The Golden Cage – Book, Music, and Lyrics by Deborah Henson-Conant; Directed by R. Lee Kratzer; Music Direction by Nevada Lozano; Scenic Design by Tyler R. Herald; Costume Design by Evan Pritzant; Lighting Design by Michael Cole. Presented by Streaming Musicals online and filmed in front of live audiences at the CreateTheater New Works Festival at NYC’s Theatre Row. It can be seen here StreamingMusicals.com

by Mike Hoban

When I was a teen, there was an episode of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, the hit-or-miss knockoff of the iconic Twilight Zone TV series entitled “Hell’s Bells.” In it, hippie John Astin (of Addams Family fame) dies in a car crash and lands in Hell. What he finds there is not a lake of fire but an insanely boring place populated by Midwestern white people. Thinking he is in heaven, the hippie complains to the devil that he wants to go to the “other place.” The devil explains to him that “This is the other place. While this is absolute Hell for you, up there (looks skyward), it’s someone else’s idea of heaven.”

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