a Barrymore-Award winner and a recipient of the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Theatre Artist.

James Sugg (Composer): James Sugg is an actor, sound designer, composer and 10 year member of Pig Iron Theatre Company with whom he has created 10 original works. He has also worked with Seattle Rep, Actors Theater of Louisville, Folger Theater, The Wilma, The Arden, Headlong Dance Theater, Rainpan 43 and Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental amongst many others. His work has been recognized with four Barrymore Awards for Outstanding Sound Design, an Obie Award (Hell Meets Henry Halfway) and the F. Otto Haas Award for Emerging Theater Artist. He is the composer of the musicals A Murder, A Mystery And A Marriage (an adaptation by Aaron Posner of the short story by Mark Twain), James Joyce is Dead and So Is Paris (Pig Iron) and The Sea (a one man electric chamber opera).

For Tickets and Information:
1812 Productions
421 N. 7th Street
Suite 218
Philadelphia, PA 19123
(215) 592-9560
info@1812productions.org
www.1812productions.org

Press Photos and Credits:
www.1812productions.org/press