Producers Adam Epstein, Broadway Across America, Stewart F. Lane/Bonnie Comley announced today that Tony Award nominee Gavin Creel (Thoroughly Modern Millie) and "American Idol" finalist Diana DeGarmo (Hairspray) will star in the new Broadway production of GODSPELL. The first Broadway revival of the landmark rock musical will officially open on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street) on Thursday, October 23, 2008. Previews will begin on Monday, September 29, 2008.
Creel was nominated for a 2002 Tony Award for his performance as "
Jimmy Smith" in that year's Best Musical winner, Thoroughly Modern Millie. He most recently played "Jean-Michel" in the Tony Award winning Broadway revival of La Cage aux Folles. DeGarmo shot to fame as the runner-up in the 2004 season of "American Idol." Her debut single, "Dreams," went to the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Hot Singles Chart. In 2006, she made her Broadway debut as "Penny Pingleton" in
Hairspray.
Joining Gavin Creel as "Jesus" and Diana Degarmo are
Uzo Aduba (Coram Boy), Andrew Arrington,
Sara Chase, Celisse Henderson,
Joshua Henry (In the Heights) as "Judas",
Morgan James,
David Josefsberg (Altar Boyz),
Telly Leung (
Rent),
Kyle Post (
Rent), Dana Steingold,
Maria Thayer (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and
Daniel Torres (Pirate Queen).
This new production of GODSPELL marks the first Broadway revival of the seminal American musical since its acclaimed run ended thirty years ago. With music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (
Wicked, Pippin, The Magic Show) and a book by John-Michael Tebelak, GODSPELL will reunite
Daniel Goldstein, in his Broadway directorial debut, with the designers of the critically-acclaimed 2006 Paper Mill Playhouse conception in a completely new production. GODSPELL will feature choreography by 2008 Tony Award nominee
Christopher Gattelli (
South Pacific) scenic design by
David Korins (
Passing Strange, Bridge and Tunnel), costumes by
Miranda Hoffman (Well) lighting by Ben Stanton (Altar Boyz) and sound by Mike Farfalla (Curtains).
BIOGRAPHIES
STEPHEN SCHWARTZ (Music and Lyrics) has contributed music and/or lyrics to
Wicked, Godspell, Pippin, The Magic Show, The Baker's Wife, Working (which he also adapted and directed), Personals, Rags and Children of Eden. For films, he collaborated with
Alan Menken on the scores for the Disney animated features Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame and wrote the songs for the DreamWorks animated feature The Prince of Egypt. He has released two CDs of new songs entitled Reluctant Pilgrim and Uncharted Territory available at www.stephenschwartz.com. Mr. Schwartz is also the artistic director of the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshops and a member of the Dramatists Guild Council. Awards include three Academy Awards, four Grammy Awards and four Drama Desk Awards.
JOHN-MICHAEL TEBELAK (Book) was 22 years old when Godspell hit New York. It was his first brush with the New York theatre, but by no means his first venture into theatrics. His theatrical career started when he "walked into a theatre at the age of nine and stayed there." Mr. Tebelak originally conceived of Godspell as his Masters Thesis project at Carnegie-Mellon University in 1970. All of the original cast members contributed to the playful script that evolved under John-Michael's direction. Subsequently, he directed productions of Godspell at La MaMa Theatre in February of 1971, the Cherry Lane Theatre (opening May 17, 1971), the Promenade Theatre, and on Broadway. Tebelak co-authored the screenplay for Godspell (1973) for Columbia Pictures with
David Greene. Mr. Tebelak was dramaturge for the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City, and wrote and staged liturgical drama there. He died of a heart attack at the age of 36 in April 1985.
Daniel Goldstein (Director) recently directed the Off-Broadway commercial production of the hit Fringe Festival musical Walmartopia. Other recent credits include Beau Willimon's Lower Ninth at SPF, Kenny Finkle's Indoor/Outdoor at the DR2, Falsettos and Les Liaisons Dangerouses at the Huntington Theater Company, But I'm A Cheerleader at the New York Musical Theater Festival and Bathsheba Doran's Living Room In Africa at Gloucester Stage. He has served as the Associate Director for All Shook Up! and Fully Committed and the Resident Director for the First National Tour of
Mamma Mia! Daniel has developed the work of playwrights Peter Morris, Roberto Aguirre-Sacassa, Rob Handel,
John Shea, Bathsheba Doran, Janet Neipris and Eliza Jane Scheider at the O'Neill Playwright's Conference, PlayPenn, and elsewhere. As a writer, he was the recipient of an inaugural Calderwood Commission from the Huntington Theater Company, for which he is writing an original musical. He is also developing a musical with Disney Theatrical and was the author, with
Michael Friedman, of the musical Song of Songs. Celebration, the one person show he created with Ethan Sandler and Josie Dickson, was seen Off-Broadway as well as New Haven, San Francisco and the HBO Aspen Comedy Arts Festival. He is a graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in Performance Studies.
