THE GAY NO MORE TELETHON: THE APOLOGY

BOOK AND LYRICS BY MICHAEL DIGAETANO
MUSIC BY ALBIN E. KONOPKA AND MICHAEL DIGAETANO
DIRECTED BY MICHAEL DIGAETANO

MITF: SUMMER 2017
AT THE WORKSHOP THEATER, 312 W.36TH STREET, NYC,  WWW.MIDTOWNFESTIVAL.ORG

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE: MON 7/17, 7:30PM; THURS 7/20, 6:00PM; SAT 7/22, 4:00PM

“LET’S GET ONE THING STRAIGHT…YOU”!

In 2008, the Reverend Vernon Jackson, co-founder (with God) of RBN: Religious Broadcasting Network, held a telethon in Lynchburg Virginia to raise money to turn as many homosexuals straight by the rapture, or the 2014 winter Olympics whichever came first. He raised forty million dollars. But after the election of Donald Trump and other political absurdities in the country, he is very … Very … VERY sorry. Find out why in this tart topical musical.

Michael DiGaetano is a celebrity.

He spent twenty-five years in Los Angeles writing and producing TV and movies, including the film, Houseguest, starring Sinbad and Phil Hartman, and the TV remakes of Ferris Bueller and Get Smart. He realized just how much he missed NYC and his first love, live theatre, so here he is… musical in hand.

ANOTHER brilliant musical … again at the Midtown International. I gotta get a season ticket !

I’ve always been inspired to tell stories with a ‘What if” or a second chance at the center. I’m not a person who believes in fate or if we are being guided by astrology or something bigger in the universe. We make a million choices a day and any one could be the right one or the wrong one that could affect your life forever. I like to examine what a person thinks they should have done differently. Maybe then they can make a change or change who they are.

I spent twenty plus years in Hollywood writing for television and film and it was the rare exception that the story I wanted to tell ended up the story being told. Network or studio executives, directors, even maybe the guy at the guard gate might have an opinion and unless you were on the A list,  you pretty much had to do what they say or they’ll get another writer to say it. And when something doesn’t work, the writer tends to get the blame, even if they fought tooth and nail against it. In independent theatre, the writer gets to tell their story and be surrounded by like-minded people to make that vision work. It if works, it’s glorious. If it fails, at least it failed on their own terms.