The Plot:
Who IS the Bug Lady? Is she an exterminator hell-bent on ridding the world of bedbugs? Or a sensitive young woman just searching for true love? As a child back in 1989, Carly’s mother was killed in a bedbug-related accident. Despite the warnings of Carly’s environmentally-conscious sidekick Burt, she unleashes her potent new pesticide on present day New York City. Her plan backfires as the city is overtaken by Mutant Human-size, Blood-sucking Heavy Metal Rock Monsters, sending her into a swirling blitz of 80’s nostalgia and a creepy-crawly love affair of massive proportions. All of this coincides with the comeback of Canadian chanteuse Dionne Salon (Carly’s childhood idol) who is struggling with her own dysfunctional relationship. Carly, Dionne, and Burt (who is in love with a hipster boy bedbug victim) must help each other find a way to overcome bad romance and save the world.
The Birth of Bedbugs!!!
Paul Leschen (composer) and Fred Sauter (Lyricist/ Bookwriter) met in March 2007 (thanks to Castrato DiMatteo for introducing us) and wanted to write a small, fun show to find out how well we would work together. Paul had previously written the music for “Twist” (for which he received a Drama Desk nomination) and Fred had recently received his MFA from the NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program where he studied book and lyric writing.
After bonding over our mutual love of rock music, camp films and a natural tendency toward dark humor, Fred suggested a silly idea about scabies (inspired by a horrible incident he had in Baltimore) and Paul suggested making it about bedbugs, as New York City was (and is still) dealing with their comeback invasion. For those who are not aware, bedbugs were eradicated from most of the world with the use of DDT after WWII, but suddenly—as of the early 2000′s—are back with a vengeance. This is true! Thus we developed a plot around an exterminator who, in an effort to annihilate them, accidentally makes the problem much, much worse. Combine this with an original score that pays tribute to our 1980′s childhoods and a gender-bending parody of Celine Dion and you have BEDBUGS!!!.
We wrote the first draft in six months and in November ’07 had the first reading of what had now become a full-length musical (thanks for the awesome feedback everyone, especially Josh Wellman!) After a phase of rewrites we submitted and were accepted into the New York Musical Theatre Festival. With a team of highly talented and devoted people, we took the 2008 NYMF by storm, selling out the run, adding performances, getting fantastic reviews and awards. Since then we have continued development of this crazy little show, working with many of the same incredible folks from our NYMF run and we are now preparing for its next incarnation in 2012. We have also been hard at work on our second show “Astronaut Diaper and Other Tales of Modern Love” and our third show “Karma Kills: The Jukebox Musical Thriller.”
Thanks for checking out our site!
-Fred and Paul
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