A new show that "tells of the blood, sweat and tears behind the fierce rivalry between elegant figure skating princess NANCY KERRIGAN and hard-edged TONYA HARDING" is making its N.Y. debut today, according to Jennie Matthew of the AFP. The show -- "TONYA AND NANCY: THE ROCK OPERA" -- is "billed as 'dark comedy done with heart.'" Director DAVID ALPERT said that it is "not a documentary, but a 'fast-paced and thrilling' attempt to tell the story theatrically." He added, "Don't expect any 'real' ice up there. Plus that wouldn't do so well in a festival ... in midtown Manhattan ... in July." Matthew noted the show "started out as a half-hour chamber opera for a university project, before winning glowing reviews for adaptations" in Boston, L.A. and Harding's home state, Oregon. It is now a part of an annual N.Y. Musical Theatre Festival, "a spring board for eclectic new, off-Broadway productions." Novelist ELIZABETH SEARLE, who wrote the libretto about the two women, said that the story is a "microcosm of U.S. culture: determination to win at any cost and the fame that comes with success, and notoriety." Searle added, "A lot of it is this sense of building up celebrities, knocking them down and watching them fall, which is an all-American obsession" (CFP, 7/7). Actress JENNA LEIGH GREEN, who plays the role of Kerrigan, said of why audiences should attend the production, "A musicalized retelling of the knee whack heard round the world? Do you need any more incentive?" TRACY MCDOWELL, portraying Harding, said of how she got involved with the show, "I am a die-hard Tonya Harding fan, so I pushed really hard to get this role" (PLAYBILL.com, 7/3).
