Photo Flash: First Look at Vital Theatre's PEACE, LOVE, AND CUPCAKES THE MUSICAL

The award-winning Vital Theatre Company's World Premiere of PEACE, LOVE, AND CUPCAKES THE MUSICAL with Book, Music and Lyrics by Rick Hip-Flores, directed by Jennifer Curfman and based on the popular chapter book, PEACE, LOVE, AND CUPCAKES: THE CUPCAKE CLUB written by Sheryl Berk and her 11-year-old daughter Carrie Berk. continues through April 26th, 2014. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

In PEACE, LOVE, AND CUPCAKES THE MUSICAL, Kylie Carson has a problem. She loves monster movies, zombie thrillers, and vampire sagas but her classmates at her new school avoid her like the Creature from the Black Lagoon! To sweeten up her image, Kylie starts a Cupcake Club. With the help of her new friends they begin spinning out tasty treats. But when Meredith, the most popular girl in school, tries to sabotage the big cupcake party, it may spell the end of the Cupcake Club. The show is appropriate for ages 6 - 12.

Rick Hip-Flores (Book, Music, Lyrics) also wrote music and lyrics for A Tooth Fairy Tale and My New York, previously seen at Vital Theater. Recent credits include Musical Director for the first National Tour of the We Will Rock You, Musical Supervisor and Arranger for the Gershwin musical, 'Swonderful (Pittsburgh CLO), andHeatwave: The Jack Cole Project (Queens Theatre in the Park). As pianist he has recently played in the Broadway/New York orchestras of Billy Elliot, Into the Woods, Spelling Bee, Wonderland, and The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Other musical director credits include: High School Musical (MUNY), Singin in the Rain(North Shore Music Theatre), In Transit (New York Workshop), Jacques Brel (Zipper Theatre), Breaking Up is Hard to Do (Actors' Playhouse), Shakespeare on Broadway (Symphony Space), 8 by Tenn (Hartford Stage),Henry and Mudge, A Christmas Carol (TheatreworksUSA), and numerous productions for Musicals Tonight. Rick is a graduate of Columbia University and BMI Lehman Engel Workshop.

Jennifer Curfman (Director) is Associate Artistic Director of The CRY HAVOC Company, where she is a Resident Artist and a member of CRY HAVOC's Directing Corps. Recent directing credits include Party Girl andGood Enough by Kitt Lavoie, Caught by Sharon Cooper, and The Pawnbroker, a one-woman play written and performed by Katelin Wilcox. Associate directing credits include Romeo and Juliet with CRY HAVOC, and the upcoming concert staging of Bros and Dolls at Joe's Pub, directed by Matt Cowart. Jennifer has participated in the development of more than 150 new plays and musicals with CRY HAVOC, the 24Seven Lab, Electric Pear Productions, and NYU's Undergraduate and Graduate Dramatic Writing Programs. She teaches Shakespeare workshops across the country, and has taught and developed grade school arts-in- education curriculum for the Royal Conservatory of Music's Learning Through the Arts program. As an actor, Jennifer has been seen on New York and regional stages working with such companies as the New York City Opera (on the New York premiere of Dead Man Walking, directed by Leonard Foglia), Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Carousel Dinner Theatre, Theatreworks USA (Peter Pan, Ramona Quimby), The Cleveland Opera (The Sound of Music), and the New York Philharmonic (in the 80th Birthday Concert for Stephen Sondheim). Jennifer is a member of the Actors' Equity Association and the SDCF Observership Program, and she holds a BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

Sheryl Berk & Carrie Berk (Authors of the original book) Sheryl Berk is a New York Times bestselling author and has collaborated on numerous celebrity books including Soul Surfer with Bethany Hamilton, Stages andHeart to Heart with Britney Spears, Between U and Me with Zendaya and Choosing Glee with Jenna Ushkowitz. But her "sweetest" coauthor by far has been her 11-year-old daughter Carrie Berk. Together, they write the bestselling Cupcake Club book series for Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky. Carrie dreamed up Book 1, PEACE, LOVE, AND CUPCAKES: THE CUPCAKE CLUB, in her second grade class at PS 6, sprinkling it with her friends, teachers, and experiences. She is a well-known food critic in her own right, with a popular blog (www.carriescupcakecritique.shutterfly.com) and Facebook page that boasts 90K followers (www.facebook.com/PLCCupcakeClub).

Holly Buczek, CSA (Casting Director): As the resident Casting Director for Vital Theatre, Holly has castPinkalicious! The Musical, Uncle Pirate, Angelina Ballerina The Musical, StinkyKids The Musical (2012 Off-Broadway Alliance Winner for Best Family show) and others. Additional projects include Caroline or Change for Cyrano's Theatre in Alaska, The Independents for Fringe 2012, Wearing Black for the Frigid Festival, The Brain That Wouldn't Die - In 3D, The Groove Factor and Pirates of Finance for NYMF, and for Bard SummerScape festival, The Ballad of Rom and Julz and Bitter Sweet. Holly also handles the casting for Musicals Tonight!,Berenstain Bears, Live, The Secret Theatre and past seasons of Millbrook Playhouse Summer Theatre. Films:Haram, Diva and Symposium. Holly is also a Casting Associate for Joy Dewing Casting. hdbcasting.com,joydewingcasting.com .

The design team includes Sets by Kyle Dixon, Costumes by Amanda Jenks and Lighting by Daisy Long.Louisa Pough is the stage manager.

The production opened at Vital Theatre on 76th Street on Saturday, March 15th at 7:00 pm. Performances continue Fridays and Saturdays at 7:00 pm through April 27th, 2014. All tickets are $30.00. For tickets and information, visit vitaltheatre.org, peaceloveandcupcakesthemusical.com or call (212) 579-0528. Vital Theatre is located at 2162 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY (at West 76th Street and Broadway) on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Photo Credit: Rosalie O'Connor Photography

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