Nick Dalton, Matt Lutz, & Vanessa Ray to Star in TRAILS at NYMF 10/8-16

Nick Dalton (Legally Blonde National Tour, Hairspray Las Vegas), Matt Lutz (Bringing Down the House starring Steve Martin and Queen Latifah, A Walk to Remember starring MAndy Moore), and Broadway's Vanessa Ray (the recent Tony-Award winning revival of HAIR) are set to star in the 2010 New York Musical Theatre Festival production of TRAILS - A New Musical, which will run at the Barrow Group Theatre from October 8th thru October 16th. With music and lyrics from the Jonathan Larson Foundation Grant winners Jeff Thomson and Jordan Mann and a book by Christy Hall, TRAILS will be directed at NYMF by Jen Bender (resident director of Broadway's The Lion King, assistant director: The Wedding Singer, Avenue Q, and Steel Magnolias on Broadway) and produced by Samantha Saltzman, Fakston Productions (Ken Fakler and Dan Stone), Alina Gutiérrez, Robert Intile, Jr. and Ashley Mas.

In TRAILS, two friends, adrift in their lives, reconnect after ten years and set out to fulfill a childhood promise: to hike the Appalachian Trail together from beginning to end. Over the six months, 2000 mile journey, past and present intertwine as the two face both the elements and the ghosts that haunt their memories. As they sift through the ashes of their tumultuous history, a bond of brotherhood struggles to be reborn. TRAILS, which will feature an all-acoustic band, has a contemporary musical theater score with influences from Appalachian folk music, and some song titles include "Blaze a Trail," "Miles of Time," "Stories in the Sky" and "Journey's End."

Joining Dalton, Lutz, and Ray in the cast will be Kate Kearney Patch, Dale Radunz, and Hollis Scarborough, and the creative team for TRAILS will include Zach Blane (Lighting Designer), Aaron Jodoin (Music Director), Michael P. Kramer (Set Designer), David Kaley (Costume Designer), Samantha Saltzman (Assistant Director), and Benton Whitley (Casting Director).

TRAILS will run at the Barrow Group Theatre at 312 West 36th Street, 3rd Floor (between 8th and 9th Ave), with performances on Friday, October 8th at 8pm, Saturday, October 9th at 1pm, Sunday, October 10th at 9pm, Tuesday, October 12th at 5pm, Thursday, October 14th at 4:30pm, and Saturday, October 16th at 5pm. Tickets, priced at $20, are available for purchase by phone at (212) 352-3101 or online at www.nymf.org.

Now in its seventh year, the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) is the largest annual musical theatre event in America and is widely regarded as the essential source for new material and talent discovery. NYMF provides a launching pad for the next generation of musicals and their creators to ensure the continued vitality of one of America's greatest art forms. Hailed as the "Sundance of Musical Theatre," NYMF discovers, nurtures, and promotes promising musical theatre artists and producers at all stages of development, and inspires a diverse audience through vibrant, accessible, powerful new work. NYMF is the flagship program of National Music Theater Network, Inc., a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization. NYMF 2010 is presented in association with BroadwayWorld.com, Production Resource Group, TheaterMania.com, and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and is supported by AP-Red.com, Back Stage, Barnes and Noble, BroadwayBox.com, BroadwayInsider.com, Broadway.TV, Clear Channel Spectacolor, DFD-TV, King Displays, NASDAQ OMX, New World Stages, Next Magazine, PMD Promotions, The Port Authority of NY & NJ, Queerty.com, Season of Savings, Tekserve, Terra Fossil, Thomson Reuters, TheMenEvent.com, Times Square Squared, and Yelp. Major supporters include The ASCAP Foundation, BMI Foundation, Inc., The Broadway League, The BWF Foundation, The Nathan Cummings Foundation with the support and encouragement of Jamie Ariel Phinney, The Charlie & Jane Fink Charitable Fund, Cameron Mackintosh Foundation, The Jerome Robbins Foundation, The Rodgers & Hammerstein Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Spiritus Gladius Foundation, and The Theater League. NYMF is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and 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.