Cast Announced for NOWHERE MAN, About Paul McCartney's Double, at TNC

Theater for the New City Executive Director Crystal Field has announced the cast of "Nowhere Man," a new play about a man hired as a double for one of the Fab Four.

Nowhere Man, written by Claude Solnik and directed by Donna Mejia, is playing June 8 to 18 at Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., New York, NY.

John Anthony Gorman has been cast as Billy Campbell in this fictional story about someone hired to be Paul McCartney's double in the 1960s, and Olivia Boren has been cast as his girlfriend Rita.

Ed Altman was cast as George Martin, the Beatles' arranger, and Tyler Beau Humphries was cast as Neil Aspinall, the band's road manager.

Sophie Max has been cast as Emma/Michelle, a fan who follows the band, and Michael Metta plays Tommy, her British boyfriend.

"As a London native, music, the Beatles and the city are all things I'm well versed in," Boren, part of a cast primarily from the United Kingdom, said. "I'm also excited to finally be able use my natural accent for the first time since working in the U.S."

Sophie Max, a British actress who plays a Beatles fan, also sees Nowhere Man as a chance to play an interesting character in a story that hits close to home.

"I'm a British actress and a huge Beatles fan, so this play is particularly special for me," Max said.

The story of Nowhere Man springs from the "Paul is dead myth" in which some fans became convinced that Paul McCartney died in a car accident, once the band stopped performing at the height of their success.

Rumors circulated that McCartney crashed and the band concealed the fact, amid talk of how the band hired a double to keep going.

In fact, the band stopped performing and did studio work after the sounds of shouting fans began to drown out their music at concerts.

"Paul finally did an interview with Life magazine where he said he was alive and well," said Claude Solnik, playwright in residence at Theater for the New City. "Nowhere Man looks at how the Beatles might have hired a double if Paul got into an accident and wanted a break."

The play is part of a renewed interest in the Beatles as Baby Boomers rediscover the band on the 50th anniversary of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

"This play looks at what it might have been like to be hired, even briefly, to be the fifth Beatle," said Solnik, who also wrote Imagine, a series of scenes inspired by Beatles songs. "To get a chance to be part of one of the biggest bands in history."

In Nowhere Man, the Beatles' handlers, such as George Martin, the band's arranger, and Neil Aspinall, their road manager and assistant, orchestrate the hiring.

"It's a Faustian bargain," Solnik said. "Someone's hired to be someone else for the cameras and crowds. But they have to give up their own private life, their own identity."

The play looks at fame, happiness, fans and the pleasures of privacy, what some people surrender for their 15 minutes of fame - and the price that goes with secrecy.

"It's a fun story set against the backdrop of the Beatles during their heyday," Solnik said. "And life in London in the 1960s."

Nowhere Man will run June 8-18 at Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. Visit www.theaterforthenewcity.net or call 212-254-1109 for more information.