[NoHo Arts District, CA] – The solo musical, Rag Doll on a Bomb Site with book, music, and lyrics by Shelley Cooper, directed and developed by Kelsey Miller, produced and developed by Jessica Lynn Johnson, Soaring Solo Studios, and in special collaboration with the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, heads to the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2025.
About Rag Doll on a Bomb Site
At previous Hollywood Fringe Festivals, Shelley Cooper portrayed Maria Callas and Jenny Lind. Now, she adds to her gallery of famous, historically significant singers as she embodies Lotte Lenya in Rag Doll on a Bomb Site.
The show is based on an actual incident in Lenya’s career. It’s 1928, and the premiere of a sold-out house for The Threepenny Opera. Lenya is cast in the role of Jenny Diver and is set to sing the opening number, Mack the Knife. Somehow, Lenya’s name has been omitted from the playbill. Her husband, the composer Kurt Weill, bursts into her dressing room, demanding that the performance be canceled. No one can insult his wife in this fashion.
Lenya tries to calm her husband down. Performing Jenny Diver, a character with whom she identifies on a number of levels, is far more important to her than avenging the oversight of her omitted name on a playbill. Before her marriage to Weill, hers was a hard-knock life on the gritty, poor side of Vienna. She grew up in a slum, beaten repeatedly by a cruel father, endured hunger and crushing poverty, rape, and repeatedly found herself in morally compromising positions as she struggled to survive and advance herself.
She’s come so far, and now that she has her dream role, Kurt must allow her to go on stage and sing. But will he?
An album of the show’s music will be available for streaming on Spotify and Apple Music with an anticipated release date of mid-May.
Rag Doll on a Bomb Site premiered at Goethe Institut-Bangkok. Here’s a peek from that production:
About Shelley Cooper
Shelley Cooper (Music, Lyrics, Book, Performer, and Producer) is a two-time, Off-Broadway, award-winning solo actor/playwright, Associate Professor of Musical Theatre at Augustana College in IL and is no stranger to the Hollywood Fringe Festival community! Her one-woman shows La Divina: The Last Interview of Maria Callas was featured in Hollywood Fringe 2021 (Pick of the Fringe and nominee for Best Solo Show), Solofest, LA Women’s Theatre Festival, Orlando Fringe (Best Individual Performance in a Drama) and Off-Broadway at United Solofest on Theatre Row (Best One Woman Show). Jenny Lind Presents P.T. Barnum was featured in HFF24 has been an official selection for Solofest, Binge Fringe, Fort Worth Fringe, Orlando Fringe FestN4, LA Women’s Theatre Festival, made its European debut in Austria, and United Solo Fest with an extension (Off Broadway). Jenny Lind has won Best Biographical Show (United Solo Off Broadway), Best Biographical Show (LA Hidden Gem), and Best of Asylum (HFF24).
Shelley is a very active musical theatre/opera performer. Most noted performances are “Dolly” in Hello, Dolly, “Johanna” in Sweeney Todd starring Tony-Award-winning actress Faith Prince; “Nellie” in South Pacific, “Musetta” in La Boheme.
About Lotte Lenya
Lotte Lenya (1898-1981) was born in Vienna and became known as one of the great performers of the collaborations of composer Kurt Weill and librettist and lyricist Bertolt Brecht (The Threepenny Opera, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, The Seven Deadly Sins). The Threepenny Opera was a huge success, and Lenya would repeat the role of Jenny Diver in a German film version in 1931 (which would eventually air on American television in 1982). A star in Berlin, she fled to America in the 1930s when her leftist political opinions ran her afoul of the emerging Nazis. Divorcing and then remarrying Weill, they eventually settled in and near New York. Weill died in 1950. Lenya won a Tony Award in 1956, portraying Diver again in Marc Blitzstein’s English language translation of The Threepenny Opera. She would receive an Oscar nomination for her role of Countess Magda in the 1961 film version of Tennessee Williams’ The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone. She may have achieved her greatest fame playing the nemesis of James Bond, Rosa Klebb, in From Russia with Love. She founded the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music in 1962. She was back on Broadway in 1966, as Fraulein Schneider in the original cast of Cabaret. Her name was included in an improvised lyric by Louis Armstrong in a recording of Mack the Knife, which Bobby Darin included in his top-selling version of the song. In 1979, she was inducted in the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
The Rag Doll on a Bomb Site Team
Kelsey Miller (Director/Developer) is an award-winning director, performer, and stage manager based in the IL/IA Quad Cities area. A dynamic and versatile theatre artist, Kelsey has contributed to numerous regional productions across a range of disciplines. Most notable directing credits include Kinky Boots, Songs for a New World, and The Spitfire Grill. As a performer, memorable highlights include roles in Spring Awakening, RENT, Bare: A Pop Opera, The Wedding Singer, The Rocky Horror Show and Groundhog Day: The Musical. Kelsey holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Psychology, Women and Gender Studies, and Theatre from Augustana College and a Masters of Science in Education (M.S.Ed) in Counseling from Western Illinois University.
Jessica Lynn Johnson (Producer/Developer), is a published playwright, recipient of BEST NATIONAL SOLO ARTIST AWARD, advisory board member of the LA Women’s Theatre Festival, co-executive producer of the Joshua Tree Solo Theatre Festival, and founder and CEO of Soaring Solo Studios International. Jessica has aided in the development, direction and producing of over 175 solo shows (and still going strong)! As a performer, Jessica has “edu-tained” international audiences touring her own one-person shows ZE and OBLIVIOUS TO EVERYONE for over 15 years. Jessica’s projects have taken home awards such as TOP OF FRINGE, HFF ENCORE PRODUCER AWARDS, TVOLUTION BEST SOLO PERFORMANCE, LARRY CORNWALL AWARD FOR MUSICAL EXCELLENCE & several other accolades! Jessica was also awarded the LAWTF Rainbow Award in 2024 and was nominated for the Female Director of Distinction in Theatre by Girl Trip LLC at the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival and Best Director of a Play by Broadway World 2023. http://www.SoaringSoloStudios.com
Roger Pavey Jr. (Video Designer, Marketing/Graphic Designer) works full-time at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in CT as the Creative Content Associate, where he leads graphic design and photography. He has worked at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Des Moines Metro Opera, Off-Broadway with UnitedSolo, and in numerous professional capacities in the IA, IL, CT, NY, and RI areas. Roger holds a BA in Theatre Arts and Graphic Design from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL, class of ‘24. rogerpaveyjr.com / Instagram: @rogerpaveyjr
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