York Announces Line-up For 4@15: Four New Fifteen Minute Musicals

The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director) and the Program in Vocal Performance/Musical Theatre at NYU's Steinhardt School are once again announcing the culminating performances of a unique partnership between a university training program and an Off-Broadway theatre: 4@15: FOUR NEW FIFTEEN-MINUTE MUSICALS on Saturday and Sunday, January 23 and 24, 2009 at 3 PM and 7 PM on both days. York's Associate Artistic Director, Brian Blythe directs, Tammy Holder music directs. Reservations are recommended.

The event will feature the following new musicals:

LET'S FACE IT
Book & Lyrics by Kathy Lombardi
Music by Craig Baldwin
Mr. Huckster's Fear of Flying students have successfully completed their Let's Face It course and are about to board their graduation flight. Will a short hop turn into the longest hour of their lives? Will the students overcome their fears or forever be just plane crazy? Let's face it - anything can happen.
With Marc Beja, Dianne de la Veaux, Cindy Lanzas, Amanda Pupo-Mayo, Will Roland, Ron Tal and Bryan Welnicki

MAYBE ONE DAY: A MUSICAL FABLE
Music by Tom Kenaston
Book by Tom Paitson Kelly
Lyrics by Tom Kenaston and Tom Paitson Kelly
How does a young, penniless couple from the Irish countryside end up in the American Midwest with a bundle of joy and a flair for juggling? Through two trains, a ship, one ocean, two continents, three scarves, five languages, one birth, thirteen jobs, a gutted fish, and lessons in knitting. In fifteen minutes. Okay, seventeen. Eighteen at the most.
With Sam Brooks, Sarah Folsom, Alanna Fox, Kanoa Goo, Bronson Murphy, Thomas Santangelo, Maria Sims and Joshua Wright

LOTTA'S FOUNTAIN
Book & Lyrics by Kristin Maloney
Music by Robert Maggio
Lotta's Fountain is set in April, 2009 at an early-morning ceremony held to commemorate the anniversary of San Francisco's 1906 earthquake. A troubled young student Amber, along with her boyfriend Eric, attend the ceremony to meet Rose, the oldest living earthquake survivor. Against a backdrop of historical performers associated with the Great Quake (Enrico Caruso, Luisa Tetrazzini, Jeanette MacDonald and the fountain's namesake, Lotta Crabtree), Amber's past and future converge in a piece about memory, family and the communities that form out of tragedy.
With Jackie Kroeger, Nicole Mercer, Bryna O'Neill, Lia Peros, Sarah Powell, Drew Prince, Ryan Ramirez and Roy Richardson

TIME TO KILL
Book & Lyrics by Dan Collins
Music by Julianne Wick Davis
Inspired by Shakespeare's Macbeth; the idle gossip of three bored employees around a bubbling water cooler sparks a disastrous chain of events complete with life threatening chain e-mails, singing I.T. Guys and murderous Diet Cokes.
With Elizabeth Aylsworth, Cameron Bell, Anna Callegari, Shannon Collins, Blair Goldberg, Nick Luckenbaugh, Jeff Raab and William Spinnato

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. Last season, York was nominated for five 2009 Drama Desk Awards, four Lucille Lortel Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and two Drama League Awards for its productions of Enter Laughing, The Musical and My Vaudeville Man! For almost 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 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 30 cast recordings from York Theatre Company productions are now available on CD, and commercial transfers of such York productions as The Musical of Musicals - The Musical!, Souvenir, Jolson & Company, and acclaimed revivals of Sweeney Todd and Pacific Overtures have all showcased the importance of the York and its programs.

4@15: FOUR NEW FIFTEEN-MINUTE MUSICALS
Saturday and Sunday, January 23 and 24, 2010 at 3 PM and 7 PM
The York Theatre Company, enter on 54th street, just East of Lex. (in St. Peter's Church)
Tickets ($10; $5 with student ID) available at www.yorktheatre.org and cash only at the box office, one hour prior to show time.