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Ben Franklin in Paris Closes 42nd Moon’s 2008 season
By Bruce Bellingham

Ben Franklin
We’d all like to know what Ben Franklin really had to do when he was in Paris to curry favor with King Louis to gain His Majesty’s confidence in the newly established United States. We can be sure a woman was involved.

42nd Street Moon ends the year with the musical Ben Franklin in Paris, which debuted in 1965 with the inimitable Richard Preston in the lead role. It’s now playing at the Eureka Theatre through Dec. 14.

It’s a bit of a fictionalized version of what Franklin was doing in Paris in that turbulent time as he struggled to get King Louis XVI to recognize the United States as a sovereign nation. Franklin conspires with an old friend, Madame La Comtesse Diane de Vobrillac, who has connections at court, to help him reach his goal.

The songs are by Sidney Michaels and Mark Sandrich Jr., including “Half the Battle,” “I Invented Myself,” “We Sail the Seas,” and two additional songs by Jerry Herman:  “Too Charming” and “To Be Alone with You.” Sidney Michaels was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Author of a Musical.

Jackson Davis, who was most recently seen in Aurora Theater’s fall production of The Best Man, and has appeared regularly with TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, plays the title role.  
Founding Artistic Director Stephanie Rhoads appears as La Comtesse, with Tony Panighetti as Beaumarchais, Andrew Willis-Woodward as Temple Franklin, and Benjamin Knoll as the king. Other cast members include Jennifer Ekman, David Kahawaii, Rob Hatzenbeller, Michael Cassidy, Tom Orr, Victor-Alexander Tapia, Buzz Halsing, Christopher Nelson, Gianna DeGeiso, and Chelsea Nenni.

Todd Nielsen, who recently directed Out of This World and Seesaw for Los Angeles’s Musical Theatre Guild, directs. Dave Dobrusky serves as musical director, with costumes designed by Louise Jarmilowicz,  sets by Tom Orr, and lighting by Gerald “Rover” Spotts. Spotts – good name for a lighting director.

Ben Franklin in Paris: Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson Street (at Front); Thu.–Sun. & Wednesday, Dec. 10 through Dec. 14; tickets $24–$42 at the 42nd Street Moon box
office (Eureka Theatre), 415-255-8207
or www.42ndstmoon.org. 


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