(LEONIA, NJ) -- The Players Guild of Leonia presents the musical, Desperate Measures weekends from May 30- June 15, 2025. Imagine Shakespeare's Measure for Measure stripped down (pun intended) to its most fun parts, staged in the old west (Arizona), and set to music. This is a fast-paced comedy that will have the audience laughing from start to finish.

When the dangerously handsome Johnny Blood's life is on the line, he must put this faith into the hands of a colorful cast of characters including a mysterious governor, a saloon girl gone good, and a nun out of the habit. Together, they face uncharted territory as laws are broken and hearts are won. Before the sun sets, will they be able to rise up and pull off the greatest act yet, or will Johnny be left hanging?

The production is directed by Carol Fisher. The cast includes Joshua Switala (Johnny Blood), Glen Woertz (Father Morse), Michael Del Valle (Sheriff Martin Green), Angelina Aragona (Susanna/AKA Sister Mary Jo), Owen Sheridan (Governor von Richterhenkenpflichtgetruber), and Danielle Melken (Bella Rose).Townspeople include Joellen Tierney, Lilly Bell, Scout Schiro, Jonathan Rion Bethea, Suzanne Renaud, and Amy Mazzucho.

Performances take place Friday and Saturdays at 8:00pm; Sundays at 2:00pm. Tickets are available for purchase online or by calling 201-947-9606.The Players Guild of Leonia is located at 130 Grand Avenue in Leonia, New Jersey.

The production features Book and lyrics by Peter Kellogg, with Music by David Friedman. There will be talkbacks with cast members and Peter Kellogg (June 8th) and David Friedman (June 14).

Peter Kellogg has two Tony nominations for book and lyrics to a musical of Anna Karenina (composer Dan Levine), which toured in Japan and was broadcast on Japanese Public TV.  With David Friedman, he created Desperate Measures which won 2018 Drama Desk Awards for Best Music and Lyrics, and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical (CD available on Amazon); Chasing Nicolette (based on the French romance, Aucassin and Nicolette), produced at Westport Playhouse, the Prince Theatre and Village Theatre in Seattle; and Front Page Girl (based on the life of Nellie Bly, New York City’s first female reporter). With Steve Weiner, he created a musical based on the Sheridan play, The Rivals, which premiered at Bristol Riverside Theatre, and Penelope or How the Odyssey was really written, which premiered at The York.

With multi-platinum recordings, Broadway shows, Disney Animated Films, Television scores, books and a teaching and lecturing career that spans the nation, David Friedman is truly someone who has made a major mark in all areas of show business and the Human Potential movement. 

David has written songs for everyone from Disney to Diana Ross, conducted and vocal arranged 6 musicals on Broadway and numerous Disney Animated Films (including Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame), wrote songs for The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Bambi II and Trick, and produced all of the late/great Nancy LaMott’s CD’s and wrote many of her best known songs. David won the 2018 Drama Desk, Outer Critics’ Circle and Off-Broadway League awards for his hit New York musical, Desperate Measures, which can now be seen in productions all over the nation. His Off-Broadway Revue, Listen To My Heart – The Songs of David Friedman, has played to audiences all over America, in Europe and Australia. David spent 10 years writing and performing a song-a-month for the Today Show’s Everyone Has a Story Segment.  In an effort to give back some of the lessons he’s learned in his fulfilling and varied career, David has written a groundbreaking metaphysics book called, The Thought Exchange®-Overcoming Our Resistance to Living a SENSATIONAL Life, and other books including Help is on the Way - From Places You Don’t Know About Today, and We Can Be Kind – Healing Our World One Kindness at a Time, both based on well-known songs of his.

Founded in 1919, the Players Guild of Leonia is a non-profit, resident acting company at the Civil War Drill Hall Theater (built in 1859).  They are New Jersey's oldest continuing community theater group (since 1919), and are located just five minutes from the George Washington Bridge and a short bus ride from Manhattan.