Written by Willard Manus, starring Cindy Marinangel and directed by Glenda Morgan Brown, DIETRICH is based on a true story. Set in May 1960, the play takes place when the actress returned to the Berlin stage for the first time since fleeing the Hitler regime in the 1930's. Inside her dressing room at the Titania — Palast Theatre, Dietrich weighs whether to go through with her live performance despite threats on her life by Nazi sympathizers. They resented her for becoming an American citizen and having spent much of World War II entertaining American soldiers on the front lines. To them, Dietrich was a turncoat; a traitor who deserved to be shot and killed on stage.
DIETRICH (the show was formerly known as “Marlene”) celebrated its world premiere at the Brickhouse Theatre in Los Angeles (Produced by John Lant — Carnegie Hall), debuted in New York at the Hudson Guild Theatre’s Winterfest and was selected as a finalist for the NY New Works Theatre Festival. This play with music also has enjoyed success in Palm Springs, Santa Monica and a limited engagement at the Triad Theatre- a celebrated Off-Broadway house.
Cindy Marinangel is a producer, director and actress, a Lifetime Member of The Actors Studio (having studied under Mark Rydell, the late Martin Landau, Ellen Burstyn and Alec Baldwin) as well as a Chicago Second City Conservatory graduate (Stephen Colbert, Nia Vardalos, etc.). She was in UPtv's holiday special, BEVERLY HILLS CHRISTMAS, with Dean Cain and has had leading roles on stage since kindergarten, when she played her first queen.
Cindy continued on the boards in Chicago, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Berlin, Los Angeles, New York, and Palm Springs in straight plays, dance shows as well as musicals. She has originated over twelve roles in new plays to rave reviews, most recently playing Misti in NY's New Circle Theatre's workshop production of FRACTURED.
Cindy acquired the rights to DIETRICH, the acclaimed, 75-minute solo-show with music by Willard Manus that she produces and stars in. She has sung as Marlene Dietrich in Times Square for International Peace Day and performs an hour long cabaret show as the international icon, including appearances at the Mid Atlantic Air Museums World War II weekend.
Cindy is also a voice over artist. Her uniquely deep voice was personally chosen by Beyonce's family to narrate her international half-hour special for E! Entertainment. Cindy voiced two characters in the number-one rated video game, BRUTAL LEGENDS, with Jack Black, Ozzie Osbourne and other rock legends.
Cindy is the owner of Angel Baker Productions and with her international creative team wrote, produced and starred in an award-winning short about a soul connection through lifetimes called ETERNAL WALTZ. The film was sponsored in part by the Johann Strauss Foundation of Germany, and has garnered fifteen awards to date. Among those, she and her cast won "Best Acting Ensemble - Short" in the Culver City Film Festival, "Best Director" in the Amsterdam Around International Festival, "Best Female Film - Mini Movie," "Best Cinematography - Mini Movie" a the Hollywood Film Festival and was screened at the Action On Festival in Las Vegas.
Cindy is a competitive ballroom dancer with a passion for Latin dancing. She graduated Cum Laude from Purdue University and is an avid cat rescuer who maintains an animal-free diet.
Glenda Morgan Brown Bio
Director / Dialect Coach
Glenda Morgan Brown is a stage director, actress and dialect coach with extensive credits in each category.
She directed her first show in her native Windsor, Ontario, and over the years has tackled many genres: mysteries, including several Agatha Christie plays; musicals, including the iconic The Fantasticks; dramas, including Little Women; comedies, including Blithe Spirit; and suspense, including Dial 'M' for Murder. She's no stranger to one-person shows, having co-written and directed the one-man show Chevalier! about the French entertainer Maurice Chevalier. She also has her own one-woman Wizard of Oz show, where she distills the 90-minute movie into 30 madcap minutes, performing all the roles and using props and costume pieces at lightning speed.
She has many TV shows and several films under her belt, as well as audiobook narration and an Audible UK podcast. She has played roles as diverse as Angel's Mother in Angel to the wife of the Vice President (Peter Coyote) in Commander in Chief.
She is in demand as a Dialect Coach, having worked at The Chance Theater (Anaheim), Long Beach Playhouse, Cabrillo Playhouse (San Clemente), Theatre Palisades, The Advent Theatre (North Hollywood) and at the Ensemble Theatre Company (Santa Barbara) among others. She also does private dialect coaching for auditions requiring accents.
Glenda would like to thank Cindy for the privilege of working on DIETRICH with her. And as always, she thanks her husband David for his love and support.
“Marinangel is in a word, terrific, doing not so much an imitation of the famed actress, but a personal rendition.” —Robert Axelrod; NOHOArtsDistrict.com
“Ms. Marinangel channels Ms. Dietrich with aplomb… transporting and hypnotizing us into a frenzy.” — Mike 902; Trip Adviser
“Cindy Marinangel is terrific as the erotic glamorous screen legend Marlene Dietrich… she is a first rate actress, tall & stunning, very personable, very intelligent & very talented… Kudos to Cindy Marinangel who breathes life into the spirit of the legendary star”. —Harrison Held; SceneAroundTown.tumblr.com
“Throughout the 70 minute play, you can’t take your eyes off of Cindy Marinangel. You can feel her unique appeal, see the inner life of Dietrich— a woman full of grit and ambition, who defied convention, seduced the world, and forged her own path. With Marinangel’s own sultry beauty, smoky voice and androgyny, she reveals a series of Dietrich’s stormy love affairs that pushed the boundaries of social convention of the time. Marinangel and Dietrich are women full of sizzle and decadence reminiscent of Weimar Berlin.” —Joyce Rappaport; Black Tie International Magazine, NYC
“Cindy Marinangel (the actor who so convincingly portrays Marlene Dietrich) brings both an actor’s and an improviser’s sensibility to her portrayal. Indeed, she is a member of the Actors Studio and a Chicago Second City Conservatory graduate. Dressed in a partially open silk robe with stockings and a garter belt, through Ms. Marinangel we feel Marlene’s sexuality and psychological foibles.” —Casey Curtis; The Front Row Center, NYC
“From the moment she steps onto the stage she commands attention, seamlessly slipping into Dietrich with a mix of glamour, wit and vulnerability. Marinangel’s vocal work is paired with an ability to evoke Dietrich’s complex character— at once distant and enigmatic, yet deeply human and emotionally layered.” —Jason Mannino, Stage and Cinema, Palm Springs
