Reviews From Elsewhere: Los Angeles Times on the Rude Mech's I've Never Been So Happy, October 10

Link tweeted by the Rude Mechs:

Theater review:

'I've Never Been So Happy' at the Kirk Douglas Theatre

by Charles McNulty October 10, 2011

Rude Mechs, the crazy-as-a-fox performance troupe from Austin, Texas, loves throwing audiences for a loop. So for the benefit of any Rodgers & Hammerstein innocents out there, let’s acknowledge upfront that “I’ve Never Been So Happy,” the company’s new musical at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, could potentially give “Oklahoma!” addicts a stroke with its cowpoke sendup of musical theater conventions.

This freewheeling carnival of a show, which opened Saturday under the zingy direction of Thomas Graves and Lana Lesley, adopts its air of insouciance with a deadpan mask. Why, our wacky friends from the Lone Star State, last seen at the Douglas just a few months ago during RADAR L.A. with the sprightly mockumentary “The Method Gun,” have returned to host a little shindig. What could be more normal than seeing wieners roasting in the theater’s men’s room and the lobby decked out like a country fair for our intermission pleasure?

Thankfully, audience participation isn’t a requirement of this DouglasPlus offering. Theatergoers, however, must be willing to go along with the joke or the mayhem may start to seem raucously dizzying. But for those on the same wacky wavelength as Rude Mechs — and this boldly experimental group has earned its cult following — “I’ve Never Been So Happy” will no doubt possess a cobweb-clearing comic force.

Read more at the LA Times on-line . . . .

Arts Reporting: L.A. Stage Times on the Rude Mechanicals' I've Never Been So Happy, October 5

Via a link tweeted by the Rude Mechs:

The Rude Mechs Return to LA and They’ve Never Been So Happy

Feature by A.R. Cassell | October 5, 2011

Yippee-ki-ay! The West is about to get even wilder with the arrival of the Texans who make up the Rude Mechs, the experimental theater company whose latest creation I’ve Never Been So Happy will begin performances this Thursday at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

Continuing their relationship with the Center Theatre Group (audiences may recall their production of The Method Gun at the Douglas during the RADAR L.A. festival in June), the “Rudes” are blazing new frontiers with their first bona fide musical…that is, if a “musical” is what you’d call it.

Otherwise called a “transmedia hootenanny,” I’ve Never Been So Happy, written by Kirk Lynn, centers around two star-crossed lovers in the wild wild West who, along with the help of some talking dachshunds (it’s true), must fight to stay together despite the efforts of their parents, a mountain lion, and whole slew of colorful characters. Composer Peter Stopschinski’s score ranges everywhere from down-home country, to ballads, heavy metal, opera and R&B. During the extended intermission, there is a shindig, which is described as a “interactive carnivalesque performance party.”

[image: Paul Soileau, Jason Liebrecht and Jenny Larson, via www.lastagetimes.com]

Read more and view additional images at www.lastagetimes.com . . . .

Arts Reporting: Rude Mechs' Successful Application to NEA for I Can't Believe I'm So Happy

Found on-line:

Several successful grant applications have just been published at the the New Plays blog maintained by the Arena Stage in Washington DC on behalf of the "American Voices" program of the National Endowment for the Arts. Included is the 2008 application by the Rude Mechanicals for support in developing their Western mythic epic I've Never Been So Happy. Applicants granted permission for the publication, intended in part as a guide and inspiration for companies currently preparing applications.

Click on the image to view the three-page application. (.pdf, 1.42MB)

I've Never Been So Happy, Rude Mechanicals at the Off Center, September 10 - 20

It's clever. It's mythic. It's melodic. It's multimedia.

It's the Rude Mechanicals still-in-workshop production of I've Never Been So Happy with book and lyrics by Kirk Lynn and music by Peter Stopchinsky, who also sings the part of the mountain lion.

But it's short and it's incomplete. By design, it will leave you wanting more.

