ROADSIDE, Part of York Theatre Company's Musicals in Mufti, Begins Performances

York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director), celebrating the legendary librettist and lyricist Tom Jones with Musicals in Mufti: The Tom Jones Festival, presents the second musical in the spring series: Roadside with Book & Lyrics by Tom Jones and Music by Harvey Schmidt. The limited engagement will play 5 performances March 30 – April 1 at The York Theatre at Saint Peter's on 54th St, just east of Lexington Avenue.

Directed by David Glenn Armstrong, the cast features original Roadside cast member Ryan Alexander, Erick Devine (Seussical), Janine DiVita (Odyssey, The Musical), Jamie LaVerdiere (The Producers), Daniel C. Levine (Les Miserables), Ed Watts (The Fantasticks) and Nick Wyman (The Phantom of the Opera).

Roadside is a melodic, rip-roaring musical based on a play by Lynn Riggs, whose Green Grow the Lilacs became Oklahoma! Roadside is a Southwestern love story of mythic proportions about two kissin', punchin', cussin', larger-than-life characters who refuse to settle down and be "house-broke" by the arrival of fences and laws. Roadside premiered at the York in 2001.

York's acclaimed Musicals in Mufti Series of musical theatre gems in staged concert performances has presented over 80 shows from the past in simply-staged concert format. Mufti means: "in street clothes," without the trappings associated with the original productions.

The performance schedule is as follows: Fridays at 8:00 p.m., *Saturdays at 2:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and *Sundays at 2:30 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. (*Talkbacks follow all matinee performances).

Tickets are priced at $39.50 and are available online at www.yorktheatre.org, by calling (212) 935-5820, or in person at the box office at the York Theatre at Saint Peter's (enter on 54th Street, just East of Lexington), Monday through Friday (12-6 PM).

York Theatre Company will host a special one-night only event, Story by Story: A Conversation with Tom Jones, on Wednesday evening, April 4th at 7:00 p.m.

Next up at Musicals in Mufti: The Tom Jones Festival is Harold and Maude, based on the screenplay by Colin Higgins, with Book & Lyrics by Tom Jones and Music by Joseph Thalken (Was, Songs from an Unmade Bed). Directed by Carl Andress, the cast will feature original Harold and Maude cast members Donna Lynne Champlin (Billy Elliot) and Donna English (Lend Me a Tenor) with Matt Dengler (A Little Night Music) as Harold, Cass Morgan (Memphis) as Maude and Steve Routman (Le Bete). The limited engagement will play 5 performances April 13 -15.

The musical adaptation of the 1971 cult-classic film Harold and Maude comes to life on the York stage in a new version by Jones and Thalken. In what some call the quintessential May-December romance, death-obsessed teenager, Harold, meets Maude, 79, at a funeral and thus begins one of the most unusual, yet truly touching romantic sagas in American pop-culture history. Harold and Maude, featuring Estelle Parsons in the title role, received its world premiere at Paper Mill Playhouse in 2005.

Musicals in Mufti: The Tom Jones Festival launched the spring series with The Show Goes On, a portfolio of theater songs by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. Directed by Pamela Hunt, the cast featured Tom Jones, Graham Rowat, Stephanie Umoh and Susan Watson. The remaining two musicals in the spring series are Colette Collage (April 27-29), and The Game of Love (May 11-13). Casting for these two shows will be announced shortly.

The York Theatre Company is the only theater in New York City-and one of very few in the world-dedicated to developing and fully producing new musicals and preserving neglected, notable shows from the past. Over the past two seasons, York productions and artists have been nominated for a combined 19 Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, Off Broadway Alliance, AUDELCO and Callaway Awards (and its productions of Yank! A WWII Love Story and Enter Laughing, The Musical have both been announced for Broadway). For over four decades, York's intimate, imaginative style of producing both original and neglected classic musicals has resulted in critical acclaim and recognition from artists and audiences alike. Under the guidance of Producing Artistic Director

James Morgan since 1997, the York has focused exclusively on new musicals in its Mainstage Series-most of them world, American, or New York premieres-by some of the field's most esteemed creators, and has also helped launch the careers of many talented new writers. Over 35 cast recordings from The York Theatre Company productions are now available on CD, and commercial transfers of such York premieres as The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!), Souvenir, Jolson & Company, and its acclaimed revivals of Sweeney Todd and Pacific Overtures have all showcased the importance of the York and its programs.

For more information, please visit www.yorktheatre.org.

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