Original Broadway Bound Musical Concert Launches at Skyline Theatre Company

Seeing something before anyone else gets a chance is an exciting experience, and Skyline Theatre Company (STC) is bringing a New Jersey premiere to its Fair Lawn home this October. This is a sneak peek at the brand new Broadway style musical Summer Stock, based on the 1950 MGM classic musical film featuring the Harold Arlen iconic song "Get Happy." Concerts, featuring performers from Broadway, will be presented Saturday October 2nd and 7:30pm and Sunday October 3rd at 2pm at the Fair Lawn Community Center (10-10 20th Street in Fair Lawn). This kicks off Skyline's 10th anniversary season!

Summer Stock adapts the classic Judy Garland/Gene Kelly film into a big Broadway musical complete with a fresh new score from the New York team of Thomas Tierney, composer, and Jeffrey Haddow, and lyricist. The book has been penned by Haddow and STC Managing Artistic Director Sam Scalamoni. The concert will be staged by Scalamoni and Music Directed by Avenue Q Music Director and Altar Boyz composer Gary Adler. This will be a unique chance to see a musical in development and meet and discuss it with its creators following both performances!

This stage version of the film follows Jane Falbury, the owner of a struggling New England farm that is suddenly besieged by a troupe of actors invited by Jane's star-struck kid sister Abigail to use the family barn for an out-of-town tryout of a new musical. Summer Stock is chock full of dancing, laughter, and romance. The score is a seamless mix of new songs written for this adaptation and timeless classics from the original film, including the Harold Arlen blockbuster finale, "Get Happy."

Composer Tierney wrote Eleanor - An American Love Story which has been produced at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC, the Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Marriott's Lincolnshire Theatre in Chicago, the Village Theatre in Seattle, Musical Theatre West in L.A. and is now published by Rodgers & Hammerstein. He has also written the musical Narnia, based on C. S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe which has been produced in Off-Broadway. Co-Lyricist and Co-Book writer Haddow co-wrote Scrambled Feet, which ran for two years at the Village Gate Off-Broadway, had a Showtime TV special with Madeline Kahn, and wrote Chekhov In Yalta, which premiered at the Mark Taper Forum and won the LA Drama Critics Distinguished Playwriting Award.

Skyline Managing Artistic Director Sam Scalamoni has directed and developed many original musicals including Alan Menken's new Broadway bound musical Leap of Faith and Mulan Jr. for Disney. "It is an amazing process," says Scalamoni, who is a founding member of STC. "It is like watching the birth of a something completely new yet filled with all the great nostalgia of classic American musical theatre. It's thrilling to hear it performed by such amazing Broadway talent, and STC is proud to bring these performers to the stage in Bergen County."

Skyline Theatre Company is Bergen County's professional theatre company bringing professional performers, designers, and staff from New York City and the surrounding area together to produce an exciting array of musicals and plays. (www.skylinetheatrecompany.org) Skyline is an associate member of the prestigious New Jersey Theatre Alliance and the Board of Trustees is comprised of a diverse group of artists, business people and educators who are committed to bring high quality theatre and programs to Bergen County.

So come and watch Skyline "put on a show" with Summer Stock, October 2nd and 3rd, at the Fair Lawn Community Center, 10-10 20th Street in Fair Lawn. Tickets are $28 for adults, $20 for seniors, and $18 students. For ticket reservations or for more information about STC, please call 1-800-474-1299.

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