Show Summary

Diversionary Theatre and Rose Marcario will present The Break Up Notebook: The Lesbian Musical as an official event of San Diego LGBT Pride. Opening July 12 and running through August 12, Break Up Notebook is the award-winning, hilarious, touching and sexy musical comedy for anyone and everyone who has ever had a broken heart and lived to tell about it. Based on Patricia Cotter’s critically-acclaimed hit play of the same name, The Break Up Notebook: The Lesbian Musical has music and lyrics by Lori Scarlett.

“We are very excited to be presenting the second full production of Break Up Notebook,” said Dan Kirsch, Diversionary’s Executive & Artistic Director. “I saw the show in Los Angeles a year ago, and we started talking then about how fun the show would be for our community. Rose Marcario has put together a stellar creative team, including G. Scott Lacy, a favorite music director of many San Diego productions. We’re proud to be included in the San Diego LGBT Pride roster of cultural events.”

Rose Marcario produced the Los Angeles production, in association with the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, and is bringing her expertise to the Diversionary production. Marcario has assembled a creative team of tremendous accomplishment, including two-time Tony Award winning producer/director Peter Schneider, music director G. Scott Lacy and choreographer Christine Kellogg.

“Amazingly, The Break Up Notebook: The Lesbian Musical is the first lesbian musical in the history of the theatre to break into the limelight,” said Marcario. Scoring a stunning upset victory in last year’s theatre award season, the show was honored with Los Angeles’ highest theatre honor, the 2006 Ovation Award for World Premiere Musical” and has just received Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical Score. Along with the Ovation Award, Break Up Notebook received six Garland Awards from Backstage West. The press was equally enthusiastic: a Los Angeles Times Critics Pick, the LA Weekly’s Recommended accolade and a Critic’s Pick from Backstage West.

The musical tells the story of Helen Hill, a 33 year old lesbian who has recently been dumped. She is heartbroken, she’s stunned and she’s determined to go out there and do it all over again. With the support of her best gay boyfriend, Bob and her butch femme gal pals, Monica and Joanie, she jumps back into the dating pool. What she finds takes her a bit by surprise…two-stepping twelve-steppers, anxiety prone lawyers, a dominatrix, Match.com, dental dams, grrrl bands, rebound bad dates, rebound great dates, hot girl on girl action, and maybe…just maybe…somewhere out there…Helen might find the girl of her dreams.

Diversionary Theatre was started in 1986. The mission of the theatre is to produce plays with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender themes that portray characters in their complexity and diversity both historically and contemporarily.

The Break Up Notebook: The Lesbian Musical will be the first show of Diversionary Theatre’s 2007-2008 season, and will preview on Thursday and Friday, July 12 and 13, and open on Saturday, July 14 and run through Sunday, August 12. Performance times are: Thursday at 7:30pm, Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm, Sunday at 2:00 and 7:00pm, and a Monday, July 30 performance at 7:30pm.

Single tickets will go on sale in early May once the entire 2007-2008 season has been announced. Single tickets for this production will be $31 for Thursday, Sunday and Monday performances, $33 for Friday nights and $35 for Saturday nights, with a $4 discount for those with a San Diego Pride Festival pass, students, seniors 60+ and active military. Tickets for opening night will be $41 and include a post-show cast party.

Sales to groups of 10 or more are now on sale for selected performances. For tickets or information, call the Diversionary box office at 619.220.0097 or log on to www.diversionary.org.

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The City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture provides major support for Diversionary Theatre.

