These Tangled Webbs – Musical

THESE TANGLED WEBBS

An original early 1960’s daytime soap opera musical parody

Book & Lyrics by
Gary Brumburgh

Music by
Ron Creager

THESE TANGLED WEBBS is a zany, light-hearted musical spoof of TV’s daytime soap operas back in their heyday of the early 1960s. Major subplots include everything from acute marriage problems, mistaken identities, near-death operations, substance abuse and long-term amnesia to a murder whodunnit! Pushed to their irreverent limits, everything but the kitchen sink is thrown in.

As the opening company song (“Oh! the Tangled Webs We Weave”) summarizes:

OH! THE TANGLED WEBS WE WEAVE
WHEN FIRST WE PRACTICE TO DECEIVE;
THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS ARE ON THE LOOSE!

A TOUCH OF GREED, A PINCH OF ENVY
SPARKS OUR FRAUGHT-FILLED TALE OF FRENZY;
TROUBLE LIES AHEAD BEFORE THE TRUCE!

THESE TANGLED WEBBS is a period piece set in the innocent ‘Camelot’ summer year of 1963. The place is a conservative, fictional town called Willowcrest, located in Anywhere, USA. The ever-entwining saga centers around the upstanding, much-admired Webb family … their friends, their foes, their fate. All the subplots are “untangled” by the end, but is it happily EVER after or happily NEVER after?

The bold and beautiful (and not-so-bold and beautiful) residents of Willowcrest are loosely based on many of the popular characters we loved to love and hate on such vintage 50’s, 60’s and 70’s series as Love of Life, The Secret Storm, Search for Tomorrow, As the World Turns, The Edge of Night, The Doctors, The Guiding Light, Days of Our Lives, Another World, General Hospital and All My Children.

Cast of Characters (Cast of 13 or more)

  • REV. JIM WEBB, M.D., D.A., – late 40’s, Willowcrest’s busiest, most upstanding citizen
  • MARGARET PRUITT WEBB, late 40’s – his charming, loving wife
  • SPARROW ROBIN WEBB, 24 – their pert, sunny, but disease-prone daughter
  • (LADY) CREMEHILDE VON PELT, 50’s – Willowcrest’s society monster
  • VERNON VON PELT, M.D., 50’s – her erudite, hen-pecked husband
  • JOEY VON PELT, 25 – their handsome, physically fit son
  • SATYRICA CUTTING, 25 – Willowcrest’s ruthless troublemaker
  • DR. STEVE BERNS, 25 – Willowcrest’s branded hero but loser in life
  • BILLIE DARVON, 28 – Willocrest’s alcoholic lounge singer
  • **BLAZE DeMARCO – Willocrests’s resident drugged-out drummer
  • **PETER TURNIPSEED – Willocrest’s deadly Southern surprise

** The characters of BLAZE DeMARCO and PETER TURNIPSEED are both portrayed by the same actor playing JOEY VON PELT.

-and-

An ENSEMBLE OF FOUR TO EIGHT (at least, of various ages) to play secondary characters (listed below) in addition to chorus singing/dancing roles and various filler townspeople.

Secondary characters are:

NURSE CLAIRE CONNOR, head nurse at Willowcrest General
FRAU HELGA LUDWIG, Teutonic Von Pelt housekeeper
MADAME CLARITA, a gypsy fortune teller
JUDGE STRICKLAND, stern Judge of the Superior Court
OFFICERS SEARS and ROEBUCK, Willowcrest policemen
BALIFF of Willowcrest Superior Court

IT OFFICIALLY STARTED ON SHARON’S BACK PORCH IN 2023
– John, Sharon, Ron and Gary

  • THE SET DESIGN OF THESE TANGLED WEBBS – the world premiere JUNE 14-30, 2024
  • “If I can’t have Blaze, no one else ever will!”
  • “One day at a time, Claire.”
  • “I will hunt you down like a dog!”
  • "Steven was there to pick up the pieces."
    “Steven was there to pick up the pieces.”
The Cast of the World Premiere of THESE TANGLED WEBBS

Sitting (l ro r): EMMA LAMBERT (Darvon); KATE REEDY (Cremehilde); JILL HIGGINBOTHAM (Margaret); K.B. MERCHANT (Sparrow); KEIRA OLSON (Nun, Ensemble); GABI VELINOVA (Nun, Ensemble).

Standing (l to r): TYLER AKIN (Steven); MARIANNE ZICKUHR (Frau Ludwig, Ensemble); FLOREN K (Nurse Claire); JOHN VESSELS (Vernon); ALEX SLADE (Joey, Blaze, Peter); EMILY SCHOERING (Satyrica); A.J. BELLIS (Officer Roebuck, Ensemble); C. KEVIN SWANSEY (Bailiff, Emcee, Ensemble); RICHARD RYAN (Judge Strickland, Ensemble); PAUL DePREY (Jim); CATHY RYAN (Madame Clarita, Ensemble); JOSH SCHMIDT (Officer Sears, Ensemble).

Florida New Musical Festival
June 2021

The cast and crew of TANGLED WEBBS – Florida Festival of New Musicals June 24-26, 2021 at the Winter Park Playhouse, Winter Park, Fl.

Bottom (l to r): Roy Alan (Artistic Director); Ron Creager (Music); Gary Brumburgh (Book & Lyrics); George Colangelo (Director); Heather Alexander (Executive Director); Chris Leavy (Musical Director); Conny Williamson (Stage Manager)

Top (l to r): Caitlyn Glennon (Helga); Tiffany Bishop (Satyrica); Amy Terechenok (Cremehilde); Mark Miller (Vernon); Laurel Hatfield (Sparrow); Chase Williams (Steven); Kelly Wells (Margaret); Dustin Cunningham (Jim); Melina Smart (Claire/Clarita); Wesley Evan Slade (Joey); Mahalia Gronigan (Darvon)

Review
Carl F. Gauze, Archikulture Digest
The world is always up for a soap opera parody, and often the parodies are much more engaging than the real deal. The Webb family runs the town through small businesses and dynastic connections. But like any stage family, the family tree is riddled with termites and sly sex and burning shame. There’s a large cast and plenty of side scandals, but “Tangled Webbs” DOES DELIVER ON THE LAUGHS AND MAYHEM. Best of all, they snuck in the word “zany” into the press release. How cool is that?