‘THE BIG BANK,’ A MUSICAL FOR THE MOVEMENT

Poised To Give The Occupy Wall Street Movement A Voice In Musical Theater, Creators Of The Big Bank Launch Major Kickstarter Campaign To Fund Off-Broadway Run Solely Through Crowdfunding

New York: Fresh off its sold-out run at The New York Musical Theatre Festival, THE BIG BANK, by Daniel and Jacob Seligmann is aiming to become a musical for The Occupy Wall Street Movement. This Saturday it will be the only musical with a performance slot during the first “Occupy Broadway,” protest which has been organized by the Arts and Culture Working Group of Occupy Wall Street. The event has been publicized as a form of “Creative Resistance.” The sampling of songs will be performed at 3pm at the public plaza where Occupy Broadway will gather which, as of yet, is undisclosed.

Written 16 years ago, well before the financial crisis in America, The Seligmann Brothers wrote this amazingly timely musical about a bank that revels in the joys of foreclose with the tag line “Life is a Loan.”

Soon after Backstage Magazine called THE BIG BANK, “A big, sassy, satirical musical comedy that’s more relevant than ever,” Occupy Wall Street took over Zuccotti Park. When the NYMF run ended on October 4th Jacob Seligmann, the composer, headed down to Zuccotti Park with his accordion, for days at a time, and spread the joy and humor that THE BIG BANK has to offer and the response was overwhelming.

“Finally seeing The Big Bank on stage was amazing, but to perform a bit of the show at Zuccotti Park in front of the protesters, to make people laugh and feel a little joy was thrilling. When the financial crisis began in 2008, my brother and I knew that The Big Bank would be a great show for people to experience for some comic relief. This whole movement is about forging a new communal attitude in America and I can’t think of a better way to get people together and feeling connected than in a theater filled with music and positive messages. The Big Bank is a musical for the people and that’s why we’re going to the people to support the show and get it up and running again.” – Jacob Seligmann

The Big Bank is the story of a bank in Brooklyn that revels in the joys of foreclosure and repossessing people’s homes and dreams. Stuart Stevens, a long time employee, has lost his passion for repossession and finds himself falling for the owner of a flower shop he’s been ordered to foreclose on. Meanwhile, Clarence Underwood, a radical environmentalist, also faces foreclosure. His precocious eleven-year-old daughter comes up with the idea to tweet a revolution against the bank but her father thinks it will take too long. Instead, Parsley infiltrates the bank dressed as a girl scout to hack into the computer network and delete their mortgage file. Ultimately Clarence takes his daughter’s idea and successfully tweets a revolution. But before Occupy The Big Bank protestors can run on the bank and repossess it the big Boss has a change of heart.

“It’s been an amazing journey for us, having written the musical 16 years ago. Me and Dan have lived our lives, built careers, I got married and had two kids. And now, the rebirth of The Big Bank in this amazing time in our country’s history is a very moving experience. To have this happy loving message to offer in this very difficult time is a great honor for me and now there’s a whole Big Bank Family dedicated to sharing it with as many people as we can. We’ve changed the show a bit and included the Occupy Movement in it now. What’s especially wonderful about the show is that this precocious eleven-year-old girl saves the day. My girls who are four and seven-years-old, love sitting through this show and are asking when they can see it again. The Big Bank is meaningful entertainment for the whole family. That’s a good thing, especially now.”- Jacob Seligmann

OCCUPY BROADWAY info:
EVENT: Occupy Broadway (theatre/shopping district) with a 24-hour performance.
WHEN: From December 2nd starting at 6pm until December 3rd at 6pm.
The Big Bank scheduled to perform at 3pm on Saturday.
WHERE: Times Square by the red stairs, between 46th and 47th streets, along 7th Ave, NY, NY
SHHH!: Location released at 6pm: occupybroadway.net @OccupyWallStNYC #OccupyBroadway

www.thebigbankmusical.net