MEGHAN PRESSMAN Managing Director/CEO | DOUGLAS C. BAKER Producing Director
GORDON DAVIDSON Founding Artistic Director
Presents the World Premiere of
Based on the Amazon series “Transparent”
Book by
MJ Kaufman and Joey Soloway
Music, Lyrics, and Vocal Arrangements by
Faith Soloway
With
Jimmy Ray Bennett Daya Curley Alana Darby Dahlya Glick Emily Goglia Kasper Samora la Perdida Liz Larsen Peppermint Robert Pieranunzi Zachary Prince Justin Rivers Futaba Shioda Murphy Taylor Smith Sarah Stiles Pat Towne Adina Verson
Alanna Darby Ty-Gabriel Jones Jonathan Ritter
Scenic Design
Adam Rigg
Costume Design
Toni-Leslie James
Lighting Design
Jen Schriever
Sound Design
Kai Harada
Projection Design
Yee Eun Nam
Hair and Wig Design
Matthew Armentrout
Orchestrations
John Clancy
Music Direction and Arrangements
Julie McBride
Casting
The Telsey Company
Patrick Goodwin, CSA
Charlie Hano, CSA
Additional Casting
Michael Donovan, CSA
Richie Ferris, CSA
Associate Artistic Director
Kelley Kirkpatrick
Production Stage Manager
David S. Franklin
Choreographed by
James Alsop
Directed by
Tina Landau
A Transparent Musical will be performed with a 15-minute intermission
MAY 23 – JUNE 25, 2023 | MARK TAPER FORUM
CAST
(In order of Introduction)
Marv/Magnus Hirschfeld . . . . . Pat Towne
Davina/Darlene . . . . . Peppermint
Rabbi Raquel/Gittel/Queerdo . . . . . Murphy Taylor Smith
Hyman/Karl/Queerdo/Others . . . . . Jimmy Ray Bennett
Ali Pfefferman/Ari . . . . . Adina Verson
Shelly Pfefferman . . . . . Liz Larsen
Maura Pfefferman . . . . . Daya Curley
Sarah Pfefferman/Queerdo . . . . . Sarah Stiles
Josh Pfefferman/Queerdo . . . . . Zachary Prince
Ezra/Edward . . . . . Kasper
Len/Queerdo/Others . . . . . Robert Pieranunzi
Megan/Queerdo/Others . . . . . Emily Goglia
Other Megan/Dora/Queerdo/Others . . . . . Samora la Perdida
Charlotte/Charli/Others . . . . . Justin Rivers
Gerd/Queerdo/Others . . . . . Futaba Shioda
Shlohmo/Queerdo/Others . . . . . Dahlya Glick
Understudies never substitute for the listed performer unless a specific announcement is made at the time of the performance.
Understudies
Ali/Ari (Dahlya Glick), Shelly (Emily Goglia), Josh (Robert Pieranunzi),
Sarah (Emily Goglia), Maura (Alanna Darby), Marv/Magnus (Jimmy Ray Bennett),
Davina/Darlene (Samora la Perdida), Ezra/ Edward (Futaba Shioda),
Rabbi Raquel/Gittel (Alanna Darby), Len (Jonathan Ritter),
and for all other roles and ensemble: Ty-Gabriel Jones, Jonathan Ritter
STAGE MANAGERS
Jessica Keasbury-Vnuk, Miriam Mendoza
ORCHESTRA
Julie McBride: Conductor/Keyboard 1
Noriko Olling: Associate Music Director/Keyboard 2
Olivia Breidenthal: Violin
Rusty Higgins: Reeds
Johann Frank: Guitar
Jennifer Leitham: Bass
Lance Lee: Drums/Percussion
Andres Cerullo: Keyboard Sub.
Robert Payne: Music Contractor
Please turn off all electronic devices such as cellular phones and watch alarms. The use of any recording device, either audio or video, and the taking of photographs, with or without flash, is strictly prohibited.
