Kennedy Theatre in NC to Present Songs for a New World

Following last summer's success with The Last Five Years, the 2005 inaugural show for Hot Summer Nights at the Kennedy in Raleigh, NC, the professional summer-series theatre company will once again present a Jason Robert Brown show.

The third production in the Hot Summer Nights six-show season is Brown's Songs for a New World, running June 28-July 9, 2006 at 8pm (Wednesdays-Saturdays) and 3pm (Sundays) at the Kennedy Theatre in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh, NC. "In the show, Brown transports his audience from the deck of a 1492 Spanish sailing ship to a ledge 57 stories above Fifth Avenue to meet a startling array of characters ranging from a young man who has determined that basket-ball is his ticket out of the ghetto to a woman whose dream of marrying rich nabs her the man of her dreams and a soulless marriage. These are the stories and characters of today, the songs for a new world," state press notes.

The cast includes two Raleigh natives--Broadway's Julie Foldesi (Little Women, The Full Monty) and Mary Cuchetti--as well as Colby Foytik and Linzey Jones. Hot Summer Nights will also welcome Broadway actor Joe Cassidy (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, 1776, Show Boat) as the show's director. The show marks Cassidy's directorial debut in professional theatre. Musical direction for Songs for a New World brings Raleigh favorite McCrae Hardy back to Hot Summer Nights for a second time this season. Hardy returns after taking on the same duties during the 2006 season opener, Forever Plaid.

The show is comprised of a talented production team and band that includes choreographer Matthew-Jason Willis; technical director and lighting designer Curtis Jones; stage manager Joanna Bunnell; costume designer Vanessa Streeter; props mistress Laurie Johnson and sound designer Brian L. Hunt. Under Hardy's musical direction, the Songs for a New World band includes Hardy (keyboards), Julie Florin (keyboards/synthesizer), Carlton Miles (drums), and Stephen Coffman (percussion). Hot Summer Nights at the Kennedy is produced by father and son team K.D. Kennedy, Jr. (Executive Producer) and Michael Kennedy (Managing Producer).

The remaining shows in the 2006 season include The Last Night of Ballyhoo (July 19-30), Oleanna with Tony Award-nominee Alan Campbell (Sunset Boulevard, Contact) (August 2-13), and an original musical concert, Meet Me on the Corner of Broadway and Swing (August 16-27), with Broadway's Jennifer Shrader (Beauty and the Beast, Swing).

Individual tickets are $25. Discounts are available. To order call 919-834-4000, go to www.ticketmaster.com or the Progress Energy Center Box Office. For additional information on Hot Summer Nights (and to read an interview with Jason Robert Brown), visit the theatre's website at www.hotsummernightsatthekennedy.org.

Photo--from bottom left (clockwise): Mary Cuchetti, Linzey Jones, Colby Foytik and Julie Foldesi

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