Christopher Gattelli (Choreographer). Broadway: Sunday in the Park and
South Pacific at Lincoln Center in 2008 (Tony Award nomination), The Ritz,
Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, High Fidelity. West End: Sunday in the Park with George. Off-Broadway: Altar Boyz (Lortel, Callaway Award, Drama Desk nom.); Bat Boy: The Musical (Lortel Award); tick, tick…BOOM!; I Love You Because; How to Save the World…; Adrift In Macao. Other favorites: directed Silence! The Musical (Best Musical 2005 Fringe Festival), Chess Broadway concert w/
Josh Groban, Hair Broadway concert (Grammy nom.), "The Rosie O'Donnell Show."
David Korins (Scenic Design). Broadway:
Passing Strange, Bridge & Tunnel. Off-Broadway: Hunting and Gathering (Drama Desk Award nomination), The Receptionist, Pumpgirl (MTC), Yellow Face,
Passing Strange (Public), Jack Goes Boating (Lortel and Drama Desk nominations; LAByrinth), Drunken City, Floyd and Clea and Miss Witherspoon (Playwrights Horizons); Essential Self-Defense (Drama Desk nomination, Playwrights Horizons/Edge Theater); Blackbird (Hewes Award and Drama Desk nomination); Orange Flower Water (Drama Desk nomination, Edge Theater); Swimming in the Shallows (Lortel nomination, Second Stage); Walmartopia,
Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell (Minetta Lane).
Miranda Hoffman (Costumes) on Broadway, she designed the costumes for Well. Off-Broadway credits include Satellites and Well (The Public Theater); Essential Self-Defense, Spatter Pattern and She Stoops to Comedy (Playwrights Horizons); Landscape of the Body (Signature Theatre); Beauty of the Father (Manhattan Theatre Club); Columbinus and Oedipus at Palm Springs (New York Theatre Workshop); A Very Common Procedure (MCC Theater); The Last Letter (Theatre for a New Audience); and The Marriage of Figaro (Target Margin Theater). Opera credits include Le Portrait de Manon (Gran Liceu of Barcelona); La Voix Humaine and Le Portrait de Manon (Glimmerglass Opera); Mirandolina, Lord Byron's Love Letter and The Village Singer (Manhattan School of Music). Regional credits include Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare Theatre), Uncle Vanya (Court Theatre), Mauritius (Huntington Stage), Godspell (Paper Mill Playhouse), Merchant of Venice and Outrage (Portland Center Stage), Betrayal (Yale Repertory Theatre), among others. Nominee for the 2006 Henry Hewes Design Award. Recipient of NEA/TCG Career Development Grant. Graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
BEN STANTON (Lighting). Off-Broadway credits include
Neil LaBute's In a Dark Dark House; Essential Self-Defense;
Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell;
Sandra Bernhard: Everything Bad & Beautiful; Play Yourself; Light Raise the Roof; Bexley, OH!; Throw Pitchfork; The Thugs; The Triple Happiness; The Dear Boy; Orange Flower Water; Stone Cold Dead Serious; Finer Noble Gases; Esoterica; Indoor/Outdoor; Orange Lemon Egg Canary; Caligula (AUDELCO nomination). Regional credits include Godspell (Paper Mill Playhouse); Persephone; Love's Labour's Lost; The Cook; The Crucible; Bus Stop; The Chekhov Cycle; Loot and The Great Game.
MIKE FARFALLA (Sound). Broadway: 12 Angry Men, All Shook Up, Curtains (Asst. Designer), Pajama Game,
Grease (Prod Sound Eng),
Grey Gardens,
Spring Awakening (Prod Sound). Other NYC credits: Serenade (Jaradoa Theatre Company), But I'm a Cheerleader, Bonnie & Clyde (NYMF), Indoor, Outdoor (SPF).
GAVIN CREEL (Jesus). Broadway: Thoroughly Modern Millie (Jimmy - Tony Award Nomination), La Cage Aux Folles (Jean-Michel). London West End:
Mary Poppins (Bert). Off-Broadway: The Mystery Plays (2nd Stage), Hair (Encores! City Center), Bat Boy (Union Square Theatre). Other Theatre: Bounce (Goodman Theatre/Kennedy Center, Dir.
Hal Prince), Honk! (American Premiere). TV: "Eloise at the Plaza" and "Eloise at Christmastime" (ABC/Disney). Recordings: GOODTIMENATION (Debut Pop Album), …Millie, Bright Lights Big City, It's Only Life, and others. Training: University of Michigan.
DIANA DEGARMO shot to fame as runner-up on the popular television show "American Idol" in 2004. She is known for her amazing range and vocal prowess. Following her national television debut, DeGarmo released "Dreams" to radio, the best-selling single of 2004, and later a full-length album on RCA titled Blue Skies. DeGarmo's heightened profile afforded her the role of Penny Lou Pingleton in
Hairspray on Broadway as well as Maria in a regional production of
West Side Story. Most recently, DeGarmo was featured on the initial season of CMT's reality program "Gone Country." She is now signed to John Rich's production company and currently recording a country-pop album in Nashville.
