Nick Spangler Leads 'Fantasy Football: The Musical?' At NYMF 10/1-10/8

The New York Musical Theatre Festival is proud to present the World Premiere of David Ingber's Bromatic Comedy, Fantasy Football: The Musical?, directed by Adam Arian with musical direction by Brian Usifer and choreography by Nancy Renee Braun. Performances will begin on October 1 -October 8 at The Barrow Group Theatre (312 West 36th Street). Fantasy Football The Musical is produced by Kristin Johnson Productions LLC.

September 1991, NYC. "The Golden Girls" and "Arsenio Hall" are duking it out for ratings supremacy, and stonewashed jeans and sideways ponytails are making everyone look "totally awesome." Matthew Berry was the greatest sports journalist his college had ever seen. Unfortunately, he's finding adult life to be not nearly so accepting. Apparently an amazingly comprehensive knowledge of all sports statistics is not enough to land his dream job as an anchor on ESPN's "SportsCenter." Meanwhile, his old pal Bill Simmons is running a small, underground gambling operation and is barely able to keep it afloat. Together they find their salvation in "the ultimate sports fan experience" fantasy football. Fantasy Football: The Musical? features songs including "Sports Is My Religion," "Man Friends," and "The 1980's-Style Movie Montage Song About the Rules of Fantasy Football."

The cast includes: Nick Spangler (Winner of "The Amazing Race", Off-Broadway: The Fantasticks! GIANT ) who will star along with Patrick Benedict (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Forever Plaid), Greg Hildreth (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), Rob Hinderliter (Pinkalicious The Musical College: The Musical), Emily McNamara (starred and co-wroteThe Awesome 80's Prom, My First Time), Ben Steinfeld (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), Nick Sullivan (Bway: Footloose Off-Bway: Lone Star Love), Sam Tedaldi (Mrs. Sharp, Naked Angels' The Black Crook) and Christine Pedi (Drama Desk nomination an LA Ovation award Forbidden Broadway, Broadway: Talk Radio). Creative team includes: Steven Kemp (Set Designer), Emily DeAngelis (Costume Designer), Christian DeAngelis (Lighting Designer), Toby Algya (Sound Designer).

Prior to the start of the '08-'09 NBA season, ESPN.com's "The Sports Guy" Bill Simmons and the "The Talented Mr. Roto" Matthew Berry announced their plans to organize a fantasy basketball league with eight fans. The application was simple: a one-paragraph email stating what you would do in order to get into this league. The applications, many of them hilarious, ran the gamut from the rights to name a first-born child to sob stories about how depressing it is to be a Seattle sports fan nowadays.

David Ingber's application stated that he would write and compose an original piece of musical theater that paid homage to the fantasy culture, with Bill and Matthew as the main characters. The real Bill and Matthew spent a couple minutes on their podcast/XM radio show discussing the idea, pushing me through to the "final round." Ultimately, however, they decided to go with what they admitted had shades of affirmative action: one Seattle fan, one member of the US Military, one female fan, etc. David's application was excluded on the grounds that they did not know me, and that it was entirely possible my musical would be an absolute train wreck. Fair enough.

Having been locked out of the "SimmonBerry Fantasy League," motivations changed. Ingber no longer cared about joining the celebrity league but rather to create a piece of theater that would celebrate the world of sports fandom, create a show that would open the world of musical theatre to the masses of sports-lovin'-non-theatre-goers that are out there and introduce the theatre-lovin'non-sports fans to the reasons being a sports fan is fantastic.

Performance schedule:

Thursday, Oct 1st, 2009 at 8:00PM
Friday, Oct 2nd, 2009 at 1:00 PM
Saturday, Oct 3rd, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Sunday, Oct 4th, 2009 at 4:30 PM
Sunday, Oct 4th, 2009 at 8:00 PM
Thursday, Oct 8th, 2009 at 8:00 PM

Tickets are $20 and available at www.nymf.org or by calling 212-352-3101.

For more information about this show please visit www.fantasyfootballthemusical.com.

David Ingber (Book/Lyrics/Music) David is thrilled to be a part of the Next Link Festival. New York writing credits: God Loves My People Best (co-author), A Political Party (co-author, composer), and Now That You've Seen Me Naked (new lyrics and music). David is a resident actor in the Art.Party.Theater.Company and enjoys performing improvised musicals. He earned a degree in English Literature from Harvard in 2007.

Adam Arian (Director) Adam is the winner of the 2008-2009 Patte Award (San Diego's Tony) for Outstanding Direction for his work on Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead at UCSD, where he will be completing his MFA in Directing in March. At UCSD: he has also directed The Attic Dwellers and Clementine and the Cyber Ducks. In NYC he's directed new works for the NY Fringe Festival, Reverie Productions, Prospect Theater Company, H.E.R.E., The Irish Arts Center, Barhoppers, The Kraine, and his own company, Brooklyn Rep. Regionally, he's directed at the Williamstown Thr Fest Workshop, and the Winnipesaukee Playhouse. In October he will begin rehearsing "Camino Real," his thesis project at UCSD. He served as the Assistant Director to Christopher Ashley on the Broadway bound "Memphis" at the La Jolla Playhouse, and at the 5th Ave. Theater, in Seattle. Other Assisting Directing: Chris Ashley at Williamstown, David Warren at The Roundabout, Andrei Belgrader at UCSD. When last seen in NY, Adam was working as an actor. Credits include: National Tour: The Scarlet Pimpernel, Off Broadway: Taming of the Shrew; I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change; The Bomb-itty of Errors. Regional: La Jolla Playhouse, Trinity Repertory Company, Hamptons Shakespeare Festival. TV: "Law and Order", numerous commercials, and several indie films. He has a BA in Theater and Political Science from Brown University.

NYMF is the flagship program of National Music Theater Network, Inc., a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization. NYMF 2009 is presented in association with BroadwayWorld.com, Production Resource Group and TheaterMania.com, and is supported by Back Stage, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, BroadwayBox.com, BroadwayInsider.com, Broadway.TV, Clear Channel Spectacolor, DFD-TV, Frank & Camille's Fine Pianos, King Displays, Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, New World Stages, NASDAQ OMX, Next Magazine, PMD Promotions, Queerty.com, Reuters, Sweet Caroline's, Tekserve, TheMenEvent.com, The Tank, and Times Square Squared. 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 Mayer, The Charlie & Jane Fink Charitable Fund, The Rodgers & Hammerstein Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and The Theater League. NYMF is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. NYMF's programs are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

For more information, visit www.fantasyfootballthemusical.com.