Lovely chat between Larisa Oleynik and Director Michael Barakiva about the upcoming production of I LOVED, I LOST, I MADE SPAGHETTI.  Previews begin 6/16.  Tickets for the Ithaca premiere at www.hangartheatre.org!

Since its premiere in 2012, I LOVED, I LOST, I MADE SPAGHETTI has been a hit with regional audiences and critics alike.  After productions in Hartford, New Brunswick, Sarasota, Cincinnati, Waterbury, Fort Myers, Ithaca, and (upcoming) Bangor and the Boston area, we are ready to bring this show to NEW YORK CITY!

As much as the show is about a woman struggling to find love and her love of food, SPAGHETTI is a love note to New York.  Brooklyn-born and bred, Giulia Melucci's story is filled with locations and situations that resonate with natives of the Greatest City on Earth. 

If you know of a potential producing entity that would be interested in bringing this warm, heartfelt, and hilarious comedy to New York, please contact us via the contact page!

Baci - Jacques

 Congratulations to Michelle Damato and the staff and crew of ILILIMS at Florida Rep in Fort Myers - extended now through November 8th!   www.floridarep.org

Viral Hit Play I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti
FINALLY Launches Online Media Onslaught
 
Saucy Comedy by Jacques Lamarre Adapted From the Bestselling Memoir by Giulia Melucci Noodles its Way onto the Internet as Two New Productions Open

October 10, 2015/New York, NY…Three years after its world premiere and in conjunction with two brand-new productions opening simultaneously, the viral hit comedy I LOVED, I LOST, I MADE SPAGHETTI attempts to break the internet with a somewhat-coordinated website launch and social media onslaught. Designed over afternoon cocktails using free online software, www.spaghettiplay.com has already racked up a whopping 76 visits, mainly from playwright Jacques Lamarre’s family.  Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages round out the online buffet that will ensure global domination for “the little comedy that could.”

Team Spaghetti’s Giulia Melucci enthuses, “Our internet launch has exceeded expectations!  Our cross-media platforming has already garnered several dozen followers in two days. By the end of our ‘soft launch’, we fully expect to reach triple digits.”  Lamarre states, “I thought our ROI would be DOA, but now I’m feeling good about our SEO.  People should check it out ASAP, LOL!”

A romantic comedy featuring bad romance and live on-stage cooking, I LOVED, I LOST, I MADE SPAGETTI is currently running at the Florida Repertory Theatre in Fort Myers, FL starring Michelle Damato directed by Michael Marotta and the Half Moon Theatre in residence at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY with Denise Summerford under the direction of Michael Schiralli. 
Based on Giulia Melucci’s 2009 memoir I LOVED, I LOST, I MADE SPAGHETTI: A Memoir of Good Food and Bad Boyfriends, the play premiered in 2012 with a sellout run at Hartford’s TheaterWorks, quickly turning into one of the highest grossing plays in that theater’s history.  Based on rave reviews and word of mouth (Melucci’s Aunt Marie told her entire Bridge club), the show extended its run.  The one-woman show details the trials and tribulations of Giulia, a single New Yorker navigating the minefield that is the New York dating scene.  Throughout the production, she serves a complete Italian dinner, highlighted by spaghetti made from scratch on stage.  Lamarre states, “Like Giulia, I like food and men. I thought it was a good idea, so I wrote it.”  Melucci indulged him and the result, which has grossed over $1 million, is now enjoying its sixth and seventh regional productions.  Lamarre notes, “That is more money than the last three Adam Sandler films combined.*” (*This statement has not been verified.)

I LOVED, I LOST, I MADE SPAGHETTI, which originally starred Antoinette LaVecchia and was directed by Rob Ruggiero, would later move onto highly successful runs at George Street Playhouse (New Brunswick, NJ), Asolo Repertory Theatre (Sarasota, FL), and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, all in 2014.  In spring 2015, the play was produced at 7 Angels Theatre in Waterbury, CT starring Maria Baratta as Giulia under the direction of Semina DeLaurentis--that production proved to be such a hit that it returned for an encore engagement during the summer.  Now, two new productions are up and running at Florida Repertory Theatre until November 1st and the Half Moon Theatre through October 25th.   Melucci’s Aunt Marie states, “Mama mia!  That’s a lotta pasta!”

Not satisfied with incremental growth and undeterred by his lack of theatrical representation, Lamarre turned to Melucci recently and said, “We should look into this internet thing.”  Melucci concurred, having also gotten wind of the internet.  Lamarre, an arts marketing and PR professional (including stints at Hartford Stage, Yale Repertory Theatre, and TheaterWorks Hartford), and Melucci, the vice president of public affairs for Harper’s Magazine concluded that between the two of them that they could conquer the new media horizon with a website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  Internet surfers can look forward to a wave of Vines and such click bait as “10 Surprising Things to Do with Fusilli (That Don’t Involve Chewing).”

The website www.spaghettiplay.com provides show clips, photos, review highlights, production history, and, soon, recipes found in the blockbuster-ish memoir along with some new ones created by Melucci, herself.  Regional theatres interested in the play can contact the creators via the website’s ingenious “Contact” page. The play’s ever-expanding cult of fans can feed their slavish devotion by following it on Twitter @spagplay, on Instagram @spagplay, or on Facebook at facebook.com/spagplay.  Lamarre enthuses, “Fans can lose themselves in the world of Spaghetti for minutes at a time!”

Lamarre kept talking, “Thousands of people already have ‘mad love’ for this show, to quote Taylor Swift.  Now, thanks to this internet thing, new venues can bring I LOVED, I LOST, I MADE SPAGHETTI to their audiences.  It’s like Tinder for theatre.”