''Iron Curtain'' is a comedy musical about the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, with music by

Stephen Weiner Stephen or Steven is a common English given name, first name. It is particularly significant to Christianity, Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Ac ...

, lyrics by Peter Mills, and a book by

Susan DiLallo Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian '' sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose" and a flower in general), ...

Story

The musical follows Murray and Howard, an unsuccessful musical writing team, as they attempt to write a great

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

. However, all of their ideas are taken. Meanwhile,

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

, the Russian Premier, is becoming tired of the horrible musicals being produced by writers in the Soviet Union. He assigns Yevgenyi Onanov to create a

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

musical, promoting Communism and working for the glory of Russia. However, the musical that Onanov creates, a bad rip-off of '' Oklahoma!'', is terrible. Khrushchev tells Onanov to fix it, or his demise may be imminent. He also assigns Shmearnov to the problem, with the same consequences for failure. The pair kidnaps Murray and Howard to fix the musical. They are brought behind the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...

, and they begin work on the musical with the help of a crazy cast of characters. Other characters include: *Shirley Dooley - Howard's not-quite girlfriend, who literally follows him to the ends of the earth. *Sergei Shmearnov - A overbearing KGB agent with an agenda of his own. *Yevgenyi Onanov - A Soviet producer working for the ministry of musical persuasion. *Hildret Heintz - An East German director with a sadistic bend to her. *Masha Petrovna Haylukmikova - A Russian chorus girl with an eye for Murray. The Ensemble portrays the remainder of the small characters, which manages to be a large part of the show.

Production

The musical's off-Broadway premiere featured Marcus Neville as Howard, Jeff Edgerton as Murray, and Jessica Grové as Masha. The rest of the cast included Bethe B. Austin, Larry Brustofski, Maria Couch, Amber Dow, Dominic Roberts (replaced David Miller), Dara Seitzman, Doug Shapiro, Robby Sharpe, Rich Silverstein, Gordon Stanley, Brad York.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Iron Curtain Review
from Off Broadway

from

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Off-Broadway musicals 2006 musicals Original musicals Musicals set in the Soviet Union