Kerry Butler will headline the cast of Kirsten Childs' new musical Miracle Brothers, which will have its world premiere at the Vineyard Theatre (108 E. 15th St.) beginning on August 25th. Cheryl Freeman (Play On!), Tyler Maynard (Altar Boyz), Anika Larsen (All Shook Up) and Karen Olivo (Brooklyn) will also star in the 12-character piece, which will be staged by Tina Landau.With a book, music and lyrics by Childs (who rose to fame with The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin), Miracle Brothers is the first Kitty Carlisle Hart Musical Theatre Lab commission. The show finds the Brazilian brothers of the title, one of whom is black and the other white, taking off from a plantation to embark on series of adventures. Both the score and the choregraphy will be inspired by and infused with Brazilian sounds and dance (such as the capoiera, "the traditional, uniquely Brazilian fusion of dance and defense").Mark Dendy (The Wild Party) will choreograph Miracle Brothers, while Daryl Waters (Bring in 'Da Noise Bring in 'Da Funk) will take care of the orchestrations and Fred Carl (The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin) the musical direction. Miracle Brothers' design team boasts G.W. Mercier (scenic), Anita
Yavich (costumes), Scott Zielinksi (lighting), Brett Jarvis (sound) and Jan Hartley (projection). Aside from Butler, Freeman, Maynard, Larsen and Olivo, the show's casting has not yet been announced. However, Larsen, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Kerry O'Malley, William
Youmans and Michael Benjamin Washington were the most prominent of those featured in an August 2004 private reading of the work.
Butler is the petite belter who starred as Penny Pingleton in Hairspray, Audrey in the recent revival of Little Shop of Horrors, Shelly in Bat Boy, Belle in Beauty and the Beast and Eponine in Les Miserables; she has also appeared out-of-town in the Broadway-bound The Opposite of Sex, and in readings and workshops of The Little Mermaid and Easter Rising. Landau directed Ricky Ian Gordon's Dream True at the Vineyard, as well as helming the revival of Bells Are Ringing. She wrote the book and additional lyrics for Adam Guettel's Floyd Collins at Playwright's Horizon, as well as directing the piece.Tickets to Miracle Brothers can be reserved by calling (212) 353-0303 or visiting online at www.vineyardtheatre.org.