Diversionary Theatre and Rose Marcario, in association with the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, present THE BREAK-UP NOTEBOOK: The Lesbian Musical
Written by Patricia Cotter (Book) and Lori Scarlett (Music and Lyrics)
Directed by Peter Schneider
Music Director: G. Scott Lacy
Choreographer: Christine Kellogg

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

Peter Schneider (Director) came to Los Angeles as Associate Director of the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival. As a director, he has helmed Marc Blitzstein’s opera REGINA, the Los Angeles production of GRAND HOTEL: The Musical, a new live action/animation short starring Julie Andrews celebrating the 40th anniversary of Mary Poppins, and SISTER ACT: The Musical, among many others. Schneider produced the Tony Award-winners THE LION KING and Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida on Broadway. In London he produced CAMELOT, starring the late Richard Harris. As former President of Animation and Chairman of the Studio for the Walt Disney Company, Schneider was responsible for creating and distributing 50 movies, including THE LITTLE MERMAID, TOY STORY, THE LION KING, WHO KILLED ROGER RABBIT and THE PRINCESS DIARIES.

Playwright PATRICIA COTTER (Book) co-wrote a screenplay with Dustin Hoffman for his company, Punch Productions, and recently developed a pilot for 20th Century Fox Television and Watson Pond Productions. Her play, THE BREAK UP NOTEBOOK, was a 2002 GLAAD Award nominee. Other plays include FLAWED, BEST/WORST, THE GIRLS and THREE. Cotter is a playwright in residence at Apartment A Theatre Company in Venice, California, and recently worked with Disney Theatrical and Music International adapting the Disney film MULAN for the stage. Cotter received a Daytime Emmy Award for her writing on Comedy Central’s Win Ben Stein’s Money.

LORI SCARLETT (Music and Lyrics) was the composer/lyricist for Sneaux!,which ran for six months at the Matrix Theater and was nominated for six LA Weekly Theater Awards, including Best Musical. With collaborator David Manning, Lori co-wrote the theme song for the film "The Audition" and contributedmusicto The New Normal, a new musical being developed byacclaimed L.A. composer David O. Also an accomplished actress, Lori played Dianain the Ovation Award-nominated Atalanta. She is currently writing music and lyrics forthe new musical White Cotton Panties with comic book writer Marc Andreyko.

G. SCOTT LACY (Music Director) musical directed FALSETTOS for Diversionary for which he was nominated for a 2003 Robby Award (Show Mag) for Best Musical Direction. He is a member of the Artistic Ensemble for Lamb’s Players Theatre. Regional credits include Los Angeles Musical Theatre Guild, the Tony Award Winning La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Opera, San Diego Repertory Theatre, North Coast Repertory Theatre, the Emmy Award Winning Malashock Dance, and many others.

Creative Team

Chrissy Burns	Andy Collins	Mei-Ling Downey	Melissa Fernandes
Molly Lahr	Beth Malone	Jeannine Marquie	Tori Roze

Press Photos

Pictured (L-R): Front: Tori Roze, Beth Malone, Molly Lahr, Andy Collins; Back: Chrissy Burns, Mei-Ling Downey, Jeannine Marquie. Not pictured: Melissa Fernandes. Photo credit: Ken Jacques.	Pictured: Helen (Beth Malone, right) falls in love with the biker chick Francis (Mei-Ling Downey, left). Photo credit: Ken Jacques.
Pictured: Helen (Beth Malone, right) falls in love with the biker chick Francis (Mei-Ling Downey, left). Photo credit: Ken Jacques.	Pictured: Helen’s (Beth Malone, center) best friends Monica (Tori Roze, left) and Joanie (Molly Lahr, right) reminisce about how they met during the musical number “That’s Our Song.” Photo credit: Ken Jacques.

Reviews

San Diego Union-Tribune
'Break Up Notebook' exhibits a lot of heart
Theatre Review by Sara-Ashley Bischoff
July 16, 2007

The lights come up. A small, fragile-looking woman huddles center-stage, her puffy comforter wrapped protectively around her. With startling clarity and earnestness, she begins to sing “Another Break-Up Song,” inviting the audience to join in.

Instantly, they are with her, rediscovering the heartache of breaking up.

“The Break Up Notebook: The Lesbian Musical,” written by Patricia Cotter and Lori Scarlett, chronicles the post-breakup life of a 33-year-old lesbian, Helen. Through her relationships with a butch femme couple, her protective gay co-worker, her homophobic mother, and a slew of awkward dates, she slowly begins to recover, and eventually finds herself.

