Donovan Leitch(MR E) Ken Roht(Truelove) Anna Maria Demara(Petya) Mark Bringelson(Dark Man) Sissy Boyd(Virginia Woolf) Lanny Cordola(Minstrel) Fish Tank Ensemble-Ursula,Fabrice,Doug,Djordje,Jean Paul,David (Sounds-Divine Emanations) Adam Mortimer(Visual installations) John Zalewski(Sound Architecture)
Influences
Goethe, Nietzche, Kant,Fellini,Beckett,Kubrick,Kinski,Bowie,Wilde,Poe,Rilke,Woolf,Lynch,Jung,Byron,Munch,
Schoepenhauer, Dostoyevsky, Hesse,Yeats,DeQuincey,Coleridge,Daumal,Kafka,Dali,Lorca
the Gnostics, the Kabbalists, the
Mystics, the mad ones, and the
messiahs.
Glam rock, literature and theatre collide when Donovan Leitch’s new musical, The Dark Root of the Dream has its world premiere at Largo at the Coronet on Saturday, June 6 at 8:00PM. Co-written with guitarist/songwriter Lanny Cordola, the story follows the wanderings of enigmatic rock star Mr. E, the fictional son of poet Virginia Woolf.
Plunged into a psychological abyss after a series of misfortunes Mr. E undergoes an extreme crisis of identity believing himself at times to be Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allen Poe, and Frederich Nietzche amongst others, before finding that his only choice is to confront his soul sickness and choose utter destruction or catharsis and resurrection. The show is directed by Ken Roht, creator of the 99¢ Only Show. The music is an adept blend of gypsy influences, David Bowie and ScottWalker in a new genre Leitch terms “Gypsy Glam.” It will feature the musical backing of the Fishtank Ensemble, appropriately termed a “cross-pollinated group of gypsy musicians.”
Actor and musician Donovan Leitch previously starred as Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Itch during its productions Off-Broadway and a successful four month residency at legendary Los Angeles venue The Roxy. He is well known as the lead singer of Nancy Boy, and more recently with Camp Freddy. He has also appeared in a number of films including I Shot Andy Warhol, Glory and the In Crowd as well as television appearances in Grey’s Anatomy, Sex & the City, Birds of Prey and Girls Club.
Composer Lanny Cordola has communed with such music luminaries as The Beach Boys-Nancy Sinatra-Ronnie Spector-Macy Gray-Little Milton-Matt Sorum-Slash-D2-The Raymies and Cherie Currie of The Runaways-Currently at work on I Dreamed I Saw john Coltrane-a song cycle about the music and life of jazz mystic john Coltrane calls Dark Root of the Dream a beautiful excursion into the deep caverns of artistic wonder and possibility.
Donovan and Lanny will appear on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic on Thursday June 4 to talk about the production and preview musical selections.
Pleased to meet you--thanks so much for being friends! Perhaps we'll meet for real at a show sometime soon. All the best 'til then!
Love and Cheers,
Aaron
"I raise myself up in bed and fling out my arms. My nervous condition has got the upper hand of me, and nothing availed, no matter how much I tried to work against it. There I sat, a prey to the most singular fantasies, listening to myself crooning lullabies, sweating with the exertion of striving to hush myself to rest. I peered into the gloom, and I never in all the days of my life felt such darkness. There was no doubt that I found myself here, in face of a peculiar kind of darkness; a desperate element to which no one had hitherto paid attention. The most ludicrous thoughts busied me, and everything made me afraid."
