The Thalia Follies, NYC's only political cabaret series in its sixth season, is a revue which takes place three times a year at the famed Thalia Theatre, part of Symphony Space on New York City’s Upper West Side.
Lanny Meyers, Musical Director of the Follies had an idea for a new sketch series—using the La Fontaine fables as source material to comment on current political situations. He approached Isaiah Sheffer, Director of the Follies, and they thought Buzzco would be a natural to create cartoons that would be screened to the live performance.
In October, we produced two fables: The Grasshopper and the Ant illustrating the machinations of self-serving grasshoppers in Congress and The Fox and the Crow which explains the dangers of growth hormones in cows. February’s fable takes on political divisiveness with In the Company of Jackasses. In May we examined social networking and politics in The Tortoise, the Hare-Brained and the Cloud.
Originally presented in Power Point, we went ahead and animated The Fox and the Crow using the actual sound from the closing night’s performance—enjoy!
At this time, we were also working with Lanny and Isaiah Sheffer on our pitch for a Christmas special based on Frank McCourt's "Angela and the Baby Jesus".
Over the years, Frank McCourt worked with Lanny and Isaiah on projects at the Thalia and Symphony Space, the sister theater. After his book was published the three of them imagined it as a musical, on a par with Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors".
When Frank died unexpectedly, his widow, Ellen McCourt, joined with them to see how that would be achieved. That's when Buzzco got involved and we created a visual pitch for the TV Special. We worked on it for years, financing had been promised and Isaiah produced a screenplay. We brought Buzz Potamkin on to act as Executive Producer since he had experience with networks and expertise in this sort of project.
Unfortunately, my partner Vincent Cafarelli, Isaiah Sheffer and Buzz Potamkin died within six months of each other, and Ellen and I sold the project to Brown Bag Films where we were kept on as Executive Producers and I was credited as "developed by." And it was no longer a musical.
Written by: Lanny Meyers (inspired by La Fontaine)
Designed by: Candy Kugel
Animation directed by: Candy Kugel and Vincent Cafarelli
Animated by: Rick Broas
Music by: Lanny Meyers
Read by: Isaiah Sheffer, Eric Poindexter and Mary Brienza
Musicians: FLUTE: Suzanne Gilchrest; PIANO: Lanny Meyers