The musical was adapted from the play, “The Break Up Notebook,” and premiered in Los Angeles in 2005 with much success. The show won the 2006 Ovation Award for best world-premiere musical, the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical Score and six Garland awards.

It is worth all the accolades.

This production, directed by Peter Schneider, is saturated in wit, warmth and honesty. It is a heartfelt account of what it means to be lesbian, yet simultaneously explores a universal experience. The radiant Beth Malone's portrayal of Helen is quirky and lovable. Her voice is a knockout: strong, nuanced, full of emotion.

Tori Roze (Monica) is also notable, with a voice rich and gritty, more stylized than Malone's. She doesn't play into Monica's butch stereotype, but rather finds the individual within the character. She is sharp, clever and captivating.

Perhaps the funniest song in the show is performed by Chrissy Burns, who plays an overly aggressive, overtly sexual lesbian who tries to seduce Helen in the song “I'm On Fire.” Burns commits fully to the part of Casey, giving Helen a wild lap dance. Her intensity in spite of the ridiculous seduction has the audience roaring.

The script and lyrics are the musical's strength, though the music itself sometimes falls flat. The melodies tend to be bland, and group harmonies lack originality. The campy choreography by Christine Kellogg is contradictory to the tone of the musical, detracting from the songs' intimacy and truthfulness.

The set, designed by David Potts, is a nice touch. The walls of the stage are covered in oversized blue paper with white writing scribbled across them – pages of Helen's breakup notebook. It's particularly effective when the lights dim and the writing glows on the pages.

“The Break Up Notebook: The Lesbian Musical” sheds light upon a way of life that is consistently underexplored and underexposed – the lesbian experience. Yet at the same time, the show is about breaking up – a subject that hits home for everyone, regardless of sexual preference. The fact that the characters are lesbians and gays becomes quickly inconsequential; it is clear that all that matters are the people themselves, and their relationships to one another.

While there is some fine-tuning to be done, this production showcases some exceptional talents, and the writing is both entertaining and moving. It is an evening well spent.

Sara-Ashley Bischoff is a freelance writer.

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North County Times
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Funny, touching 'Break Up Notebook' has broad audience appeal
By PAM KRAGEN - Staff Writer

With the words "Lesbian Musical" in its subtitle, "The Break Up Notebook" might sound like an exclusionary story of interest only to the gay community. But the charming and funny parody musical, engagingly produced at San Diego's Diversionary Theatre, tells a universal story that anybody ---- gay or straight ---- can relate to.

In its first full production since its world premiere last year in Los Angeles, "The Break Up Notebook: The Lesbian Musical" is the story of Helen Hill, a 33-year-old magazine editor who's been dumped by her cheating girlfriend. The story follows Helen's yearlong recovery, including disastrous dates set up by well-meaning friends, a run-in with the "other woman" at a Laundromat and a second chance at love. Patricia Cotter's book is fast-paced and laugh-a-minute, and Lori Scarlett's pop/folk score is toe-tapping and diverse (with doo-wop, bossa nova and hula numbers), and her lyrics are alternately hilarious and touching.

Director Peter Schneider (with assistant Adam Kinsinger) keeps the pace swift, the atmosphere light and frothy, and the characters honest. He also keeps the show practically PG-rated, which helps broaden its appeal. While there are a few gay jokes that went over my head, the story is accessible, humorous and relatable to anyone who's ever had their heart broken and is afraid to try again.

Part of what makes the musical so delightful is its well-shaped characters, particularly Helen, who's endearingly played by Beth Malone. Malone's expressive face, timing, natural acting style, easy comic physicality and light, plucky singing voice make Helen that perky, earnest kid sister you really want to root for. Malone spent much of last year on Broadway, originating the role of June Carter Cash in "Ring of Fire," so it's a surprise to find her in this small-budget production. But "The Break Up Notebook" is such a good show and she's so good in the lead that I wouldn't be surprised to see them both in New York in the near future.

