Big Famous: The Polka Ponzi Musical gets a one-night benefit concert for The Directors Company on Monday, October 26 at Warsaw in Brooklyn, with Aaron Ramey as a polka star whose empire turns out to be a con.
Doors open at 6 p.m. and the presentation starts at 7 p.m. at Warsaw, 261 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn. The show runs 105 minutes with an intermission. Tickets are on Universe.
The new musical tells the true story of Jan Lewan, a Polish immigrant who built a polka business stretching from the Polish halls of Pennsylvania to the casinos of Atlantic City, and kept it going with other people's money once the real income dried up.
It is written by a father and son. Nicholas Kaminski wrote the book, music and lyrics, and Stephen Kaminski, a Grammy nominee who scored the 2017 Netflix film The Polka King, co-wrote the music and lyrics. Both were part of the polka scene of the 1980s and '90s that the show depicts. "It's also a show with heart, written by the people who lived it," Nicholas Kaminski said.
Rachel Klein directs. Klein's recent work includes the world premiere of I Was a Teenage She-Devil at the Other Palace in London and, Off-Broadway, The Gospel According to Heather with Katey Sagal. Klein also directed an earlier presentation of the show at New 42. "A polka Ponzi scheme? I was intrigued by this story from the moment I read it," Klein said.
Ramey (Young Frankenstein, The Bridges of Madison County, The Visit) plays Lewan. The cast also includes Dominique Scott as Pally Pulaski, Lisa Helmi Johanson as Rhoda Jeleski, Leenya Rideout as Zosia Brzeczyszczykiewicz and Brian Russell Carey as Vick, with Devon Meddock, Tina Stafford, Avery Whitted, Louis Jannuzzi III, Andy Paterson and Laura Elizabeth Flanagan in the ensemble.
Larry Pressgrove is music director, Josh Zacher associate director and Morgan Holbrook production stage manager. Casting is by Stephanie Klapper.
The money raised goes to The Directors Company, the nonprofit led by artistic director Michael Parva and producing director Leah Michalos. It developed Bat Boy: The Musical, Douglas Lyons wrote Chicken & Biscuits during a residency there, and its production of Irena's Vow transferred to Broadway. More is at directorscompany.org and bigfamousmusical.com.