Uzo Aduba trained in Voice Performance at Boston University. Uzo was last seen on Broadway as "Toby" in Coram Boy. She was also seen in The Seven at New York Theatre Workshop and LaJolla Playhouse and in 365 Plays/365 Days at The Public and just completed a run in the title role of
Dessa Rose for the New Rep. Uzo is a
Helen Hayes nominee for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Play for Translations of Xhosa performed at the Kennedy Center, Olney Theatre, and Boston Playwright's Theatre. She was in
Daniel Goldstein's production of Godspell at The Paper Mill Playhouse and has been seen in Crowns at the Denver Center, Abyssinia at Goodspeed Musicals and The Jungle Book at Peoples Light & Theatre Company.
ANDREW ARRINGTON is grateful to be making his Broadway debut in Godspell. Recent credits include: 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Chicago Company), Showboat (Carnegie Hall), RESPECT (NYSAF) and Disney's High School Musical 2.
Sara Chase is thrilled to be making her Broadway debut and returning to Godspell after being a part of the Paper Mill Playhouse production. She most recently starred in and produced the hit sketch comedy Jen and Angie at the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theatre in NY and LA. Off-Broadway: Slut. Film: Little Black Book, Uncertainty. Television: "As the World Turns" and "Guiding Light." BFA Boston University.
CELISSE HENDERSON's credits include the national tours of
Wicked and Andrew Lloyd Weber in Review, Jerry Springer the Opera (Carnegie Hall) and VOTE! A New Musical. Regional: Steve Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon. Her recordings include the soundtrack of
Rent and Stephen Schwartz's Captain Louie.
Joshua Henry (Judas) is a member of the cast of In the Heights, the 2008 Tony Award winning Best Musical. Off-Broadway: Serenade (Thomas), In the Heights (Benny u/s). Regional: Godspell at Paper Mill (Judas), Being Alive at Westport Playhouse.
Morgan James is an accomplished actress on both stage and screen. In addition to her regional theatre credits, she can be seen in current Toyota Highlander and TJ Maxx commercials. Godspell marks her Broadway debut. She received her BM in Voice at The Juilliard School in NYC.
David Josefsberg has been touring both Europe and the United States with comedian
Stephen Lynch performing his own original material and songs co-written with Mr. Lynch and
Jeff Gurner. David has been seen on Broadway as "David Fonda" in The Wedding Singer, "Roger" in
Grease, Marius in
Les Miserables and On the 20th Century. Off-Broadway he has created roles in the Altar Boyz, Slut, Joys of Sex and Night Blooming Jasmine. David was seen as "Arthur (the Fonz) Fonzarelli" on NBC's "The Mork and Mindy Story" and in the films Limbo and Carlito's Way.
Telly Leung's Broadway credits include
Rent (Steve and Angel), Sondheim's Pacific Overtures and Flower Drum Song. Telly also originated the role of Boq in the Chicago company of
Wicked. Favorite regional credits include: M. Butterfly (Philadelphia Theater Company), Barnaby in
Hello, Dolly! (The MUNY), Godspell (Paper Mill Playhouse), Thuy in Miss Saigon (Pittsburgh CLO), Lun Tha in The King and I (North Carolina Theater), and Seth / Shem in Children Of Eden (Fords Theater). Television credits include: "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and the 2008 Tony Awards. Telly is featured on the original cast recordings of Pacific Overtures and Wall to Wall
Stephen Sondheim (recorded live from Symphony Space). BFA Carnegie Mellon University.
Kyle Post comes to Godspell directly from the final company of
Rent on Broadway. Other credits: Jesus Christ Superstar (KC Starlight), Berger in Hair and Whizzer in Falsettoland. Kyle is a graduate of the Music Theatre program at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory.
DANA STEINGOLD. National Tour/LA: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Logainne). New York:
Calvin Berger at MTC, Galt McDermot's Goddess Wheel and Sally in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Century Center).
Maria Thayer. Theater: Necessary Targets, Endpapers (Variety Arts Theater), Hair (Bay Street Theater). Film: Accepted, Strangers with Candy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the upcoming State of Play with
Ben Affleck and Russell Crowe. Many television guest appearances including Grace's daughter on finale episode of Will and Grace. Maria originated the role of Tammi Littlenut on Strangers with Candy.
Daniel Torres is thrilled to be in Godspell. NYC credits include: The Woman in White (Original Broadway Company), The Pirate Queen (Original Broadway Company/Cast Recording), Young Scrooge in
A Christmas Carol (Madison Square Garden) and Juan in Altar Boyz (Off-Broadway). Regional credits include: Danny Reyes in Most Wanted (La Jolla Playhouse/Sundance Theatre Lab), and Tobias in Sweeny Todd (Cleveland Opera).
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