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The Jackie Mason Musical
July 11, 2019 , 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm
$35
Both Sides of a Famous Love Affair:The Jackie Mason Musical, begins at a deli in Miami in 1977, where Jackie – a renown 46 year old Comedian,(played by Marco Matute*), spots twenty-something Ginger (played by Jackie’s own daughter – comedian Sheba Mason). Along for the ride is her overbearing mom, Mrs. Olivier, (Jennifer Yadav*), and a hilarious cast of off-beat characters. Jackie sends Shlepalong (Trevor Crane) to invite Ginger and her Mom to his table. Soon Jackie is wooing her each winter whenever he’s in South Florida churning up laughs with the South Beach set. The trouble is, Jackie is also wooing Maria (Lisa Cilmi)- a ravishing young Latina Rascal House server, and Rosa (Marjorie Hayes*) – a senior Rascal House server with attitude – a fact that sends Ginger into romantic distress. After ten years, she becomes pregnant, Jackie denies his paternity just as stardom re-emerges, while still yearning to be with her, and a complicated relationship begins, including Sheba’s own love for the man she knows is her father and whom she wishes she knew. The original score includes “Ode to the Early Bird Special” and “I Never Met This Yenta”, written by Ginger Reiter, the girl in the eye of the comedic storm.
The Jackie Mason Musical had an extremely successful run Off Broadway for three years, followed by sold-out houses at Empire Stage, Fort Lauderdale, BocaBlackBox Center for the Arts, and The Stonzek Theater in Palm Beach, Florida, ChicagoLand, and Studio Theatre, Lindenhurst, Long Island.
Based on a True Story
In 1988 in Florida’s Dade County, Ginger Reiter sued comedian Jackie Mason for paternity, claiming he was the father of her daughter Sheba. She won. Reiter went on to become a Wellington High School English teacher in South Florida, and raised her daughter on her own (Mason was court-ordered to pay child support until Sheba turned 18). But she also had a story to tell, and a unique one at that. Both Sides of a Famous Love Affair – The Jackie Mason Musical is Reiter’s light-hearted, laughter-filled musical recounting of her relationship with Mason, starring the result of that much contested union – her daughter Sheba Mason – and six more.