The Mystery Of Irma Vep Opening At Bay Street Theatre

The Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor will be showing The Mystery of Irma Vep from July 2 through 28. The play, written by Charles Ludlam and directed by Kenneth Elliott, will be starring Tom Aulino and 5-time Obie Award winner David Greenspan who, between the two of them, will be playing eight different characters of both sexes.

“Irma Vep is going to be a funny show! We are incredible happy to have both Tom and David as a two man cast playing eight different characters with over 35 different costume changes,” says Gary Hygom, Producer for Bay Street Theatre. “Under Elliott’s direction, Vep will have audiences crying with laughter.”

The show was first produced by Ludlam’s Ridiculous Theatrical Company, opening off-off-Broadway in September 1984 in Greenwich Village through April 1986 and starring writer Charles Ludlam as one of the two lead roles. The original actors won the 1985 Obie Award for Ensemble Performance. In 1991, the Mystery of Irma Vep was the most produces play in the U.S., and eventually the show graduated to an off-Broadway production at Westside Theatre from September 1998 to July 1999. This version won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Revival along with numerous other accolades.

The pair will change costumes over 35 times during the show. (Courtesy Photo)

The satirical play lampoons several genres including Victorian melodrama, farce, and the penny dreadful, as well as some specific works such as Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and the Alfred Hitchcock film Rebecca. The show will be director Kenneth Elliot’s second production at Bay Street and although his cast of Aulino and Greenspan will be Bay Street newcomers, both are greatly experienced in New York theatre.

The last play of the Mainstage Season, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, will follow this production, running from August 6 to September 1. Tickets are $59.50 and $69.50 with subscriptions to all 3 Mainstage productions starting at $138.

Bay Street Theatre is located at 1 Bay Street in Sag Harbor. For more information call the Box Office at 631-725-9500 or buy online at www.baystreet.org.