PASTICHENYC proudly presents a new 8-part musical audio comedy GRACE UNDER PRESSURE
A woman’s work is what she makes it!
PASTICHENYC
Proudly presents
GRACE UNDER PRESSURE
A woman’s work is what she makes it!
Written and Directed by Emily King
Starring Alice King
grace-under-pressure.simplecast.com
New York, NY - June 2023: From the acclaimed PASTICHENYC, who recently brought audiences Jane Austen’s Persuasion Song Cycle and Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth Song Cycle comes the World Premiere of sparkling 8-part comedic, musical, radio drama series, original and unique, GRACE UNDER PRESSURE follows the simple story of a woman alone in New York in the ‘90s, an age of diminished expectations.
PASTICHENYC is pleased to announce their World Premiere podcast GRACE UNDER PRESSURE, written and directed by Emily King, the simple story of a woman alone in NYC in the '90s, falling down the socio-economic ladder to find her life's work and true love. The irreplaceable Alice King stars in the role of a lifetime. Just in time. Resurrected piano bars songs provide a Greek (diner) chorus. Corporate hanky-panky, art-world exploitation, pyramid schemes, and the AIDS crisis. What's not to like? The first two episodes will be released on June 15th wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts, and an episode a week for the subsequent seven weeks. Listen, rate, review, and subscribe now at https://grace-under-pressure.simplecast.com/.
Inappropriate affairs, office sexual politics, pyramid scheme fraud, cynical art-world pay-to-play, sweatshop fashion, and even the AIDS crisis, dealing with the light touch, suggestive humor, and speedy delivery of screwball comedy.
GRACE UNDER PRESSURE began as an Off-Off Broadway project in 1992, staged initially as an 8-part radio play complete with manic sound man, theme song, and additional musical interludes. The part of Grace was written for the sublime Alice King and, thirty years later, it became clear that it was time for Grace to make a comeback. A cast of first-class New York voice talent is led by Alice King as Grace McMoon, our heroine who loses her job in every episode and slides down the socio-economic ladder to find true love, fulfillment, and job satisfaction. Each episode is complemented by the Singer-Songwriter acting as a kind of Greek chorus, with a musical interlude from a trove of original ‘90s piano-bar ballads. Created, written, produced, edited, and directed – and inspired – by New York City working women.
Emily, who wrote the piece for her cousin Alice, had this to say about it “One morning I awoke from a dream with a theatre project fully formed in my head. For Alice. Grace Under Pressure. Eight-part radio series. Loses her job in every episode. And finds her life’s work and true love. Theme song, choral commentary piano bar songs, Radio Theater Live on Stage. So I wrote it. We did the first few episodes as part of a Women’s Work short-play festival. And that’s as far as we got. Grace Under Pressure took its place in my fully-packed file cabinet drawer of semi-produced plays.” To read more about the germination of the piece and the cousins, visit here.
The musical podcast includes NYC Field Recordings/Sound Design by Milo Barney. The recording Engineer is Atticus Mulkey, Edited by Emily Duncan.
Listen, rate, review, and subscribe now at https://grace-under-pressure.simplecast.com/.
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PasticheNYC is a proud member of Fractured Atlas, A.R.T./New York, Women in Media, Jane Austen Society of North America, National & NY branch
EMILY KING (Creator/Director) worked for many years as a writer and editor in the recording industry for RCA Victor and Sony Classics, assisting in recording more than 20 Broadway Cast albums and working with some of the great contemporary lyricists. She is a published translator of French, German, and Italian texts (Chérubin, Roméo et Juliette, William Tell) and subtitles (Tosca, Turandot). She was also happy to act as a new submissions reader at Manhattan Theater Club for Musical Theater Developmental Director Clifford Lee Johnson II
She directed some 20 original Off-Off Broadway plays and musicals and wrote or adapted and directed Bridie Now and Then, The Hero of the Slocum, Grace Under Pressure, Paris Malice, and an on-site, full-length version of Maxwell Anderson and Arthur Schwartz’s High Tor. Almost all of her own theatrical work has had a musical through-line, starting with Fighting Words, in which an aging insomniac Dorothy Parker justifies her life through her writing to her imaginary obituary writer, interlaced with early songs by George and Ira Gershwin. In the opera world, she was assistant director for the Glimmerglass production of Così fan tutte, and put together thematically-linked opera scene evenings for Mannes and new operatic works for Manhattan School of Music. More recently Ms. King has completed song cycles for staged concerts, writing lyrics adapting Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth to music by Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Jane Austen’s Persuasion, set to chamber music by Ludwig Van Beethoven.
In developing PasticheNYC, she created new ways to recruit first-rate performers and great music – and the infinitude of visuals, and sound available in the new technology – to bring new life to Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth, and now her own original musical radio series, Grace Under Pressure, in an age of uncertainty, isolation, and hunger for beauty. New technology and CoVid lockdown led her to develop what may be an entirely new art form from influences as old as magic lantern slideshows and the patchwork quilt: Pastiche! AEA, BMI, UFT.
PASTICHENYC LLC was founded in 2020 to create exciting new performances based on classical literature and music, with a diverse cast of singers and actors, blending vintage images and music in modern media. Bringing the classics to a new generation in a new century, PasticheNYC used cyber-technology to safely record and edit the work of artists and musicians dispersed in the CoVid-19 pandemic, and to stream it to the world.
