"PLAY IT COOL" a new musical will be presented Off Broadway at Theatre Row - Acorn Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street. Previews begin Thursday, September 2nd. The hot jazz influenced musical is Conceived by Larry Dean Harris; with a Book by Martin Casella and Larry Dean Harris; Lyrics by Mark Winkler; Music by Phillp Swann; with Additional Music by Jim Andron, Michael Cruz, Marilyn Harris, Emilio Palame, Larry Steelman. It is directed by Sharon Rosen with choreography by Marc Kimelman. The musical is produced by Mary's Hideaway, LLC. The design team, cast and opening will soon be announced. http://playitcoolmusical.com/
Sexy... sultry...repressive - Hollywood 1953, an underground nightclub where everyone's got a secret. At Mary's Hideaway, it was a place for sizzling jazz and for the ambitious people who are finding the courage to be who they are. It is the noir time of the ‘50's, and the laws governing gay and lesbian clubs, produced every glance that had a double meaning and the words that were innuendo. Here everything had to be done to the strict code. These are some of the people who had the guts to break the rules. You just need to ... Play It Cool! 2hrs. 10 mins (including intermission)
Sharon Rosen is developing an all-female production of Oh What A Lovely War! and is currently working on Midsummer Night's Dream. She directed: the LA premieres of Always Patsy Cline starring
Sally Struthers; Judevine (three Drama-Logue Awards); the world premiere of Drowning in Euphoria in NYC; and many others. She was the producer for:: Vanities the Musical , The Tricky Part (Obie Award: Drama Desk and Outer Critic's nominations); They Wrote That? The Songs of Mann & Weil; RUMI (with
Paul Sills), and the American premiere of Slow Love (seven Drama-Logue awards, including Critic's Choice and Best Production). Sharon has taught Acting, Directing and Communications at various schools including NYU,
The National Theatre Workshop for the Handicapped and at Brooklyn College.
Larry Dean Harris is a co-founder of LA-based theatre company Playwrights 6, a long-term board member of
Celebration Theatre. His first play, Bible Stories, brought him an LA Weekly Theatre Award nomination for Best Playwriting. His recent play, The Prodigal Father. He is now the Los Angeles regional representative of the
Dramatists Guild and - for the last two years - has been performing and developing his solo show Witness to the Bizarre.
Marty Casella some of his numerous plays are: The Irish Curse; Scituate;
George Bush Goes to Hell; Desert Fire; Beautiful Dreamer; Paydirt; Mates.; and some of the musicals are: Saint Heaven; Paper Moon; Happy Holidays; naming only a few. He taught playwriting at the California Institute of the Arts and is currently doing the same at the
Harvey Milk High School.
Mark Winkler is the platinum award winning singer/lyricist who has had over 200 of his songs recorded by
Dianne Reeves,
Liza Minnelli,
Lea Salonga and
Claire Martin. He is the co writer of Naked Boys Singing!; creator/co-writer of Too Old For The Chorus and others. His CD Till I Get It Right was named as one of the best Vocal Jazz CDs of 2009 by Jazz Times Magazine - and his 11th CD as an artist/writer Sweet Spot will be released this fall.
Phil Swann's career in entertainment has spanned over 30-years as a performer, songwriter and producer. His songs have been heard in television, film and have been recorded by numerous recording artists including:
Clay Aiken, LeeAnn Womack,
Blake Shelton,
Lee Greenwood to name a few. He is a staff songwriter and producer for DreamWorks. He teaches on the art and craft of songwriting at UCLA, and on the Board of Advisors for the Music Production Program.
Regular performances of the limited engagement are: Tuesday @ 7pm, Wednesday @ 2pm & 8pm, Thursday & Friday @ 8pm, Saturday @ 2pm & 8pm, Sunday @ 3pm & 7pm. No Performance: Sunday, 9/4 @ 3pm & 7pm, Wednesday, 9/7 @ 2pm, Saturday, 9/24 @ 2pm & 8pm, Sunday, 9/25 @ 3pm & 7pm. Tickets are $65.00 (includes a $1.25 facility fee). They can be bought at the Theatre Row Box Office or through TeleCharge by calling 212/239-6200 or online at
TeleCharge.com.
