Meet Your Neighbor
Bound to ‘Succeed’Editor’s note: Kyrene Corridor resident Phillip Fazio, whose first fund-raising production was profiled in Wrangler News two years ago, is at it again, this time with an even more ambitious project. The following is Fazio’s account of the production effort, along with information about how you can enjoy the results of the group’s work.
By Phillip Fazio
I’d like Wrangler News readers to know about the upcoming musical I am helping put together, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
The process of getting this show produced started 18 months ago when I was back home in Tempe from my college in Boston for winter break.
I was having lunch with some of my local theater friends and we were discussing the possibility of producing our own show together.
I had already produced You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown on my own as a fundraising play and found it to be extremely rewarding. I believe there is nothing better than putting a show together that not only entertains people but also helps out the community at the same time.The show we all agreed we wanted to produce was How to Succeed... because it's one of the great musical comedies with loads of memorable characters.
However, we eventually concluded that a big-cast musical would be far too complicated to put together in six months for a group of 10 actors 18 to 22 years old, one college English teacher/producer (my dad), and no money.
So we all agreed instead to do the small-cast Neil Simon comedy Rumors. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into.
After months of hard work, headaches and more hard work, last year's benefit play Rumors was a huge success. It sold out its last weekend of performances, earned rave reviews and, best of all, raised funds that resulted in 22 trained college students providing 1,150 hours of free tutoring for school children struggling with reading and writing.This is quite an accomplishment for a little show that started out with just my dad, my theater friends and I deciding we wanted to all do a show together and help out the community while doing so.
Well, good news! Cast members from Rumors and many other extremely talented young adults have joined forces for one more big summer benefit show.We are finally going to produce the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. It will be performed at the Phoenix Theater at 7 p.m. July 18, 19, 23, 24, 25 and 26 and at 2 p.m. July 19, 20, 26. Tickets are available at The Phoenix Theater box office at (602) 254-2151.
To guarantee that this is a show Arizona will not forget, we have on our team AriZoni Award-winners Robbie Harper as director/choreographer and Alan Ruch as the musical director.More information about our talented creative team and cast of rising stars (including Zoni Award-winners, theater college majors and more) from all over the Valley (including many, like myself, from the Kyrene Corridor) is available on our website at www.primeview.com/howtosucceed
