NEWS
No Script: The Podcast, a show dedicated “unscripted conversations about theatre’s best scripts”, just released an episode covering our 2014 musical, The Behavior of Broadus. Check it out below! It’s their first episode ever about a play developed and produced on the West Coast.
It’s a lot of fun! And while you’re there, be sure to like, comment, subscribe, and otherwise support their excellent podcast.
The Burgs recently got the band back together and wrote a short radio play for the Live From The Lounge With Keythe Farley podcast. An urban fable entitled The Gay Man Who Did Not Seem Gay Enough, you can find it at the 6:15 mark of the following EPISODE of Keythe and Ann’s wonderful show.
Hey hey! The awesome folks over at the Theatre Theater Podcast recently interviewed Carol and Albert about the history of the Burgs, their collaboration methods, and even how to rank their members in order of talent (Carol and Albert are the best, of course).
Devin SIdell as Sheba Furworthy
It’s official! Burglars of Hamm’s much-loved play, Land of the Tigers, is finally in print! The award-winning comedy that The LA Times called “Subversively Inventive and consistently entertaining” is now available through LA-based publisher, Stage Rights.
Yes, it’s true, that old chestnut, Land of the Tigers, is at last going to print! Soon you too will be able to read about tiger orgies and The War of Milk from the comfort of your own home. As of this writing, Stage Rights is putting the finishing touches on a final proof, so expect an official announcement soon. Keep your eyes peeled!
LA Times – “Hilariously ridiculous… subversively Inventive and consistently entertaining”
LA Weekly – “Hilarious and thought provoking”
ThisstageLA - "One of LA small theater’s best"
Backstage West – “Inspired… visionary”
LA Stage Watch – “Terrific!”
Stage Scene LA – “Wildly original, deliciously silly”
On June 24, 2018, Burglars of Hamm's production of Resa Fantastiskt Mystisk walked away with the TOP OF FRINGE award for the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival. There were over 390 productions in the festival this year! Congrats and thanks to everyone involved!
Check out what Anthony Byrnes of KCRW fame has to say about Resa Fantastiskt Mystisk and Easy Targets.
RESA FANTASTISKT MYSTISK IS RETURNING! For the first time in 15 years, Burglars of Hamm will present their acclaimed production of this previously unknown masterpiece by Swedish playwright/provocateur Lars Mattsun (1849-1912). Through Mattsun’s surreal theatricality and stunning wordplay, the audience is engulfed in the tale of a troubled young man named Philip, who follows a Mysterious Child into a world of art, sexuality and madness. Much of the original cast and production team return, including controversial director Todd Merrill. Resa has played to great acclaim in Los Angeles, Seattle, Edinburgh and New York, and the Burglars are excited to bring it back home as part of Hollywood Fringe Festival 2018.
NY Times – “Consistently, smartly funny and delightfully original”
New York Magazine – “A genius comic experience”
Theatremania – “One of the most original, funny, and inspiring shows of the New York International Fringe Festival”
OffOffOff – “So wonderful that you want to tell everyone about it and yet so deviously clever that you don’t want to spoil a thing for future playgoers”
NYTheatre.com – “If you’re looking for a show that makes you simply laugh out loud for 90 minutes, Burglars of Hamm and The Ghost Road’s current production, Resa Fantastiskt Mystisk, is the ticket.”
The Scotsman (Scotland’s National Newspaper) – “I wish I had seen this fantastic show sooner because then I could have recommended it to more people”
Chortle (Scotland) – “It’s all very funny, a brilliant example of how comedy at its best can really work the emotions”
Edinburgh Guide – “A fantastic laugh”
Willamette Week (Portland) – “The hands-down best production we saw” [at the Seattle Fringe]
The Stranger (Seattle) – “This production was totally awesome”
Seattle Times – “Genius… It’s something that must be seen to be fully understood”
Backstage West – “…may change the face of theatre as we know it… an earth-shattering, theatrical epiphany”
LA Times – “Don’t miss this opportunity to witness the glory that is Mattsun”
LA Weekly – “Clever, erudite, and often laugh-out-loud funny”
LA WEEKLY AWARD NOMINEE — PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR
AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE - NEW YORK FRINGE FESTIVAL
BACKSTAGE GARLAND AWARDS — PLAYWRITING AND ACTING
The winner of the 2017 Hollywood Fringe Best Comedy Award returns with four new pieces, including a world premier piece starring Hugo Armstrong. EASY TARGETS is for every audience member who has sat in the dark at a bad play thinking they now know what prison must be like. It allows the audience to act out the fantasy of punishing their jailers. A satire of one-person-shows, EASY TARGETS presents 4 short solo shows and then invites the audience to show their “appreciation” by pummeling the performers with rolled-up socks any time they feel bored, annoyed, patronized, manipulated, etc. Each audience of EASY TARGETS forms a pack working to remind the performers, writers and designers that if they fail to respect the audience, they will suffer the sock!
Better Lemons - "One of the most fun evenings you will ever have at the theater... such a hoot"
This Stage LA - "So funny and so smart... gorgeous... relentlessly entertaining and beautifully performed."
Stage Raw - "About the most fun one can have in the theatre.... exquisitely calibrated... a genuinely hilarious production, and a Fringe must-see." (Top Ten)
Gia On The Move - "The most fun you will have at Fringe... So creatively absurd is the comedy and so galvanizing is the writing, directing and performances... you may be in jeopardy of spending an entire pay day check on socks! Brilliant!"