The Rude Mechanicals have made for themselves an enviable place in the bubbling world of Austin's young non-Equity original-works theatres.

The Rudes are highly creative. They've done 22 original productions since inventing themselves in 1995, building a reputation, a following and support. They are not a high-volume theatre company, despite their six co-producing artistic directors, 28 company members, 88 business partners and an impressive array of individual supporters.

They've survived and triumphed by learning networking and grantsmanship. The Rudes succeeded in getting grant funding for this Western operetta fable from the National Endowment for the Arts, both directly and as part of the subsequent anti-recession stimulus package. The show is part of the NEA's new play development project, coordinated by the Arena Stage in Washington DC. Last December they did a workshop production in Austin of the early scenes of the play. They've worked parts of it further at the Orchard Project in the Catskills and last June with the UT Department of Theatre and Dance.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: I've Never Been So Happy, Rude Mechanicals at the Off Center, September 10 - 20

Update: Click for ALT review, September 16

UPDATE: Pre-opening piece by Javier Sanchez at the Daily Texan, September 10

Found on-line:

I've Never Been So Happy

a work in progress production
by the Rude Mechanicals
book and lyrics by Kirk Lynn
music and lyrics by Peter Stopschinski
curated and directed by Thomas Graves and Lana Lesley
September 10 - 20, at the Off Center

Tickets on sale now!

Rude Mechs is proud to present this work-in-progress presentation of our new western operetta performance experiment. We're making musical theatre for a new breed of Texan, and offering up a western adventure that will ply you with soothing adult elixirs, teach you how to use a lasso to capture your love, and then join you on their authentic Texas dance floor as you boot scoot to the greatest music in the West.

I've Never Been So Happy, with music and lyrics by Austin Experimental Punk Grand Wizard Peter Stopschinski (Brown Whornet, Golden Hornet Project), and book and lyrics by Austin Experimental Theatre Mascot Kirk Lynn, fluctuates freely between high art and Hee-Haw, treating both with respect.

The music pits a Grand Ole Opry style West against an El Topo style West. The writing butts lyric poetry up against bar jokes with finesse. The evening challenges what it means to "go to the theater" in 2009.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: I've Never Been So Happy, Rude Mechs and UT Students at UT, June 13

Click for 30-minute audio program on workshopping of I've Never Been So Happy, from John Aielli's KUT program "Aielli Unleashed," posted on June 10.

John Aielli's comment: The very big cast, well, a good number of them, came in and did a feature with musical/dramatic excerpts from the show. it’s still being worked on. The music is by the wonderfully talented Peter Stopschinsky of brown whornet fame. The selections you’ll hear show the variety of styles represented. Don’t try to pigeonhole this one. the show is being presented ON THE STAGE (as in the audience will be on the stage too) of the B. Iden Payne theatre this Saturday, July 13. The show is to be presented again this fall at the off center.

I'VE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY

Saturday, June 13, 2009 B. Iden Payne Theatre, UT Austin

4:00 p.m.

Created by the Rude Mechs

Books/Lyrics by Kirk Lynn Music/Lyrics by Peter Stopschinski Directed/Curated by Thomas Graves & Lana Lesley Music Directed by Lyn Koenning Projection Design by Noel Gaulin & Erin Meyer

Production Team Marlane Barnes…Ensemble Jenny Connell…Ensemble Julia Cory, Cello Christina Gutierrez…Dramaturg/Ensemble Julia Gytri…Ensemble Amy Harris, Violin Hannah Kenah…Ensemble Jena Kirmse…Ensemble Lisa Kobdish…Ensemble Lyn Koenning…Piano Denise Martel…Production Manager Jared Oberholtzer…Stage Manager Herb Steiner…Pedal Steel Guitar Peter Stopschinski…Electronics Christina Underwood, Bass Cody Williams…Stage Manager Leah Zeger…String Section Leader

Click to read Jenny Connel's account of the Rude Mechs' workshopping and playwriting styles, posted June 11 on her blog Playwright's Notebook

