Stephen Schwartz's 'Captain Louie' To Premiere At York Theatre

By: Mar. 23, 2005
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Captain Louie, a new family musical with music and lyrics by Academy and Grammy-Award winner Stephen Schwartz,  will have its world premiere at The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director), May 4 - June 12, produced by The York in association with Meridee Stein, Pam Koslow and Kurt Peterson. Based on the picture book THE TRIP by Caldecott Award-winning author Ezra Jack Keats, Captain Louie is directed by Meridee Stein, with music direction by Edward Barnes and choreography by Joshua Bergasse.  It will be presented at the Company's home at Saint Peter's, Citigroup Center, 619 Lexington Avenue (at 54th Street).

Young Louie feels lonely and without friends in his new neighborhood.  Looking for something to cheer himself up on Halloween Night, Louie returns to his old neighborhood friends in an imaginative journey on the wings of his favorite toy, his little red plane.  The story is full of tricks and treats, and the incomparable music and lyrics of Stephen Schwartz.  Most of all, Captain Louie is about friendship -- the ability to make new friends and the importance of old ones.

The World Premire CD of Captain Louie will be released on PS Classics and will be available at the York Theatre and at the label's website, http://www.psclassics.com  in early May.

Stephen Schwartz is the Academy Award-winning songwriter behind Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Prince of Egypt, Wicked, Godspell, Pippin and The Magic Show.  He recently wrote music and lyrics for an original television musical, Gepetto, for "The Wonderful World of Disney." Mr. Schwartz is also recipient of four Grammy Awards and three Drama Desk Awards.

Anthony Stein's credits for young people include American Tales and Legends, a theatrical concert for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Professor Prattle's Tales of Wonder, for the Center for Puppetry Arts, and Finders Keepers, Science Seekers, an educational series for Georgia Public Television, for which he was nominated for a Southern Regional Emmy Award.

Meridee Stein was the Associate Producer of the Off Broadway revue Jerry Herman's Showtune.  For nearly two decades, Ms. Stein has produced and directed family entertainment, including new works by Charles Strouse, Richard Peaslee, Elizabeth Swados and Stephen Schwartz.  Her productions have been performed nationally at such venues as the NYSF/Public Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, The Annenberg Center and the O'Neil Theatre Center, and internationally in China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka and the Middle East.

Pamela Koslow co-produced the Broadway shows Jane Eyre, The Musical and the Tony-Award Winning Jelly's Last Jam, starring Gregory Hines. Her Off-Broadway producing credits include Floating Rhoda and the Glue Man by Eve Ensler, Handshake, and The Henry Project. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the American Theater Wing and has served on the Tony Management Committee and on the Board of Directors of The Second Stage Theater.

Kurt Peterson last worked with Stephen Schwartz on The Bakers's Wife. His other Broadway shows include Lincoln Center's West Side Story, Dames At Sea, Follies, Dear World, On the Town and the Canadian premiere of Company. As producer, his company James Willams Productions helped bring Gypsy with Angela Lansbury to London and New York, and produced the legendary Sondheim-A Musical Tribute at The Shubert Theatre, Wpix TV's The Magic Garden live shows and a National Tour of Rob Marshall's innovative Side By Side By Sondheim, in which he also performed. 

The York Theatre Company is the only theater in New York City - and one of very few in the world - dedicated to developing and fully producing new musicals, and preserving neglected, notable shows from the past.  For more than three decades, York's intimate, imaginative style of producing both original and neglected classic musicals has resulted in critical acclaim and recognition from artists and audiences alike.  More than 20 cast recordings from York Theatre Company productions are now available on CD, and commercial transfers of such York productions as The Musical of Musicals - The Musical!, Jolson & Company, Sweeney Todd, and Pacific Overtures have all showcased the importance of the York and its programs.  Its hit production of Souvenir was developed in the York Theatre Company's Developmental Reading Series, where the current Tony Award-winning Broadway hit, Avenue Q, also started.

Captain Louie will run May 4 - June 12 according to the following schedule: Fridays at 6:30 PM, Sats. 11:30 AM and 2:30 PM,  Sundays 1:00 and 3:00 PM;  Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10:30 AM and 12:30 PM

Tickets are $35.  Tickets are available at Smarttix.com, (212) 868-4444, or  in person at the box office on the lower level at Saint Peter's, 619 Lexington Avenue (enter at 54 St.). Group discounts are available by calling Group Sales Box Office at 212-398-8383 or 800-223-7576.
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