San Diego musical theater veteran Andy Collins finally gets a chance to show his full comic range as Helen's supervisor and gay best friend, Bob, particularly with the show's funniest song "Barnacle of Love," his admonition to the clingy, heartbroken Helen that she needs to let go and move on.

Tori Roze and Molly Lahr co-star as Monica and Joanie, a butch-and-femme lesbian couple who've been together for four years (apparently an eternity in lesbian years) and are planning a commitment ceremony. The more-feminine Joanie is militant about gay rights but loves old-fashioned traditions, and her dream of having the masculine Monica march down the aisle in a white wedding dress threatens to scuttle the ceremony. Lahr is sunny and likable as Joanie and Roze is especially real as the no-nonsense Monica. Their duet "Lucky, Lucky Me" is the show's most poignant number.

Melissa Fernandes is a hoot as the anxiety-prone Sheila, a bisexual lawyer with a flair for inappropriate conversation-starters (the "kegels" joke is a scream), and as Helen's well-meaning but disapproving mother. Chrissy Burns has a hilarious scene as Casey, the scary-aggressive sex club cage dancer who Helen shares an uncomfortable evening with (her raucous comic song "I'm On Fire" brings down the house). Mei-Ling Downey is multilayered as Frances, the beautiful biker babe who offers Helen her love but not her fidelity. And Jeannine Marquie plays Bad Perm, the surprisingly likable "other woman" who came between Helen and her former girlfriend.

With only a piano as accompaniment (well-played by assistant musical director Amy Dalton), the cast has little support for Scarlett's ambitious score, but they're all seasoned musical pros and G. Scott Lacy's musical direction is sharp and solid. Although the musical is titled "The Break Up Notebook," there's no script or visual reference to a notebook in the show, except for David Pott's set, an attractive backdrop of overlapping pages decorated with silver script writing. Stephan Sakowski created the lighting and Jeanne Reith consulted on the costumes.

"The Break Up Notebook" is two hours, 10 minutes, with intermission. Because of its themes, it's best suited for ages 16 and up. And because it's so well-written, funny and authentic, I'd recommend it to anyone, no matter what their sexual persuasion.

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San Diego Reader
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Reviewed by Jeff Smith
The Break-Up Notebook: The Lesbian Musical

Early in the Lori Scarlett/Patricia Cotter musical comedy, Helen dives under her office desk. Asked what she's looking for, the recently dumped woman says, "Oh, something tiny, my self-esteem." To rid her of her ex-, she doesn't need a therapist, she needs an exorcist. Break-Up Notebook traces the slow process of healing from major emotional hurt to, a song proclaims, "Coming Back to Me." The show's longish (ten minutes could go from each act) but always funny, and the pop score's both witty and emotionally resonant. Performing before a wall of blue notebook paper, Diversionary Theatre's cast, smartly directed by Peter Schneider, does triple duty: singing, dancing, playing Helen's various friends (Andy Collins is a hoot as Bob, especially doing the "Chicks and Dicks Bossa Nova") and potential lovers (including Melissa Fernandes's hilarious line-dancing teacher in recovery, "the 12-stepping two stepper"). Make that quadruple duty, since they change Jeanne Reith's always appropriate costumes in split seconds. New to San Diego, multi-talented Beth Malone has a special audience rapport and carries the show as Helen.

Rating: Worth a try.

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BEST BET

"CURTAIN CALLS" #204
By Pat Launer
www.sdtheatrescene.com
August 2, 2007

A battle of the sexes,
Lesbians and their exes,
An idea these plays uniquely spawn:
Survive the trauma and move on.

Broken-Hearted Melody

THE SHOW: The Breakup Notebook: The Lesbian Musical, an official event of San Diego Pride, was written by Patricia Cotter (book) and Lori Scarlett (music and lyrics). The show premiered in L.A. in 2005 and won the 2006 Ovation Award for best world premiere musical and the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical Score.

