2009: Too Big To Fail

Winter of 2010, Tour: SF & Ohio

Written by Michael Gene Sullivan (Red State, Making A Killing, GodFellas)
Music & Lyrics by Pat Moran (Red State, Making a Killing, Doing Good)
Directed by Bay Area favorite and Mime Troupe Amlumnus Wilma Bonet

Songs excerpts:
More Money
Too Big To Fail

TOO BIG TO FAIL featured Mime Troupe veterans Velina Brown, Ed Holmes,
Lisa Hori Garcia, Michael Gene Sullivan
, as well as Adrian Mejia and Lizzie
Calogero
- who appeared 2008's Red State, and BW Gonzalez (Seeing Double).     
During the 2010 remount Gonzalaz's roles were performed by Wilma Bonet.

And band members Aharon Wheels Bolsta, James Mitchell & Pat Moran


View original playbill
View playbill, Winter of 2010

View the full company's bios

View show photos

View YouTube Clip
Poster
Poster Design: Spain Rodriguez



"A story, a story!" cries the Griot. "Gather 'round, and I will tell you a tale of greed, and sacrifice, high finance, love, goats, and the terrible curse that tore our little village apart.. the evil, magical spell of... Credit! It all began at the wedding of Filije and Jeneeba! Filije was a fine man, who only wanted the best for his new bride. So when a mysterious Old Woman offered him a loan against Jeneeba's dowry goat - with low, low interest - he thought it was a wonderful shortcut to the prosperity he knew they deserved. How could he have guessed that the Old Woman was actually a Demon casting a Spell of Debt! Or that one missed payment would mean a repossessed goat? And so, with their future - and marriage - in jeopardy, Filije must begin an epic journey: through the Land of Privatization, over the Sea of Acquisition, facing demon after demon as he tries to cancel his debt, and get his goat back. But each struggle takes him one step closer to... Corporate Headquarters, and the Greatest demon of them all!"

"Meanwhile, Jeneeba is trying to warn the rest of the village about the Old Woman's evil Spell! But Credit Debt is already ensnaring them all, as they use their new Plutonium Cards to buy whatever their hearts desire! Can Jeneeba save the village from the Spells of the mindless consumerism the Old Woman is casting? Can Filije recover the dowry goat from clutches of a heartless bottom line? And can the new couple find a way to challenge a system of evil magic that seems created to cause misery, or is the whole Cruel Credit Conjuration... Too Big To Fail?"

Production Photo
Photographer: Liza M Frolkis
Foreground:
Lisa Hori-Garcia
Background:
Velina Brown, Adrian Mejia

Honors, Reviews and Articles:

Nominated - Best Original Script, 2009 - San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critic's Circle
Nominated - Best Musical Director, 2009 - San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critic's Circle
Nominated - Best Ensemble, 2009 - San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critic's Circle

"This year Mime Troupe day got a city government imprimatur (making it actually 'Mime Troupe Day' on official parchment somewhere) in a nod to the rabble-rousing satirical political theater troupe's 50th year raising hell and inciting revolution."
(Mime Troupe Day proclamation)
Bay Guardian - 7/15/09

"An unapologetically anti-capitalist comedy framed as an African folk tale...'Buying into capitalism is the working class' curse,' (and) it's hard to disagree with that premise, the way the Mime Troupe puts it in this hilarious musical."
SF Examiner - 7/8/09

"It's all as entertaining as it is didactic. Sullivan is disarmingly open about his intentions, but he also doesn't pretend to have all the answers. He's more intent on getting us to question the fundamentals of a system dependent on citizens 'living and dying in debt.'"
SF Chronicle - 7/7/09

"The writing is crisp, the storyline cohesive but just endearingly twisted enough to intrigue, the musical numbers peppy and hummable, the acting superb. And the direction has a sizzle... This is theater that cracks the whip a bit. More power to it."
Fresnobeehive.com

"The San Francisco Mime Troupe is the conscience of the city, out proudest export, and -as it celebrates its 50th year- perhaps our most enduring sociopolitical institution"
SF Bay Guardian/Best of the Bay (2009)

"(The Mime Troupe's) free summer shows in the park . . still come geared to immediate concerns and evince a commitment to advancing a populist mission of of social change. Generally speaking, and to this end, they are also slickly performed and very funny."
American Theatre - September 2009


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