Index (and links to less active productions at bottom of the index page)  
Abe Lincoln in the 21st Century  |  Coming Together Coming Apart  |  To Kill a Mockingbird  |  The Dickens!  
Fred and Adele Astaire: The Last Dance  |  Mark Twain: Telling Tales  |  The Belle of Amherst  |  Fahrenheit 451 
Study in Scarlet  |  Joy Comes in the Morning

Steve Corbellini and Melanie Lipton in
Great Scott and Zelda

a  one-hour comedy-drama packaged for libraries, theatres and schools,
for high-school and adult audiences

Written and Directed by David Houston

Photos from performance, PORT JEFFERSON FREE LIBRARY:

ZELDA: You say that Daisy is beautiful, self-involved, superficial and morally empty.  Well then I can’t very well be Daisy, can I? 
 

SCOTT: Zel, what do you want to be when you grow up, just a beautiful little fool?  ZELDA: I hope I don’t grow up.  
But if I do . . . maybe a writer.  Scott, why do you write?  SCOTT: To make people see.

SCOTT: They'll stop painting theatre curtains of you jumping into the Union Square fountain.  No more headlines when I'm arrested 
for brawling at the Plaza:  FITZGERALD KNOCKS OFFICER THIS SIDE OF PARADISE.  That was clever, I thought.

Action of the play: The Fitzgeralds return to their "nifty little Babbitt home" in Great Neck, and she accuses him of spoiling the party with his insults and moodiness. Scott explains that after reviewing notes on High-Bouncing Lover (soon re-titled The Great Gatsby), his editor found it boring. “So fix it!” Zelda demands, "before we leave Long Island !"  As the two open the manuscript for surgery, art imitates Scott and Zelda's private lives.  In this hour with the Fitzgeralds, set in the spring of 1924, the issues, people, events, and personal histories they confront are factual, with dialog suggested by their love letters and literary correspondence, and Scott’s novels, essays, and short stories.

COMMENTS AND REVIEWS:

      "A completly engaging, delightful production with excellent material performed, as always, to perfection!" — Penelope Wright, Director of Adult Programs, Rogers Memorial Library, Southampton.

      "The audience loved it! The two performers were wonderful. I can't wait to have you return for another show." — Christine Langerfeld, Program Director, The Montauk Library

      "The whole production from start to finish was amazing. The set-up beforehand was extremely easy, as was the breakdown at the end. Steve and Melanie were fabulous, and the audience left the auditorium asking for and wanting more. The promotional materials were very helpful and led us to sell out the show. The show flowed delightfully, proving David Houston, the writer, to be a truly talented individual. Thanks to all!" — Gina Tulin, Education Director, Planting Fields Arboretum Coe Hall, Oyster Bay

BIOS

MELANIE LIPTON—is equally at home in drama, comedies and musicals. Her starring roles include Lilli in Kiss Me Kate, Tracy in High Society, Mary in Cyrano Dot Com (world premiere), Maggie in The Man Who Came to Dinner, Luisa Contini in Nine, both Johanna and Mrs. Lovett in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible, Meredith in Bat Boy, Eve in Applause, and Lois Lane in a rare revival of It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman. She has performed in other Houston shows for schools and libraries: her acclaimed Emily Dickinson in William Luce’s play The Belle of Amherst and Adéle Astaire in Houston's Fred and Adéle Astaire: The Last Dance. An educator with a background in music, voice, and theatre, Melanie spent two seasons as teacher and choreographer at Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Center.

STEVE CORBELLINI—is a young leading man much in demand on Long Island . Among his many and varied appearances, he was Paul in Barefoot in the Park, Hamlet and Juliet in The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr Abridged, Mortimer in Arsenic and Old Lace, Percy/Pimpernel in The Scarlet Pimpernel, Mike in High Society, Bobby in Crazy For You, Cliff in Cabaret, Finch in How To Succeed, Mitch Albom in Tuesdays With Morrie, and Fred Astaire in Houston's Fred and Adéle Astaire: The Last Dance. He collaborated on the creation of They Can’t Take That Away: The Music of George and Ira, which he also co-directed and starred in.  He has a Bachelor’s in music and theater and a Master’s in Elementary Education.

DAVID HOUSTON—has appeared in leading roles in scores of plays and musicals, including Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet, Sir in The Dresser, Senex in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Ben in Death of a Salesman, Mayor Shinn in The Music Man, Herr Shultz in Cabaret and Horace Giddens in The Little Foxes.  He is a published and produced writer of fiction and non-fiction.  His original plays, including Let's Do It!, Lillie Alone,The Ghost of Dorothy Parker, Murder and Madness and Poe, and The Dickens! have been seen at a number of Long Island libraries.  His Joan Crawford biography Jazz Baby (St. Martin's Press) was optioned for movie production, as was his mystery novel Shadows on the Moon.  He wrote and narrated the documentary films They Went to the Stars and Voyage to Darkness. 

