Jambiz releases Tour schedule …  CUTIE & THE FREAK hits the road

Theatre producers Jambiz International Limited recently released its 2007 tour schedule for its current production CUTIE & THE FREAK, covering performances in rural Jamaica and select cities in North America and the Eastern Caribbean.

 The rural tour kicks off in the central Jamaica town of May Pen on Saturday February 17 at 8pm, playing at a new venue – the Quarry, ideally located on the Bustamante Highway, next to the Pre-Mix plant. It will then wind its way through most of the major townships on the Saturdays and Sundays between mid February and the end of March, whilst still playing at its homebase – Centerstage Theatre, Wednesdays to Fridays.

The detailed rural schedule reads as follows:

May Pen – The Quarry – Saturday February 17 @ 8pm
Montego Bay – Montego Bay Community College – Sunday February 18 @ 7pm
Sav-la-mar – Hotel Commingle – Saturday February 24 @ 8pm
Ocho Rios – Island Village – Sunday February 25 @ 7pm
Mandeville – Fayor’s Entertainment Centre – Sunday March 4 @ 7pm
Falmouth – The Old Wharf – Saturday March 10 @ 8pm
Lucea – Ruseas High School – Sunday March 11 @ 7pm
Brown’s Town – St. Hilda’s High School – Saturday March 17 @ 8pm
Linstead – Skateland – Sunday March 18 @ 7pm
St. Bess – Munro College – Saturday March 24 @ 8pm
Morant Bay – Colonel’s Cove – Saturday March 30 @ 8pm
Linstead – Skateland – Sunday April 1 @ 7pm

A full moon sits on the horizon, an eerie wind blows. Mongrels howl. A solitary shack sits in the middle of nowhere … a flickering flame steals a peek through it’s make shift window. A mob armed with sticks, stones and torches converge on the shack. As they advance, the hideous creature inside cringes. The mob is unrelenting. They approach the shack, menacingly, singing:

When children hide their little heads
and mongrels howl in fright.
A grim and fearsome creature stalks
the shadows of the night.

The foregoing is the compelling opening sequence of Patrick Brown’s comedy with music “CUTIE & THE FREAK” – the fully Jamaican stage version of the classic fairytale “Beauty and the Beast”.

The central theme of CUTIE & THE FREAK is located around finding true love in the unlikeliest of places – in the warm soul of the accident inflicted, severely burnt body of Frank the Freak (played by Courtney Wilson).

Frank has been violently evicted from his home community, accused of terrorizing its citizens with his gross ugliness, and forced into an existence of a homeless, scavenging vagrant. A chance meeting with the lovely university student Cutie (played by Camille Davis), on the banks of the Gordon Town river unleashes a tale that winds its way like the idyllic river, through an exciting terrain of twists and turns. The plot is unveiled amidst delightful musical numbers from award winning musical director Jon Williams and exciting choreography from Barbara McDaniel.

The story is pure unadulterated comedy entrusted to none other than Jamaica’s two foremost exponents of the art of comic timing – Oliver Samuels and Glen “Titus Campbell. Oliver plays Tiny (Cutie’s father) – the old fashioned self-made social climber and strict single parent. His outrageous efforts to destroy the relationship between the Freak and his sheltered daughter is as hilarious and charged as the Freak’s magical friendship with his imaginary confidante Ben (played by Glen Campbell).

The cast also includes Sharee McDonald-Russell, Belinda Reid, Christopher Hutchinson and Megan Lewis. Directing responsibilities have been entrusted to Trevor Nairne and Patrick Brown.

CUTIE & THE FREAK takes us to the bowels of human nature and enforces the widely held notion that “if you see with your HEART, anything is possible”. That it does so and leaves a smile on everyone’s face makes it all that more worth the trip to the theatre.

The production will open as it customary at the Centerstage Theatre, New Kingston on Boxing Day (December 26) at 5pm, and will play throughout the holiday period and on into next year.

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