George Primavera to Star in GHOSTLIGHT Staged Reading

By: Oct. 04, 2015
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George Primavera will play the principal role of Jack Pickford in the highly anticipated staged reading of GHOSTLIGHT the musical on Thursday, October 22nd at 9:00 PM. The creative team announced Primavera's casting yesterday, along with the full list of ensemble members. The role of Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. will be cast shortly.

Primavera is a recent graduate of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. He was last seen as Princeton in a production of AVENUE Q in the Lehigh Valley. Other credits include DANCES OF LIFE AND DEATH (Thespis Theatre Festival); THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD; ANYONE CAN WHISTLE; ON THE TOWN; LES MISERABLES; and CRAZY FOR YOU.

Mr. Primavera joins a cast that includes the previously announced Jennifer Hope Wills (THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA; WONDERFUL TOWN) as Billie Burke, Leigh Martha Klinger (REBECCA; LES MISERABLES) as Olive Thomas, Kimberly Faye Greenberg (DANNY AND SYLVIA) as Fanny Brice, and Abigail Ludrof (THE HVAC PLAYS) as Molly Cook. The GHOSTLIGHT ensemble will feature Grace Bennett, Christian Lane Green, Erin S. Leddy, Richard MacLeod, Brad Rakushin, Joshua J. Schwartz, Leanne A. Smith, Zachary Spiegel, Allison St. Rock, Lauren Testerman, Julianne Turkel, and Alex Ward.

GHOSTLIGHT, with book, music and lyrics by Matthew Martin and Tim Realbuto, will be presented as part of the Emerging Artists Theatre's New Work Series. The show previously played at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2011 and presented industry readings in 2013 and 2014.

GHOSTLIGHT tells the true story of infamous Ziegfeld Follies girl and silent film star Olive Thomas (Klinger), whose ghost is said to still haunt the New Amsterdam Theatre today. In "Ghostlight", we see Olive's rise to fame in the Ziegfeld Follies alongside Fanny Brice (Greenberg), her affair with Ziegfeld, much to the contempt of his famous wife, actress Billie Burke (Wills), her obsessive friendship with Follies comedienne Molly Cook (Ludrof), her whirlwind Hollywood marriage to movie star Jack Pickford (Primavera), and ultimately her tragic downfall into drugs, partying and alcohol, which led to her mysterious death at age 25 in Paris.

GHOSTLIGHT will play on Thursday, October 22nd at 9:00 PM at the TADA! Theatre, 15 West 28th Street in NYC. All tickets are $10. It will be directed by Michael Kidney, with musical direction by Julianne B. Merrill. To purchase tickets, visit http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2346655



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