THE WEAVER OF RAVELOE World Premiere to Play OBERON, 5/29-30

The Weaver of Raveloe, a new musical based on Silas Marner, the classic novel by George Eliot, will have its world premiere at OBERON in Cambridge on May 29 and 30, 2014.

Composer, lyricist, and book co-writer, Erica Glenn, who has degrees in music composition from ASU and Longy Conservatory and is currently finishing a graduate program at Harvard, sees Silas Marner as perfect material for a stage adaptation. "It combines the sweeping themes of a story like Les Miserables with the psychological depth of one like The Secret Garden," said Glenn. "It is a drama of epic proportions that somehow never loses its intimacy-a musical just waiting to be written."

In 2012, The Weaver of Raveloe was accepted to the prestigious New York Musical Theatre Festival as a developmental reading. The show had three unstaged performances at the 45th Street Theater and received extensive feedback from audience members and industry professionals.

Award-winning playwright Melissa Leilani Larson joined the project as book co-writer in 2013 and helped ready the script for its first fully-staged production.

Leading the stellar cast in this world premiere at OBERON is veteran actor/singer, Dallyn Vail Bayles. Bayles plays the role of Godfrey, the wealthy, self-preserving foil to Silas. Bayles has appeared in the National Broadway Tours of Phantom of the Opera (Phantom/Raoul u/s) and Les Miserables (Enjolras). Other credits include Adam in Children of Eden, Father in Ragtime, and Archibald in The Secret Garden.

The show has already received praise from industry greats such as Charles Strouse, the Tony Award-winning composer of Bye, Bye Birdie! and Annie. Strouse characterized the music as "full of drama and rich in harmonic and melodic substance." And according to Jill Santoriello, composer of Tale of Two Cities, the show demonstrates "an impressive blending of feeling and craft. Emotional music soars alongside lyrics that are smart and sensitive."

The goal is to get this musical to Broadway. "All of us involved in the production believe this show deserves to reach the widest possible audience," said Michael Leonard Kersey Morris, the show's producer.

The Weaver of Raveloe will play at OBERON in Cambridge, MA May 29 and 30 at 7:30 p.m. For tickets call 617-547-8300 or visit www.cluboberon.com. For more information, go to www.weaverofraveloe.com.

Pictured: (top) Erica Glenn, composer, lyricist, co-book writer; (side) Melissa Leilani Larson, co-book writer.