Flower Power Productions Presents OPA!, Runs 10/15-11/21

FLOWER Power Productions is pleased to announce the return of OPA! The Musical to Queens after a critically acclaimed, sold-out run at Queens Theatre in the Park in 2009. OPA! The Musical, directed by Sam Viverito, will play a limited engagement at The Hellenic Cultural Center (27-09 Crescent Street at Newtown Ave. Astoria, NY). Performances begin Friday, October 15 and continue through Sunday, November 21. Opening Night is Friday, October 22 (8 p.m.).

Press performances are Saturday October 16; Sunday October 17; and Friday October 22.
(Unofficial press dates will be accommodated upon request.)

Opa! The Musical is a romantic comedy set on the tiny Greek island of Elia - a place where time stands still. Sophia and Manos dream of bigger lives off the island, but Costa is quite content to stay on the island of his birth and continue with his simple, olive-filled life. After it's announced that the island will be dumped from the ferry routes until the economy "levels out", these characters make some desperate choices which will alter the courses of their lives forever. When a boat finally arrives on the island - 20 years later - some of the villagers' long-held secrets come to the forefront, and they are left with only one choice....to face their hidden selves, celebrate life and just say OPA!

The production features scenic design by Michael Hotopp and lighting design by Scott Borowka. Casting is by Jamibeth Margolis, CSA, and Michelle Cote is the stage manager.

OPA! The Musical plays the following regular schedule through Sunday, November 21:

Fridays at 8 p.m.
Saturdays at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Sundays at 3 p.m.

Tickets are $25 and are now available online at www.OpaTheMusical.com or by calling (718) 626-5111. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the Theatre Box Office ½ hour prior to performance. Restaurant packages and group discounts are also available.

Location: The Hellenic Cultural Center
27-09 Crescent Street (at Newtown Ave.) Astoria, NY 11102
Subway: N/Q to 30th Ave

Running Time: 2 hours with intermission

Website: www.OpaTheMusical.com

OPA! The Musical is being presented with support from Assemblyman Michael Gianaris.

BIOGRAPHIES

MARI CARRAS (Book/Lyrics) grew up in LA where she originally conceived of this piece with her (late) father Nicholas Carras, a noted film and TV composer. Opa! The Musical was awarded two New Play Development grants from Loyola Marymount University, was awarded ?Best of Fest? in the 2007 TRU New Voices Reading Series in NYC, and was nominated for 14 awards in the 2008 Midtown International Theater Festival in NYC, winning 5, including Best Music & Lyrics and Best Commercial Production. In 2009 Opa! The Musical had a sold-out run at Queens Theatre in the Park. Mari is a former classically trained pianist, CPA and owner of the well known restaurant ?Sofi? in Los Angeles.

Nicholas Carras (Music) was born in Pittsburgh, PA. He began serious violin studies at age 7 in Europe before he moved with his family to LA, where he embarked on a period of intensive study of music composition and orchestration at the LA Conservatory of Music. David Rose made him his protégé for many years before he was engaged to score Jayne Mansfield?s first film, which led to the ?Third Eye? starring James Mason and Jeff Bridges, and directed by Burgess Meredith. He was then tapped by Loretta Young to be the musical director on her new television show. Through his La Ronde Music Production Company, he settled into a long and fruitful stint writing, arranging and conducting special projects for the major companies in Hollywood. Nicholas passed away on Thanksgiving Day, 2006.

DONALD EUGSTER (Lyrics/Additional Music) was born in Hollywood, CA and studied composition at the University of Southern California. Donald has been commissioned to compose, arrange, music direct and write lyrics for hundreds of shows, recordings and movie scores over the course of forty years.

ANTHOULA KATSIMATIDES (Choreography), a native of Astoria, participated in the first reading of OPA! 4 years ago. Anthoula has been performing Greek folk dance for the past 25 years. She has done extensive research documenting Greek folk traditions, rituals and dance and is considered an expert in dances from the Dodecanese islands. As co-founder and principal dancer of the Guardians of Hellenism ~ Akrites Productions, a Hellenic folklore society, she has performed at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Town Hall, Central Park, Shea Stadium and LaGuardia Performing Arts Center. She has been teaching Greek dance privately to individuals/groups and has been a Greek dance consultant for over 10 years. Anthoula is now also performing dances from all around the world as a member of the World Dance Theatre. She has had classical ballet and modern dance training and is a member of SAG and AFTRA.

Elise Morris (Music/Lyrics) is a recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Music Composition, and was recently awarded top prize in Sound Sculpture for the upcoming Thanatopolis Exhibition at I-Park in East Haddam, CT. As a vocalist and pianist, Morris has worked with Cy Coleman, Tan Dun, Joe Jackson and director Michael Mayer, among others. Off-Broadway, as a composer, she co-wrote Tallahassee with playwrights Len Jenkin, Mac Wellman and composer Jim Ragland; Off-Off B?dway By Oscar Micheaux with playwright Cheryl Davis, Twelve Iron Sandals and The White Doe with director Vit Horejs of The Czech-American Marionette Theatre. She has been commissioned by choreographers Zvi Gotheiner, Gabi Glinz and Hedwig Hilber for multiple dance pieces throughout the last two decades, which have been performed abroad as well as in New York City. In 2008, Morris was an invited guest of the French Cultural Center in Bamako, Mali, where she led a collaborative workshop with the local musicians and singers. She is a member of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, Screen Actors Guild, AFTRA and Local 802 Musicians Union. Elise is married to composer Doug Katsaros, and they have two daughters.

LAUREL OLLSTEIN (Book) is an award-winning playwright and teacher who has worked in new play development in San Francisco, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and New York. A member of the award-winning Actors? Gang for over ten years, currently a member of About Productions ? who produced her work as a writer/director ? Showing Our Age ? in spring, 2008 at Inside the Ford. Plays produced around the country include her one-woman show about Dorothy Parker Laughter Hope and a Sock in the Eye, Blackwell?s Corner, Esther?s Moustache, The Anatomy of a Brain Injury, The Dark Ages, and Cheese which was selected to be part of the 2010 TRU Voices Reading Series in NYC. Laurel teaches playwriting at Loyola Marymount University, UCLA, and Cal Arts.

Sam Viverito (Director) directed the Opa! The Musical at Queens Theatre in The Park last year. His work has taken him to Seoul, Korea on the productions of Hairspray, Quiz Show, Batboy, Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame, King & I and the first American company of A Chorus Line. He has directed National tours of Man of La Mancha, Gypsy, and A Chorus Line. Other shows include La Cage Aux Folles, Annie, 42nd Street, Evita, Broadway Bound, and for the last 18 years, the Shoji Tabuchi Show in Branson, MO. His children's show, Angelina Ballerina, is now playing in Manhattan, at the Vital Theater.

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