GATSBY Concert at NYMF Takes Place Tonight, 9/30

UnsungMusicalsCo. Inc. (www.UnsungMusicals.org) previously announced complete casting for its world premiere of the original score from Gatsby at Signature Theatre's Peter Norton Space (555 West 42nd Street) on September 30 at 7pm and 10pm as part of the 2011 New York Musical Theatre Festival.

Tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased by visiting www.nymf.org.

Matt Cavenaugh (West Side Story, Grey Gardens) and Jenny Powers (Happiness, Of Thee I Sing, Grease) join previously announced Autumn Hurlbert (Legally Blonde, Tomorrow Morning), Megan Sikora (Curtains, Applause, How to Succeed...) and Max Von Essen (Death Takes a Holiday, Les Miserables).

Inspired by the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, the unproduced musical adaptation has a book by Tony Award winner Hugh Wheeler (Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music), music by Grammy Award nominee Lee Pockriss (Ernest in Love, "Catch a Falling Star") and lyrics by Tony Award nominee Carolyn Leigh (Peter Pan, Little Me). UMC artistic director Ben West (How Now, Dow Jones, Platinum) will direct the concert presentation with musical direction and arrangements by Fran Minarik (Making the Boys).

The world premiere concert of Gatsby will feature the rich, jazz-infused score written for this classic roaring '20s tale of passion, decadence and desire. Song titles include "Toute Suite, Old Sport", "Jazz Age", "Myrtle's Parade", "Wish Me", "Somewhere There's a Party" and "The Fellow in the Yellow Duesenberg".

Tickets for Gatsby: The Songs in Concert are currently on sale and can be purchased by visiting www.nymf.org<http://www.nymf.org> For more information, visit www.UnsungMusicals.org

The musical adaptation of The Great Gatsby was announced to begin rehearsals in December 1969 toward a spring 1970 Broadway opening. However, the production was postponed and subsequent plans were made for an October-November 1970 Broadway opening following September out-of-town engagements at the Colonial Theatre in Boston and The National Theatre in Washington, DC. Budgeted at $600,000 and produced by band leader and clarinetist Artie Shaw, it was to have been directed by Gene Frankel with a set design by Robin Wagner. The musical adaptation never came to fruition.

UNSUNGMUSICALSCO. INC. (Ben West, Artistic Director) is a not-for-profit Production Company dedicated to the preservation of musical theatre through the presentation of infrequently performed works. UMC projects include the upcoming world premiere of Nothing is Forever, the New York International Fringe Festival productions of How Now, Dow Jones (revised version) and Platinum (revised version) as well as exploratory readings of Barefoot Boy With Cheek, Arms and the Girl and The Fig Leaves Are Falling (revised version). Focusing primarily on overlooked projects from the Golden Age, both hits and substantive misses, UMC treats each property as a new musical thereby providing a unique collaboration between the artists of today and those of the past. UMC has also created a new initiative aimed at researching, assembling and restoring the material from unpublished and out-of-print musical shows: The Archival Project. www.UnsungMusicals.org

Now in its eighth year, the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) is the largest annual musical theatre event in America and is widely regarded as the essential source for new material and talent discovery. NYMF provides a launching pad for the next generation of musicals and their creators to ensure the continued vitality of one of America's greatest art forms. Hailed as the "Sundance of Musical Theatre," NYMF discovers, nurtures, and promotes promising musical theatre artists and producers at all stages of development, and inspires a diverse audience through vibrant, accessible, powerful new work.

 

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos