NYMF's THE MUSIC BOX: AN EVENING OF LADY COMPOSERS Set for Tonight

Broadway veterans Sean McDermott and Sarah Litzsinger join a cast of seasoned performers in The New York Musical Theatre Festival's (NYMF) The Music Box, An Evening of Lady Composers tonight, July 23. Performances will take place at 6 and 9 PM at the Ford Foundation Studio Ford Foundation Studio Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center.

McDermott has starred in numerous Broadway productions and national tours including playing Danny in Grease and Tony in West Side Story, He was recently seen playing Hannibal Lector in Silence: The Musical.

Sarah Litzsinger holds the distinction of being the longest running "Belle" in the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast, in addition to playing "Eva" in the National Tour of Evita.

McDermott and Litzsinger will join other experienced performers in The Music Box, including Ali Ewoldt (Les Miserables), Brigid Brady (The Phantom of the Opera),Allyson Tucker (Chita River: The Dancer's Life), Emily Walton (August: Osage County), Brigid Brady (The Phantom of the Opera), and Michael Mendez (Chaplin).

The Music Box will feature music by Masi Asare, Mary-Mitchell Campbell and Leslie Becker, Suzy Conn, Carmel Dean, Amanda Green, Marcy Heisler & Zina Goldrich, Kailey Marshall, Grace McLean, Juliana Nash, Susannah Pearce, and Zoe Sarnak.

Karen Azenberg of Salt Lake City's Pioneer Theater Company will direct this year's event. Azenberg was recently honored at the fifth annual Broadway Salutes ceremony for her twenty-five year commitment to the theatrical industry. Christopher McGovern will music direct.

Highlighting the work of emerging composers and seasoned veterans, the concert line-up will include Tony and Richard Rogers Award nominees, as well as Jonathan Larson, Fred Ebb, Drama Logue and Drama Desk Award Winners.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) exists to revitalize musical theatre culture by discovering and promoting new musical theatre artists, producers and projects; nurturing a vibrant and innovative artistic community; and connecting one of America's greatest art forms with a diverse, contemporary audience.

Now in its eleventh year, the Festival is the largest musical theatre event in America. The preeminent site for launching new musicals and discovering new talent, the Festival provides an affordable platform for artists to mount professional productions that reach their peers, industry leaders, and musical theatre fans. More than 90 Festival shows have gone on to productions on and Off-Broadway, in regional theaters in 48 states, and in more than 20 countries worldwide. Festival alumni have received a wide array of awards including the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2013, NYMF received a special Drama Desk Award in recognition of its work "creating and nurturing new musical theatre, ensuring the future of this essential art form."

NYMF is the flagship program of National Music Theater Network, Inc., a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization. NYMF 2014 is presented in association with Fuzzrocket, TheaterMania, and Production Resource Group. NYMF is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

NYMF Memberships, which combine charitable contributions with valuable, flexible ticket packages and perks like early seating and tickets to individual events, are currently available for purchase at (212) 352-3101 or www.nymf.org/member.