Mary Testa, Seth Rudetsky and More to Star in DISASTER! A 1970's DISASTER MOVIE…MUSICAL Off-Broadway, Beg. 10/14

Mary J. Davis will present DISASTER! written by Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick, at St. Luke's Theatre starting on October 14, opening Monday, November 4. DISASTER! is a musical based on 1970's disaster movies with a score consisting of 1970's pop, rock and disco hit songs. Directed by Jack Plotnick, choreographed by Denis Jones and music direction by Larry Pressgrove. Disaster! previously ran in 2012. For more information, visit www.disastermusical.com.

Disaster! will star Tony Nominee Mary Testa (On The Town, 42nd Street, Xanadu Drama Desk Nom), Tom Riis Farrell (Coram Boy, Dirty Blonde, Chicago), Michele Ragusa (Young Frankenstein, Urinetown, A Class Act), Jennifer Simard (Sister Act, Shrek the Musical), and Seth Rudetsky. Additional casting will be announced soon. Creative team includes: Drew Geraci (Assoc. Director/Choreographer), Josh Iacovelli (Set and Lighting Design), Tom Kosis (Stage Manager).

The year is 1979. All the hottest New York City A-Listers are putting on their platform shoes and polyester disco shirts and heading to the grand opening of Manhattan's first floating casino and discotheque. Little do they know that the pier built to house the huge boat was drilled into the center of a dangerous and unstable fault-line. Disaster! is a 1970's disaster movie musical and features your favorite songs from the '70's; Hot Stuff, I Am Woman, Knock On Wood, Daybreak, Signed, Sealed Delivered, and more! It also features your favorite disasters from the '70's; Earthquake, tidal wave, infernos, killer bees, rats, sharks and piranhas all threaten the guests. Who will survive? The greedy tycoon? The aging showgirl and her 11-year-old twins? The washed-up disco star? The disaster expert still mourning the loss of his wife? The nun with the gambling addiction? The older couple with a terrible secret? And will the bra-burning feminist find love with the man who's lost his dreams?

The best 70's Songs! The biggest 70's Disasters! DISASTER!

DISASTER! A 1970's disaster movie ...musical; Written by Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick; Directed by Jack Plotnick; Choreographed by Denis Jones; Music Direction by Larry Pressgrove; Music Supervision by Steve Marzullo.

The show will run at St. Luke's Theater 308 W. 46th Street. Previews begin October 14, 2013; Opening Monday, November 4, 2013. Performances schedule: Mondays and Tuesdays at 7:30PM, Wednesdays at 2:30PM, Fridays at 8PM. Tickets are: $49.50-$79.50 (previews - $39.50-$69.50). For tickets and more info, go to www.DisasterMusical.com. Press performances for Disaster! are Tuesday, Oct 29 at 7:30PM; Wednesday, Oct 30 at 2:30PM; Friday, Nov 1 at 8PM and Monday, Nov 4 at 7:30 PM (opening).

BIOS:

Jack Plotnick (Co-Writer, Director) Most recently, Jack wrote and directed the feature film Space Station 76 starring Patrick Wilson, Liv Tyler and Matt Bomer. He produced, directed and acted on the 2006 Lifetime Television comedy series "Lovespring International". Jack executive produced and starred in the award winning feature film (and cult hit!) Girls Will Be Girls. As an actor, he has appeared in countless TV shows, commercials and features, including sizable roles in Meet The Fockers, Gods And Monsters, and Down With Love. He has had recurring and series regular roles on shows such as "The Mentalist," "Reno 911," "Drawn Together," "Ellen," and "Action". Jack's highly acclaimed acting workshops have become hugely popular in Los Angeles and New York City. www.JackPlotnick.com

Seth Rudetsky (Co-Writer, Ted) Seth is the afternoon host on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio's ON BROADWAY as well as the host of SETH SPEAKS on Sirius/XM Stars. As a pianist, Seth has played for more than a dozen Broadway shows including Ragtime, Les Miz and Phantom. He was the Artistic Producer/Music Director for the first five annual Actors Fund Fall Concerts including Dreamgirlswith Audra McDonald (recorded on Nonesuch Records) and HAIR with Jennifer Hudson (recorded on Ghostlight Records, Grammy Nomination). In 2007 he made his Broadway acting debut playing Sheldon (singing "Magic to Do" in a devastating unitard) in THE RITZ directed by Joe Mantello for The Roundabout Theater. Off-Broadway he wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed Rhapsody in Seth (directed by Peter Flynn) at the Actors Playhouse and has also appeared on TV on L&O:CI and had a recurring role on All My Children. As an author, he penned the novel Broadway Nights and the recently published My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan (Random House). Broadway Nights is available onAudible.com starring Kristin Chenoweth, Andrea Martin and Jonathan Groff and My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan stars Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ana Gasteyer and Megan Hiltly. Seth played himself on Kathy Griffin; My Life on the D-List, was the vocal coach on MTV's Legally Blonde reality show and starred opposite Sutton Foster in They're Playing Our Song for the Actors Fund.

Denis Jones (Choreographer) Recent projects include Some Lovers (Old Globe Theater), Honeymoon In Vegas (Papermill Playhouse), Piece Of My Heart (NY Stage and Film), LiberTy Smith (Ford's Theater), Band Geeks (Goodspeed), Pop! (Yale Rep), Post Office (Center Theatre Group), Pirates!(Huntington Theatre), She Loves Me (Huntington/Williamstown Theater Festival), A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (Williamstown),Coraline (MCC), as well as current national tours of My Fair Lady and Damn Yankees. Denis also choreographed Sex And The City 2 (New Line), "The Kennedy Center Honors" (CBS), "Oprah's Surprise Spectacular" (ABC), as well as national commercials for Staples and Glade, and was the resident choreographer of The Rosie Show on OWN.

Larry Pressgrove (Musical Director) has been with [title of show] in all its incarnations. He was music director for Cats (B'way and nat'l tour), LES MISERABLES (nat'l tour) and conducted Colm Wilkinson's last performance of Les Miz at the National Opera Theatre in Shanghai, China. He was assistant conductor on The Phantom of the Opera tour and has music directed various productions at the Ford's Theatre, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. With collaborator Rachel Lampert, he composed the scores for The Angle of the Sun (NYMF 2007) and Bed No Breakfast and Comfort Food (Kitchen Theatre, Ithaca NY). For two years, he was artistic director of Metro Theater Company in St. Louis.

Steve Marzullo (Music Supervision) New York Credits include the music direction for Once On This Island, Mosaic. Associate Conductor for Mamma Mia, Seussical, Grease, Saturday Night, Floyd Collins and A Little Night Music (E.L.T.) Pianist/Keyboards for Ragtime, Sweeney Todd, Smile, Olympus On My Mind, as well as the concert versions of Dreamgirls, Funny Girl, Chess, On the 20th Century, They're Playing Our Song and Company (original cast). Films: Pianist for Disney's Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, Fox's Anastasia. Regional/Tours: Music Direction for I Do, I Do (Cape Playhouse),Cinderella (St. Louis MUNY), Tell Me On a Sunday (Kennedy Center, starring Alice Ripley), Paper Moon (Paper Mill Playhouse), Nude, Nude, Totally Nude (Canon Theater, w/Andrea Martin). Composer credits include: Songs From an Unmade Bed, The Audience and for Audra McDonald: "Burning the Sauce" (Seven Deadly Sins), "I Hid My Love" (Nonesuch Records) and "Some Days" (Donmar Warehouse Video) His songs have also been recorded on solo albums of Stephanie J. Block, Andrea Burns and Rebecca Luker.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride