Review Fix Exclusive: Arnie Roman Talks Surviving the Rosenthals

Review Fix chats with singer/songwriter Arnie Roman who discusses his new musical, Surviving the Rosenthals.

About Surviving the Rosenthals:

Songwriter Arnie Roman sports an impressive list of music industry icons that have recorded his songs: Billy Porter, Al Green, Celine Dion, and Cher to name a few. His songs have been on albums that have sold more than eighty million records and CDs world-wide, and boasted top-ten singles on Billboard’s Pop, Country, R&B, and Dance charts. Now his new musical, Surviving the Rosenthals, premieres at downtown’s cutting-edge venue, Teatro Latea this May.

SURVIVING THE ROSENTHALS introduces us to songwriter Sammy. Sensitive and creative but damaged by an overbearing and abusive father, Sammy enters therapy to understand his relationship with his girlfriend and his father, but more importantly to heal himself and break free of the childhood shackles that still stifle him as an adult. Surviving the Rosenthals takes a surreal and innovative twist as Sammy meets – Sammy! Adult Sam meets 10-year-old Sammy in a battle to save himself. Surviving the Rosenthals is not sappy. It provides real-world hope and outcomes and does it in 90 minutes!

Stunning music and clever plot twists take the audience on a journey into Sammy’s psyche, thus providing a mirror into our own. Happy ending? Find out in May.

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for this project?

Roman: If I’m being honest, I have no idea. I just felt like I wanted to write it. I felt that in my bones. I had no other agenda, really. It was just something way down there that I wanted to excavate in this way.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like? 

Roman: Well, once I have an idea for a show…and this is only my third musical…I do my research…I read a lot of books…and then I start with characters…I feel like I gotta know them really well and really intimately before I can start on the story. And then I constantly consult my sort of musical how-to manuals all along the way…and slowly slowly things start to emerge…and then, 11 years later, viola!…I have a musical :). Of course, along the way there are multiple table reads, a bunch of ego bruising, death wishes I send out to myself…you know, mirth. But in the end it’s all worth it :)

Review Fix: What makes this different or special?

Roman: If anything, I think there’s a raw quality to the dialogue that maybe isn’t typical for a musical. Especially when it comes to expressions of anger. No sanding down of rough edges. And hopefully the music itself is an interesting and unique pastiche. But also, this is not a musical about anything or anyone famous. It’s about, in a way, an ordinary person who has been emotionally abused and spends his life trying to overcome that. There’s a kind of heroism in that that’s quiet, and unseen, and unremarked on. But to me, it’s every bit as heroic, and worthy of celebrating, as any more public act of courage and heroism. And it’s the kind of heroism that’s available to every one of us.

Review Fix: What did you learn about yourself through this process? 

Roman: That I am a patient man :). And maybe a bit more resilient than I have given myself credit for.

Review Fix: What are your ultimate goals for this production and for the future?

Roman: Well, I’m thinking very short term at the moment. By which I mean that for now, I want to assemble the best cast I can, and present the show in the best possible way it can be presented. What happens after that I will deal with after that :)

Review Fix: What’s next?

Roman: Ha! I’m old enough to know that that is one unanswerable question, lol! But I do have ideas for two or three new musicals that I’m looking forward to starting to research, when it comes time to do that.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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