SILENCE! THE MUSICAL Celebrates July 4th with Early Curtain

SILENCE! The Musical is celebrating July 4th with a special early 7 PM curtain time to allow folks to enjoy the annual fireworks display.

Winner of the 2012 Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Musical, SILENCE! The Musical is the unauthorized parody of The Silence of the Lambs, with book by Hunter Bell, music & lyrics by Jon and Al Kaplan, and direction & choreography by Christopher Gattelli. After opening on July 9, 2011, the show was selected by Time Magazine as one of the year’s Top 5 Musicals.

In the Academy Award-winning film The Silence of the Lambs, rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling matches wits with the brilliant but insane cannibal, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, to catch the serial killer known only as Buffalo Bill.Clarice faces her own demons while racing the clock to unlock Lecter's clues before another innocent girl is killed and skinned by Buffalo Bill. The laugh-out-loud wicked satire, SILENCE! The Musical, features a singing chorus of floppy eared lambs narrating the action as Buffalo Bill gleefully dances a hoedown while kidnapping hapless Catherine Martin. Even Dr. Lecter, scary as ever, sings about the life he'd like to lead someday outside the prison walls.

David Garrison (Hannibal Lecter), Jenn Harris (Clarice Starling) and Stephen Bienskie (Buffalo Bill) currently head the cast of SILENCE! The Musical, which also features Harry Bouvy, Ashlee Dupré, Annie Funke, Howard Kaye, Nick McGough, Topher Nuccio, Ronica V. Reddick, Pamela Bob and Doug Trapp.

Created by Jon and Al Kaplan in 2002, SILENCE! began as a collection of songs on the internet which immediately attracted a staggering number of fans. The Kaplans' subsequent screenplay SILENCE! The Musical was adapted by Hunter Bell into a live stage show, which also featured newly composed songs by the brothers. SILENCE! played at the 2005 FringeNYC Festival, winning the award for Best Musical. SILENCE! The Musical met with further success in London at the Above The Stag Theatre.

A long list of luminaries have turned up in the audience at the hit show over the past few months including Jodie Foster, Matt Bomer (twice!), Joan Rivers, Jonathan Demme, Kelly Ripa, James Earl Jones, Josh Groban, T.R. Knight, Jonathan Groff, Justin Kirk, Neil Simon, Corbin Bleu, Ben Schwartz, Lisa Lampanelli, Willie Garson, Mario Cantone, Erin Cummings, Linus Roache, Stephen Schwartz, Jeremy Jordan, David LaChapelle, Steven Pasquale, James Lapine, John Kander, Chita Rivera, Georgia Engel, Danny Burstein, Randy Harrison, Donna McKechnie, John Rando, Christian Campbell, Barbara Feldon, Reed Birney, Barrett Foa, Cady Huffman, Seth Rudetsky, Eden Espinosa, Telly Leung, Daniel Reichard, John Cunningham, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Charlotte d’Amboise, JohAnna Day, Carol Woods, and Anthony Heald.

The regular playing schedule for SILENCE! The Musical is Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 8 PM, and Sundays at 3 & 7 PM at The 9th Space Theatre at Performance Space 122, 150 First Avenue (at 9th St.) Running time is 88 minutes with no intermission. Tickets are $25 - $79 and are available by calling 212-352-3101 or through www.SilenceTheMusical.com.

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