Ben Fankhauser and More Concert Production of THE FLOOD

Casting has been announced for THE FLOOD, an original musical inspired by the historic 1993 Mississippi River Floods. This one night only special concert presentation will take place at TheTimesCenter (242 West 41st Street) on Saturday, September 8 at 8pm. Produced by the Prospect Theater Company, THE FLOOD kicks off their 2018-2019 season and this IGNITE series concert is presented in partnership with Greymatters Productions.

An ensemble of more than 60 performers will come together to raise funds for continued Puerto Rico hurricane recovery, in partnership with the Hispanic Federation's UNIDOScampaign. Music direction of the evening is by Katya Stanislavskaya.

The principal cast will feature Ben Fankhauser (Broadway's Newsies), Victoria Huston-Elem (Finding Neverland, National Tour), Aline Mayagoitia (In the Heights, Pittsburgh CLO, Ordway), Mia Pinero (West Side Story, The Guthrie), Aaron Ramey(Broadway's Bridges of Madison County), Scott Wakefield (Broadway's Hands on a Hard Body), and Simone Zamore (The Flood, Prospect original cast).

The ensemble will include Prospect and Broadway alumni including: Sherz Aletaha, Jennifer Blood, Victoria Bundonis, Cáitlín Burke, Anicet Castel, Jason Collins, DeMone, Carol Hickey, Brian Jose, Toren Nakamura, Yassi Noubahar, Michael Pesce, Alexandra de Suze, Tony Vallés, Josiah Vasquez, David Wiens, Zach Wobensmith, and Carla Woods.

The professional cast will be joined by a community chorus of 36 singers from Monroe County, Illinois, an area devastated by the 1993 floods of the Mississippi River, which inspired the musical.

Co-created by founding company artists Peter Mills (co-writer: book, music and lyrics) andCara Reichel (co-writer: book, music and lyrics; direction), this special event commemorates the 25th anniversary of the devastating 1993 flood of the Mississippi River.

THE FLOOD was initially developed by Prospect in spring, 2001, and presented in a workshop production on the Lower East Side. Subsequently, Prospect presented an off-Broadway run of THE FLOOD in 2006. In 2007, the musical had its regional premiere at the Monroe Actors Stage Company in Illinois, which will also present an encore staging of the show this fall.

"Prospect is thrilled to revisit The Flood as we kick off our 20th year of creating new musical theater," said Producing Artistic Director Cara Reichel. "For this special event, our artists are honored to come together with singers from Monroe County, Illinois, to help those in Puerto Rico who have an ongoing need for disaster recovery and support."

Of its previous productions, The New York Times cheered, "a majestic score that evokes the free-ranging Americana of Ragtime," Theatermania raved, "remarkable! The score succeeds magnificently," and Talkin' Broadway said, "glorious...surging anthems and rapturous hymns crown a collection of complex character songs."

Tickets for THE FLOOD are $30 - $50 and can be purchased at www.ProspectTheater.org or by calling 212-352-3101.

Direct donations to the concert's Hispanic Federation UNIDOS Disaster Relief and Recovery Program online fundraising campaign can be made via the show web page at www.ProspectTheater.org.

Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter-Keddy