SONGS
ACT ONE
STANDING ORDER . . . . . Company
HOW . . . . . Maura, with Ali, Sarah, Josh
IF YOU ARE YOU . . . . . Ali
IT’S A LOT . . . . . Ali, Ezra
WHO SUFFERED MORE . . . . . Shelly, Maura
3 GROWN-ASS SIBLINGS . . . . . Josh, Sarah, Ali, Bar Patrons
CHOSEN FAMILY . . . . . Davina, Maura, LGBTQ Group
YOU MUST BE (LOVE AT THE JCC) . . . . . Raquel, Josh
THE SECRET TO A MARRIAGE . . . . . Shelly, with Josh, Sarah, Ali
LAVENDER SONG* . . . . . Magnus, Queerdos
ACT TWO
JEWISH AND QUEER . . . . . Magnus, Queerdos
NOT IN MY BODY . . . . . Ali, Queerdos
STEADY NOW . . . . . Davina, Ezra
WHAT’S IN A NAME . . . . . Ali/Ari, Magnus, Gittel, Queerdos
MOM IN A CAR . . . . . Sarah
DEVIANT . . . . . Dora, Gerd, Charlotte, Queerdos, Ali, Magnus
EMERGENCY CONTACT . . . . . Shelly, Maura
QUARTET . . . . . Sarah, Josh, Len, Raquel
NEVER LOOK BACK . . . . . Maura
A NEW STANDING ORDER . . . . . Maura, Ari, Davina, Company
*Das Lila Lied or The Lavender Song, which is woven through A Transparent Musical, has been called by some historians the first gay anthem, despite remaining largely unknown today. Written in 1920 for a performance in the Berlin cabaret scene, with lyrics by Kurt Schwabach and music by Misha Spoliansky (under the pseudonym Arno Billig), the song was dedicated to Magnus Hirschfeld.
Over a hundred years later, these final lyrics still reverberate in this new century:
Round us all up, send us away // that’s what you’d really like to do // But we’re too strong, proud, unafraid // in fact we almost pity you // You act from fear, why should that be // What is it that you are frightened of // The way that we dress // The way that we meet // The fact that you cannot destroy our love // We’re going to win our rights // to lavender days and nights
A NOTE ON LANGUAGE IN A TRANSPARENT MUSICAL
To honor the truth of our story and its characters, A TRANSPARENT MUSICAL contains language that might be offensive and triggering to a variety of communities— most prominently language that is transphobic or anti-Semitic. The views implicit in this language reflect those of the character within the story and not those of the creators or company. For gender-related terms in addition to the definitions offered below, including terms to avoid, please visit GLAAD Media Reference Guide at www.glaad.org/reference.
We recognize that concepts around pronouns and gender expansiveness might be new to some of our audiences and so we offer this glossary of some of the most common words you may hear in our show or our culture:
Gender is a set of socially constructed behaviors and attributes that a society considers appropriate, usually in relation to the categories of male, female, or nonbinary. Your gender is different than your sex assigned at birth.
Gender identityis how you identify and feel on the inside. Gender expression is how you express your gender on the outside. Gender identity and gender expression are not necessarily correlated.
Cisgender (cis) means you identify with the gender you were assigned at birth
Transgender (trans) means you identify with a gender outside of the gender you were assigned at birth. Transgender is a descriptor of a gender identity and is not connected to someone’s sexual orientation. ‘Sexual orientation is who you go to bed with, gender Identity is who I go to bed as’.
Nonbinary is a term for gender identities that live outside of the binary of “man” and “woman.” A non-binary gender experience could be a mix of “man” and “woman,” somewhere between “man” and “woman,” outside of “man” and “woman” or another experience entirely.
Queer means something a little different to everyone who uses it and identifies with it. It’s most often an inclusive umbrella term for people who identify with sexual orientations and gender identities outside the mainstream of heterosexual or cisgender norms. The word was previously used as a slur, but has been reclaimed by many parts of the LGBTQIA+ movement. Queer is also often used to describe things other than individual identity—for some, queer is a community, queer is liberation, queer is style, queer means inclusivity or flexibility.
Pronouns The words we use to talk about people aside from using their names (ex: he/his, she/hers, they/ them, and many more.) Sometimes pronouns correlate with a person’s gender identity, sometimes they don’t.
LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender, the T being inclusive of Transgender, Non-Binary, and Gender Expansive (or Gender Non-Conforming) identities. Many variants or extensions of the acronym exist, including the common LGBTQ which adds the letter Q for those who identify as queer or are questioning their sexual or gender identity.