On Friday, May 9, 2025, 8PM at the Gifford House’s Wilde Room, A.B. Dee makes her directorial debut for the reading of the 1972 Jackie Curtis methamphetamine fueled trans-broadway spectacle, “Vain Victory.” Being coached by the the original composer for this mythic musical, Lary Chaplan, Dee and a cast of Provincetown outcasts are guaranteed to make you laugh and cry. Stay tuned.
Lary Chaplan’s remarkable story spans over 70 years in classical music beginning with a violin seat while still a boy in California Junior Symphony to his later role with the Cape Cod Symphony.
The road between is a veritable real-life international whirlwind Forest Gump tale that makes up a who’s who of pop culture’s greatest names and venues – Hollywood’s Sunset Blvd, Andy Warhol, John & Yoko, Alan Vega, Mercer Arts Center, CBGBs, The New York Dolls and Max’s Kansas City to name but a few.
As a young musician Lary Chaplan found himself drifting in a surreal sea of misfortune in New York’s brutal Alphabet City in the early 1970s after mirating from the aftermath of the great 1971 California earthquake. His ingenuity and musical virtuosity served as his survival kit in a vast array of “odd jobs” that included transcribing arrangements for David Bowie’s publishing company and building stages for the legendary nightclubs Max’s Kansas City and CBGBs. Of all of his conquests, the wildest may just have to be his role in the Off Off Broadway musical, “Vain Victory.”