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EPISODE 1: FLIRTING WITH DISASTER
In her high-pressure job working for an international corporation, editor Grace McMoon is on the phone, working and complaining to her friend Trudy, when a high-level executive (and inappropriate Christmas Party liaison) drops by to check in on her. When her pink slip arrives, Grace throws him out of her office, to be comforted by her best friend in the mailroom, Louie. She decides to work freelance from home but gets a call telling her she’s been robbed of her computer. What’s the next job she can do to maintain her Upper East Side lifestyle? The Singer/Songwriter warns: “Trouble’s Back in Town”.
Starring
Alice King as Grace McMoon
Tom Bozell as Wolfram Weltmeister
Roger Casey as Louie Corazon
And Narrated by George Sheffey
Singer/Songwriter: Emily King
EPISODE 2: A CHILLY RECEPTION
Grace is now a receptionist at the weasely white-shoe law office where Trudy is a perma-temp proofreader. Though most of the partners are in jail or under indictment when remaining shyster Myron McWeeney asks Grace to “fill in” for his secretary, Trudy and Grace go into sexual harassment red alert maneuvers. Even if they work, will it be worth it? The Singer/Songwriter asks: “I Wonder When”.
Starring
Alice King as Grace McMoon
George Sheffey as Mr. McWeeney
Dorian DeMichele as Trudy
And Narrated by George Sheffey
Singer/Songwriter: Emily King
EPISODE 3: THE ART OF WHINING
Now a newbie at a high-price SoHo art gallery, run by Trudy’s chic-er cousin Mimi, Grace is introduced to the Art of the Sell. Too bad she’s expected to throw sex into the bargain, by Leo Fursnyder, the guy who owns the guys who run New York. Will speaking truth to power get her anywhere but out on the street? The Singer/Songwriter’s opinion: “Fool”.
Starring
Alice King as Grace McMoon
Blanca Franck as the Customer
Dorian DeMichele as Mimi
George Sheffey as Leo Fursnyder
Roger Casey as Louie Corazon
And Narrated by George Sheffey
Singer/Songwriter: Emily King
EPISODE 4: WAITING FOR… OH, GOD!
Grace and Trudy are now waitresses at Trudy’s boyfriend Ted’s startup restaurant. Dodging the “Roamin’ hands and Rushin’ finger” of the customers, Grace, losing her sublet through poor credit decisions, finds comfort when Trudy and Ted offer to let her move in as a live-in bookkeeper. Perhaps a little too much comforting from Ted – too close to Grace – for Trudy’s comfort. Where can you go when you lose your best friends? The Singer/Songwriter reminds us: “Any Number Can Play”.
Starring
Alice King as Grace McMoon
George Sheffey as the Customer
Dorian DeMichele as Trudy
Tom Bozell as Ted
And Narrated by George Sheffey
Singer/Songwriter: Emily King
EPISODE 5: PUSHING THE ENVELOPE
In her new Lower East Side roomshare with Norma Bates, goth/punk midWestern NYU refugee, Grace tries to make big bucks working at home stuffing envelopes. When Jack Mahloff show up to recruit her for bigger things in the organization, Grace catches on to its pyramidal exploitation, and Norma goes berserk. Where can you go when there’s no place at home? The Singer/Songwriter suggests its only a: “First Mistake”.
Starring
Alice King as Grace McMoon
Blanca Franck as Norma Bates
Tom Bozell as Jack Mahloff
And Narrated by George Sheffey
Singer/Songwriter: Emily King
EPISODE 6: SWEATSHOP EQUITY
Dressmaking at home in junior high never prepared Grace for work in a Soho loft sweatshop. Her new sewing-machine neighbors Rosita and Carmen try to help her get started, but Grace is at the bottom of a class by herself. If she can’t keep up, where can she go but down? The Singer/Songwriter shares: “The Ladies’ Lament”.
Starring
Alice King as Grace McMoon
Blanca Franck as Rosita
Roger Casey as Auntie Carmen
Luis Carlos de la Lombana as Mr. Ramirez
And Narrated by George Sheffey
Singer/Songwriter: Emily King
EPISODE 7: CLEAN LIVING
Isolated, resigned, and strangely tranquil, Grace fronts a laundromat in the Ukrainian Lower East Side. Dealing with grunge band bass players, panhandlers, young Russian moms and crabby old ladies, she’s pretty much given up when an old beloved friend walks back into her life. Will she follow his lead to a life worth living? The Singer/Songwriter suggests: “Giving Up Your Dreams”.
Starring
Alice King as Grace McMoon
Tom Bozell as Blow
George Sheffey as Howard
Dorian DeMichele as Mrs. Gravlax
Blanca Franck as Russian Mother
Roger Casey as Louie Corazon
And Narrated by George Sheffey
Singer/Songwriter: Emily King
EPISODE 8: SLIDE INTO HOME
Grace finds peace and purpose attending to the clientele of an AIDS hospice, run by the flamboyant philosopher-in-drag, Hector. She feels useful at last, but fears she might not have what it takes when her patients die. Will she pass the test? It may mean a whole new life. The Singer/Songwriter comments: “Oh…”.
Starring
Alice King as Grace McMoon
Luis Carlos de la Lombana as Raimondo AND Hector
Roger Casey as Louie Corazon
And Narrated by George Sheffey
Singer/Songwriter: Emily King