Publicity Photos: copyright © David Houston, 2007
For free use in publicizing GREAT SCOTT AND ZELDA  

Events in the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald
(with emphasis on events relevant to "Great Scott and Zelda")

1896—In September, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is born in St. Paul

1898—The family moves to Buffalo

1901—Family moves to Syracuse; birth of sister Annabel

1903—Family moves back to Buffalo

1908—Family moves to St. Paul, Scott enters St. Paul Academy

1909—His story “The Mystery of the Raymond Mortgage” published in school literary magazine; takes dance lessons; writes school plays and acts in them

1911—In September, enters Newman Prep School in Hackensack New Jersey, wrote stories for the school paper

1913—Enters Princeton University, meets his first love Ginevra King

1915—Meets Edmund (Bunny) Wilson (a lifelong friend) with whom he writes comic musical revue “The Evil Eye,” for Princeton Triangle Club; drops out of Princeton for semester, returns, writes lyrics for “Safety First” for the Triangle Club, but fails to graduate; first story sold to Nassau Literary Magazine: "Shadow Laurels"

1917—Break with Ginevra King; first professional sale to Poet Lore, commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the regular army, starts writing The Romantic Egotist while stationed in Kansas; Zelda Sayer graduates from High School

1918—In July meets Zelda at a Country Club dance in Montgomery, Alabama; completes The Romantic Egotist and submits it to Scribners; rejected, but response is positive

1919—Discharged from army; goes to New York City, takes job with Baron Collier Ad Agency, in June, Zelda breaks their engagement, returns to St. Paul to rewrite novel, re-titles it This Side of Paradise accepted by Scribners, sells first story to commercial magazine: "Babes in the Woods" to The Smart Set; story to Saturday Evening Post: “Head and Shoulders,” in November re-engaged to Zelda

1920—This Side of Paradise published in March, marries Zelda in April at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, they move to Westport in May then to an apartment in New York City in October; Flappers and Philosophers published; conceives The Beautiful and Damned; The Chorus Girl movie based on "Head and Shoulders" released

1921—Learns that Zelda is pregnant; first trip to Europe in May, sailing on the Aquitania, moves to St Paul in August where Zelda first meets Scott's parents; daughter Scottie born on October 26

1922—The Beautiful and Damned and Tales of the Jazz Age published; The Beautiful and Damned movie released; moves to 6 Gateway Drive, Great Neck; work begins in earnest on book that will become The Great Gatsby

1923—The play The Vegetable published, but November production of it fails in Atlantic City tryouts and it never reaches Broadway

1924—Moves to France; Zelda has “affair” with French aviator; Scott completes final draft of The Great Gatsby in October

1925—The Great Gatsby published in April; meets Ernest Hemingway

1926—All the Sad Young Men short stories published, returns to America

1927—First trip to Hollywood, moves to Ellerslie outside Wilmington

1928—Visits Paris, returns to Ellerslie

1929—Moves abroad

1930—Zelda suffers breakdown

1931—Returns to America to attend his father’s funeral, and to Montgomery following Zelda’s release from sanitarium; second trip to Hollywood

1932—Zelda’s second breakdown; moves to Baltimore and rents La Paix

1933—Moves to 1307 Park Avenue in Baltimore

1934—Zelda’s third breakdown; Tender is the Night published

1935—First visit to Tyron; Taps at Reveille published; Moves to Baltimore

1936—Moves to Ashville; Death of Mother

1937—Six-month contract with MGM; Moves to Garden of Allah Hotel, Hollywood; meets Sheilah Graham; renewal of MGM contract for a year

1938—Moves to Malibu Beach; Moves to Encino; MGM contract not renewed

1939—Trip to Dartmouth; begins to write The Last Tycoon

1940—Moves to 1403 N. Laurel Ave., Hollywood; heart attack in November, dies in December

SOURCES FOR "GREAT SCOTT AND ZELDA"  

• Phillips, Larry W., ed; F. Scott Fitzgerald On Writing, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1985

• Turnbull, Andrew, ed; The Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dell Publishing, New York, 1963

• Matthew J. Bruccoli, ed; F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1995

• Meyers, Jeffrey; Scott Fitzgerald, a Biography, Cooper Square Press, New York, 2000

• Mellow, James R.; Invented Lives — Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1984

• Bryer, Jackson R, and Cathy W. Barks, editors; Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda, The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald,  introduction by Eleanor Lanahan, St. Martins Press, New York, 2002

• Lehan, Richard; The Great Gatsby, The Limits of Wonder, Twayne Publishers, New York, 1995

• Mizener, Arthur; F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thames and Hudson, New York, 1987

• Milford, Nancy; Zelda, Harper and Row, New York, 1970

• Hall, Donald, ed; The Oxford Book of American Literary Anecdotes, Oxford University Press, New York, 1981

• Allen, Frederick Lewis; Only Yesterday, an Informal History of the 1920’s (©1931), Harper and Roe, New York, 1956

• Greenfled, Howard; F. Scott Fitzgerald, Crown Publishers, Inc., New York, 1975

• Fitzgerald, F. Scott; The Great Gatsby (©1925), notes and preface by Matthew J. Bruccoli, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1995

• —This Side of Paradise, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1920

• —The Vegetable (1923), introduction by Charles Scribner III, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1976

• —Before Gatsby: The First Twenty-Six Stories, Matthew J. Bruccoli, ed, University of South Carolina Press, 2001