CAGNEY to Mark 300th Performance Off-Broadway This Week

Cagney, the new hit musical about Hollywood's tough guy in tap shoes,will celebrate its 300th performance on Wednesday afternoon, December 21 at the Westside Theatre, upstairs. Cagney had its official opening on April 3, 2016 following 21 preview performances.

Prior to the run at The Westside Theatre, Cagney played a critically acclaimed limited engagement at The York Theatre Company in 2015.

"Celebrating 300 performances... talk about a brilliant Christmas present for the company," says Robert Creighton, who stars as Hollywood legend James Cagney and co-wrote the original musical score. "The idea for Cagney began when I was still in acting school. And now, all these years later, it's a dream come true to share the stage with this amazing cast and celebrate this screen legend and native New Yorker. The response from the critics and audience, the awards and nominations ...it is truly beyond what we could have hoped for."

Not even five and half feet tall, James Cagney's oversized talent catapulted him from scrappy Irish kid on the streets of New York to Hollywood legend on "the top of the world." A Vaudeville hoofer turned actor, Cagney made a splash on Broadway before Hollywood called and made him one of the Silver Screen's most iconic tough guys in legendary films including The Public Enemy, The G Men and White Heat. But it was his turn as song and dance man George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandythat earned him the Academy Award and forever cemented his place as one of America's most beloved movie legends alongside the likes of Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, Marlon Brando, Jimmy Stewart and Fred Astaire.

Cagney's six-member cast stars Broadway's Robert Creighton (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Anything Goes) as the legendary James Cagney, with Jeffry Denman (Broadway's Irving Berlin's White Christmas, The Producers), Danette Holden (Broadway's Annie, Shrek the Musical), Josh Walden (Broadway's Ragtime, La Cage aux Folles, A Chorus Line), Ellen Zolezzi (Seussical), and Bruce Sabath (Broadway's Company).

Directed by Bill Castellino (Grumpy Old Men, Jolson), with choreography by Tony Award nominee Joshua Bergasse (On the Town, Gigi), Cagney features a book by Peter Colley (I'll Be Back Before Midnight) and score that blends original music by Robert Creighton and Christopher McGovern(Lizzie Borden) with classic George M. Cohan favorites, including "Give My Regards To Broadway," "Grand Old Flag," and "Yankee Doodle Dandy."

Cagney features a scenic design by James Morgan, costume design by Martha Bromelmeier, lighting design by Michael Gilliam, sound design by Janie Bullard, projection design by Mark Pirolo, music direction by Matthew Perri, music coordination by Larry Lelli, fight direction by ChristIan Kelly-Sordelet and Rick Sordelet, casting by Carol Hanzel, and general management by Brierpatch Productions.

Cagney is produced by Riki Kane Larimer (Fiddler on the Roof, Tappin' Thru Life, On The Town, Gigi), in association with Jamie deRoy, Sharon Azrieli, Joe Cecala, Barbara Freitag, Joel B. Grossman, Joe Sirola, Mary Cossette, Emily Conner, Leonard Landau, 8350 Productions LLC, and In Fine Company.

Pictured: Bruce Sabath, Ellen Zolezzi, Jeremy Benton, Robert Creighton, Danette Holden, Josh Walden. Photo by Carol Rosegg.