'THE STORY OF MY LIFE' Comes To Broadway 2/3/09

By: Nov. 24, 2008
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This February, THE STORY OF MY LIFE, a new musical comes to Broadway. Starring Will Chase (Rent, Aida, The Full Monty) and Tony Award nominee Malcolm Gets (Amour, Merrily We Roll Along, "Caroline in the City"), the show is directed by Tony Award winner Richard Maltby, Jr. (Ain't Misbehavin', Song & Dance), THE STORY OF MY LIFE features a score by Neil Bartram and a book by Brian Hill. Performances begin Tuesday, February 3rd on Broadway at The Booth Theatre (222 West 45th Street). Opening night is Thursday, February 19th at 7:30PM.

THE STORY OF MY LIFE is a new musical about best friends who change our lives forever, the personal cost of success and the choices we make at the turning points of our lives.

Presented by Chase Mishkin and Jack M. Dalgleish, in association with Bud Martin, STORY OF MY LIFE features a scenic design by Robert Brill (Cabaret, Assassins); costume design by Wade Laboissonniere (associate designer of The Sound of Music); lighting design by Tony Award winner Ken Billington; (Sunday in the Park With George, Chicago); sound design by Carl Casella (Tale of Two Cities, Xanadu); and orchestrations by Tony, Emmy, Grammy and Academy Award winner Jonathan Tunick (A Chorus Line, Company, Into the Woods).

"We live in a time when people need something that is fun and authentic" says Malcolm Gets. "That is exactly what this musical is. It's a universal story about friendship. It's about the important things in our lives - relationships with people. This musical does not have a high-tech set. Instead it relies on two actors, great music and one hell of a show."

"This is a play about family relationships, true friendship and reconnecting with the simplest and purest qualities in our lives," says Will Chase. "Doing this production has really affected my life. It's the first time in my career that I have done a production that inspires me to call my friends and family after the curtain call."

This production of THE STORY OF MY LIFE comes to Broadway directly from Goodspeed Opera House's Norma Terris Theater in Chester, Connecticut where it ran last month. THE STORY OF MY LIFE received its world premiere at The Canadian Stage Company's Berkeley Street Theatre in Toronto Canada in 2006 before The National Alliance for Musical theatre presented the work at its 2007 Festival of new Musicals.

THE STORY OF MY LIFE, begins performances on Broadway at The Booth Theatre (222 West 45th Street, between Broadway & 8th Aves.) on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009. Opening night is Thursday, February 19th at 7:30PM. Performances are Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8PM, with matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 2PM and Sunday at 3PM. Tickets are $66.50 - $100.00 Call Telecharge.com at 212-239-6200 or log on to www.telecharge.com. For Group Sales call: (212) 302-0995. www.thestoryofmylifeonbroadway.com

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Will Chase has appeared on Broadway in High Fidelity, Lennon, The Full Monty, Aida, Miss Saigon, and most recently as Roger in the final cast and filmed stage version (Sony Pictures) of Rent. Regional credits include: Kiss of the Spider Woman (Signature), Oklahoma! (Oklahoma Lyric), The Pajama Game (MUNY), Assassins, Black Patent Leather Shoes and Mame. He has been nominated three times for Chicago's Jeff Award. Film and Television: "Four Single Fathers," "Shaft," "Everyday People," "Rescue Me," "Canterbury's Law," "Conviction," "Law and Order," "Third Watch," "Queens Supreme," "All My Children," "Guiding Light," "As The World Turns." Will trained at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music as a percussionist and studied conducting with Atlanta Symphony's Robert Spano. He has worked with such classical music luminaries as John Cage, John Adams, Gunther Schuller, and Lorin Maazel. Will can be heard on the Original Broadway Cast Album of High Fidelity and on This Ordinary Thursday: The Songs of Georgia Stitt..

Malcolm Gets' New York Theater credits include: Amour (Tony and Drama Desk nominations); A New Brain; Merrily We Roll Along (Drama Desk nomination, Obie Award); The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Obie); Hello, Again; Boys and Girls; Finian's Rainbow; Polish Joke; Juno; and The Boys From Syracuse and The Apple Tree, both for the Encores! Series. He was Richard, the tortured artist, on NBC's "Caroline in the City." Films include "Thirteen Conversations About One Thing," "Love in the Time of Money," "Adam and Steve," "Sex and the City," and the soon to be released "Grey Gardens." He is currently recording his first solo CD with John McDaniel for PS Classics.

Neil Bartram (Music and Lyrics) is the recipient of a Dramatists Guild Jonathan Larson Fellowship, a 2005 Jonathan Larson Foundation Award, and was a finalist for the 2007 Fred Ebb Award. He wrote the music and lyrics for Somewhere In The World (which ran for 5 seasons at the Charlottetown Festival and spawned a cast album), and The Nightingale and the Rose. With book writer Brian Hill, Neil is currently developing Not Wanted On The Voyage (which is being workshopped as part of Northwestern University's AMTP project and Clara's Piano (workshopped in July 2008 by the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Neil has scored successful productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet, and his songs have been recorded by several independent artists. www.bartramandhill.com

Brian Hill (Book) has written the book for a number of musicals including The Nightingale and the Rose and Somewhere In the World, which was ran for five seasons at the Charlottetown Festival. With music and lyrics by Neil Bartram, Not Wanted on the Voyage, an adaptation of the Timothy Findley novel, is in development with the AMTP and Northwestern University, Clara's Piano, was developed by the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in July of 2008.] He has served as artistic director of the Confederation Centre Young Company and the Charlottetown Festival's associate director of New Play Development. For the Stratford Shakespeare Festival he direcTed Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience and Not Wanted on the Voyage, and was associate director of Man of La Mancha and Fiddler On The Roof. Mr. Hill was associate director of the Toronto, Vancouver, and national companies of Forever Plaid, and served as associate director for the US national tour of Sunset Boulevard and the first national tour of The Sound of Music. For Disney Theatrical Productions he directed the final reading of High School Musical 2, was resident director of The Lion King, and is associate director of The Little Mermaid. www.bartramandhill.com

Richard Maltby, Jr. (Director) Broadway: Conceived and directed two Tony Award winning musicals: Ain't Misbehavin' (1978: Tony, N.Y. Drama Critics, Outer Critics, Drama Desk Awards -- also Tony Award for Best Director); Fosse (1999: Tony, Outer Critics, Drama Desk Awards); With composer David Shire, director/lyricist: Baby (1983, book by Sybille Pearson, seven Tony Award nominations); lyricist: Big (1996, book by John Weidman; Tony nomination: Best Score); lyricist/conceiver, Take Flight (book by John Weidman), world premiere 2007 at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London, also produced in Japan the same year. Co-lyricist: Miss Saigon (Evening Standard Award 1990; Tony nomination: Best Score, 1991). Director/co-lyricist: American version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song & Dance (1986 Tony Award for star, Bernadette Peters). Off-Broadway: director/lyricist Starting Here, Starting Now (1977 Grammy nomination); Closer Than Ever (1989, two Outer Critics Circle Awards: Best Musical, Best Score), both written with composer David Shire.; director, The 60's Project (2006, Goodspeed Opera House). Film: Screenplay, "Miss Potter" (2007) about Beatrix Potter, starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor (Christopher Award, best screenplay).

www.thestoryofmylifeonbroadway.com




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