Blog: Rude Mechs and UT Workshop "I've Never Been So Happy," June 1 - 12

Available at the Rude Mechs' blog Rude News:



Tuesday, June 2, 2009
I've Never Been So Happy UT Workshop, Day 1

A guest blog series by UT Ph.D. student Christina Gutierrez

This will be a blog about being tied to a mountain lion. And about the biggest knot in the whole world—a knot so big that there are cities tangled up in it. And about what happens when you combine a few Rude Mechs, 8 University of Texas at Austin students, 6 overhead projectors and some buckets full of watercolor paint and weird, tiny toys and puppets. And there’ll be some damn fine music in it too.

As the dramaturg for the latest workshop installment of I’ve Never Been So Happy, the Rude Mechs’ Western-themed carnival of a musical, I’ll be documenting our work on the piece and our experiments with the collaborative process. You can also catch a live video feed of the workshop from 1 to 6 p.m. Central, Monday-Friday.

Read more at the Rude News . . . .

Reviews: I've Never Been So Happy (workshop), Rude Mechanicals, December 4 - 13

UPDATE: Rude Mechs and UT students workshop, present on 7/13

Available on AustinLiveTheatre.com:

JustFo's review published by Austinist.com, December 19;


Ryan E. Johnson's December 12 review on Austin.com; and

Jeanne Claire van Ryzin's pre-opening promo on the Statesman's Austin360 blog, December 10 ("The Rudes Mechs Send A Great Big Valentine to the West"):

Read More on AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .

Upcoming: I've Never Been So Happy, staged reading by Rude Mechanicals, Off Center, December 4 - 13

UPDATE: Rude Mechs and UT students workshop, present on 7/13


Found on-line:

I'VE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY
a work-in-progress presentation of a new musical transmedia performance party music and lyrics by Peter Stopschinski book and lyrics by Kirk Lynn curated and directed by Thomas Graves and Lana Lesley scenic design by Leilah Stewart lighting design by Stephen Pruitt silhouette video by Noel Gaulen and Erin Meyer
December 4 - 13, 2008 (Thurs - Sat at 8pm). Tickets will go on sale November 15th.

A transmedia performance party that purposely defies definition, we invite you to experience a sort of western carnival that may include a short documentary film about the Rude Mechs' parents, our patented "Ask the West" booth featuring a real rancher and a mountain lion ready with answers, a margarita and/or salsa competition, a Rube-Goldberg style art-making installation centered on how the West has affected gender identity, the environment, culture... You might go home with a western portrait, shoot a magical bow and arrow which cannot miss its target, and you just might be listened to for the first time in your life!

And at the center of this evening are selections from Rude Mechs' newest musical. I've Never Been So Happy, with music and lyrics by Austin Experimental Punk Grand Wizard Peter Stopschinski and book and lyrics by Austin Experimental Theatre Mascot Kirk Lynn, is an exploration of the wild frontier of parenthood. A single mother ties her son to the last mountain lion in Texas to toughen him up. A single father tries to keep his daughter from leaving home. Philip Larkin said it best, "They f*** you up, your mum and dad."

All this plus a dachshund race, three jokes about rope, a seven-piece band, eight singers, three video puppeteers, and a dance team to create a wild west wonderland in the Rudes' theatre THE OFF CENTER. (And remember, The Off Center was once a feed store!).

Rude Mechs will present I've Never Been So Happy in a serial workshop format. The father/daughter story, Scenes 2, 4 and 7, will be presented in December. The mother/son story, Scenes 1, 3, and 6, will be presented in April. And then all of the scenes, including the lion's tale and, and culminating in the climactic Scene 9, will be presented at the world premiere in September 2009.

Jeanne Claire van Ryzin reports in her Statesman Arts blog that the Rude Mechs will receive a $20,000 grant for this project from the NEA's Distinguished New Play Development Project.

Rude Mechs' press release on NEA grant, October 29

Robert Faires' article in the Austin Chronicle of November 6