Updating of Classic Musical by '57 Classmates Gretchen Cryer & Nancy Ford to Premiere in October

August 30, 2015

Gretchen Cryer, a 1957 graduate of DePauw University, will direct and star in the world premiere of the musical she wrote with her DePauw classmate Nancy Ford, I'm Still Getting My Act Together and Taking It On the Road. Opening at California's Laguna Playhouse in October, the show will co-star Rex Smith, a veteran of stage, screen and music, whose hits include "You Take My Breath Away."

"What an honor to have both Gretchen Cryer and Rex Smith star in this heartfelt continuation of one of the most iconic musicals of the '70s," says Karen Wood, executive director of the Laguna Playhouse.

With music by Nancy Ford and lyrics by Gretchen Cryer, I'm Still Getting My Act Together and Taking It On the Road is based on the duo's 1978 groundbreaking Off-Broadway musical I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It On the Road.  It will begin performances on Wednesday, October 7; will open on Saturday, October 10, and will run through Sunday, November 1.

A synopsis of the musical states, "Act One, the original musical, introduces Heather, a 39 year old divorced song writer attempting a comeback by ditching the romantic songs of her past for a more personal collection.  Act Two visits Heather and her band 30 years later.  Ms. Cryer will be reprising the role of Heather in Act Two."

Read more here.

Nancy Ford and Gretchen Cryer have been collaborating since their first production, For Reasons of Royalty, created when they were students at DePauw University. I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It On the Road was originally produced in New York City by Joseph Papp's Public Theater followed by a three-year run at the Circle in the Square. The show subsequently ran a year in Chicago, a year in Los Angeles, had numerous productions around the country and over 100 foreign productions. In Chicago the show won the Joseph Jefferson Award for the Best Musical and Gretchen Cryer won the Best Actress Award. The cast album won a Grammy nomination. (photo, l-r: Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford )

Ford and Cryer have written musicals for The American Girl Company in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, and the longtime friends created a musical of Anne of Green Gables for TheatreWorks USA, which had a successful New York run in 2007, and Einstein & the Roosevelts, which premiered at DePauw in 2008.

Back