THE STORY: We’ve all been down that rocky, lonesome, hair-tearing road. We get dumped; we grieve and stalk and pray for a miraculous reconciliation. But ultimately, we have to move on. And then comes the invariable parade of losers. At long last, when enough healing is complete, it’s possible to look around and see some plausible romantic potential. That’s pretty much the arc of Helen’s journey in overcoming her addiction to her ex. Along the way, we meet her supportive gay male boss, her ‘helpful’ friends and an assortment of wacky and wildly inappropriate dates. Perseverance pays off, and she ultimately meets Ms. Maybe-Right.

THE PRODUCTION/THE PLAYERS: The musical is light and fluffy, not deep and heavy (whaddaya expect with that title?), but it sure is buoyant and fun, energetic and well presented. The pop-rock music and lyrics are appealing if not memorable, and the cast is thoroughly engaging. The set (David Potts) is serviceable and the quick-change costumes (guided by Jeanne Reith) are stereotypically cute.

The director (Peter Schneider) and lead (Beth Malone) have Broadway credits – and big talent. And a bonus is they’ve worked together before (on the world premiere of Sister Act - The Musical at the Pasadena Playhouse). Schneider keeps the action lively and the emotions rolling (ours and the characters’). Malone is delectable. She has the look of Audrey Hepburn – that lean, lithe, gamine innocence, with a touch of sadness and knowing. She mines every nuance of the role with grace and humor. She’s not quite as strong vocally, though she appeared on Broadway as June Carter Cash in the very short-lived, roundly thrashed Ring of Fire. Her voice is appealing in the alto range, but thins out considerably in the higher register. Still, her adorable look and personality would charm the pants off – a man! The rest of the cast deftly plays multiple (comic) roles, except for funny, agile Andy Collins as flamboyant best-bud Bob. Molly Lahr, Tori Roze, Melissa Fernandes, Mei-Ling Downey, Jeannine Marquie and Chrissy Burns are delightful as a bevy of butches, femmes, leather-girls, pole dancers, Moms and assorted others. They keep the fun-meter on the high-side, and make sure you go out smiling -- and a little sentimental, too, thinking about all your own heartbreaks and ‘helpful’ friends.

NOTE: Jeannine Marquie will take over the leading role of Helen for three performances only, while her characters are played by Olivia Espinosa. So, even if you’ve seen the show before, maybe you wanna see it again (different performer, different energy): August 5, 11 and 12.

BOTTOM LINE: BEST BET

BIG SIDE-NOTE: San Diego is, once again, on the ground floor of something potentially big. The Breakup Notebook: The Lesbian Musical has just been chosen to be part of the 19th Annual Festival of New Musicals, to be held in New York in October. This is one of the major marketplaces for new musicals, and only eight new shows were chosen for the two-day marathon of staged readings. More than 75% of the shows presented at the Festival (200, over time) have found subsequent productions, tours and/or licensing agreements. Past presentations have included Thoroughly Modern Millie, Songs for a New World, Children of Eden, Honk (all of which have been seen, in one theater or another, in San Diego).

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San Diego CityBeat
August 1, 2007
by MARTIN JONES WESTLIN

CityBeat Pick!

Peanuts are cute

Where'd Diversionary Theatre find Beth Malone, who plays the central character in the company's The Break Up Notebook: The Lesbian Musical? She's got her pedigree down, having worked in Pasadena, Atlanta and New York—now she's here in one of 2007's funniest turns as Diversionary opens its 22nd campaign.

Writer Patricia Cotter's storyline is predictable, but the script's charm lies in its performance potential. That's where Malone shines as Helen, a 33-year-old lesbian on the rebound. Helen's ready to date again, and she'll soldier on in a world awash in impromptu Kegel exercises, dental dams and the many and varied uses for Saran Wrap. Malone knows the difference between the nuances that read and those that won't make it past the lip of the stage, and she and director Peter Schneider pass over the latter without a second's hesitation. Malone is great in a show that's feisty as a jilted mate and cuter than peanuts. And if you've ever seen peanuts before, you know how cute they can be.