See It Or Skip It - “Oh my Goodness, I had so much fun... I cried because I was laughing so hard... If you can get a ticket to this, you won’t be disappointed... a must-see.... just go, get there!”
fringereview.com - "Brilliant comedic minds... razor-sharp... tight and astute performances... by golly, you just want to knock Clark Gable's hat off his dumb head"
ScopingLA - "Want to get that pent up aggression out of your system...? 'Easy Targets' at Sacred Fools is here for you... incredibly entertaining... these talented actors are eager to see what your pitching arm can deliver. Come at ’em!"
Haunting - "Masterful blend of a one-person show, props, and audience participation... one of the best shows I’ve seen at Fringe to date"
The TVolution - "Absurd perfection... so dead-on funny... As far as 14 karat zaniness goes, this show was a Fort Knox"
The Scotsman (Scotland’s National Newspaper) – “The woman next to me laughed so hard, she had to use an inhaler.”
Three Weeks (Scotland) – “Jaw droppingly good comedy”
The Stage (Scotland) – “This is just great fun”
The Daily Bruin – “Seeing a play has never been so much fun”
Join us Friday, October 20 at 4:00pm for a discussion of all things Broadus. We'll have coffee, snacks, and even a few original cast members on hand to sing songs. Don't miss it!
On Friday, October 20, at 4:00 pm, Burglars of Hamm will be appearing at the Samuel French Bookstore (7623 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90046) to discuss our recently published musical, The Behavior of Broadus.
Join us for coffee, snacks, and a discussion of the more than a decade it took to get from our initial writing efforts to the Sacred Fools-Burglars-CTG produced hit that won multiple Ovation writing awards and a slew of others.
The Burglars' musical about the founder of Behaviorism and modern advertising, The Behavior of Broadus, is now available for purchase from Samuel French Bookstores. Winner of the 2015 Ovation Awards for Best Book & Best Lyrics/Composition of a World Premier Musical, The Behavior of Broadus puts the origins of our pop culture consumerist society under a satirical magnifying glass.
ONE NIGHT ONLY! Tickets and Info HERE
At tonight's Hollywood Fringe Awards, Easy Targets took home the trophy for Best Comedy and Carolyn Almos received the Tracey Collins Funny Girl Award for comedic performance!
Check out this terrific article from Steven Leigh Morris about making theatre in an increasingly acrimonious culture, with a nod to our very own Easy Targets.
“Oh my Goodness, I had so much fun at this show... I cried because I was laughing so hard... We went through 30 pairs of socks in the first little ten-minute solo show... so satisfying.”
“If you can get a ticket to this, you won’t be disappointed... a must-see.... just go, get there!”
- Sara Fenton, See It Or Skip It LA
Only 4 shows left (2 per lineup)
Tix/Info: hff17.com/4395
Reviewed by Terry Morgan
Sacred Fools Theatre, Second Stage
Through June 24
RECOMMENDED
The redoubtable Burglars of Hamm have revived their parody of one-person shows, and it’s about the most fun one can have in the theatre. The concept is simple: four short solo shows are performed in the course of an hour, and the audience is encouraged to throw balled-up socks at the performers when it is offended by anything. This year there are two separate programs to attend — “The Women’s March,” performed by women or “America First,” performed by men. This is a review of the latter.
Hugo Armstrong is blissfully cornball in Jon Beauregard’s “Keep on Truckin’,” a shameless paean to the glories of driving trucks in America. The character goes on about how his truck horn is “the sound of freedom,” and rhapsodizes about how the Grand Tetons are really “the big titties” — then steals the show with a ridiculously long slow-motion crash sequence.
Albert Dayan is wonderfully loathsome in his own “Pride and Prejudice,” in which an investment banker rails against the difficulties white males have to face. It’s a piece exquisitely calibrated to incite a tsunami of socks from the crowd, particularly in a moment where he instructs all the women to leave the room and just go to the bathroom together or something.
Jon Beauregard is amusing if not quite despicable as Clark Gable in Carolyn Almos’ “Frankly My Dear” — which seems more of a gentle teasing of the Gable persona than a slam of celebrity bio shows. The program ends strong with Scott Golden in Matt Almos’s flamboyant “Town Hall,” in which a politician eschews answering his constituents’ questions and instead performs a conservative musical in bright red tights. Obamacare, the Wall and the giant disembodied head of Anderson Cooper make memorable appearances.
This show would be fun even if it were bad, but the writing is pointed and the performances are excellent. This is a genuinely hilarious production, and a Fringe must-see.
From Tracy Paleo at Gia On The Move:
The most fun you will have at Fringe this year! Hugo Armstrong, Albert Dayan, Jon Beauregard, and Scott Golden, cross every possible line of stupidity, racial discrimination, insensitivity and political disgust in 4 truly outrageous America First inspired shorts. So creatively absurd is the comedy and so galvanizing is the writing, directing and performances (in collaboration with the Burglars of Hamm), you may be in jeopardy of spending an entire pay day check on socks! (Which FYI are sold in between each short).
Hugo Armstrong in Keep On Truckin' (photo by Ben Rock)
EASY TARGETS invites the audience to watch horrible one-person shows while pummeling performers with rolled up socks. Ever had to sit through a friend's not-so-gripping account of their difficult childhood? Ever been lectured to by a poorly acted historical figure in a fake beard? Ever sat in an audience wondering "How the hell did this happen?" Well EASY TARGETS is your chance to fight back! Pieces like "Greatest Love of All", "I Feel Pretty", and the mime-extravaganza "Daughter of the Moon", will keep you furious and engaged. And two completely different lineups - AMERICA FIRST and WOMEN'S MARCH - will allow those of you with rage issues to return a second time to punish all new shows. Opens Sat, June 3.
Tickets and info HERE.
