SHOW TIME! THE FIRST 100 YEARS OF THE AMERICAN MUSICAL Begins Performances Tonight

Show Time! The First 100 Years of the American Musical is created, written, and performed by Ben West, a 2017 recipient of Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award. Developed over the past four years from more than twenty archives in more than ten states, Show Time! features over two dozen songs in an electrifying live-action documentary, weaving music and performance through a narrative of world, cultural, and theatre history, telling the remarkable story of this uniquely American art form, charting its evolution from the mid-1800s through 1999. Show Time! will cover seven eras of the American musical: Cosmic Collisions (1866-1899), Birth of an Art Form (1900-1924), Rise of the Golden Age (1925-1930), Golden Age, Part One (1931-1950), Golden Age, Part Two (1951-1970), Fall of the Golden Age (1971-1980) and Growing Pains, or Identity Crisis (1981-1999).

Show Time! The First 100 Years of the American Musical features musical continuity and arrangements by Fran Minarik, direction and musical staging by Shannon Lewis, music direction by Evan Zavada, lighting design by Joe Hodge, projection design by Nathan W. Scheuer, and costume design by Travis Chinick.

Show Time! is produced by UnsungMusicalsCo. (UMC). UnsungMusicalsCo. (UMC) is a nonprofit Production Company focused on researching and developing prescient projects that explore the vibrancy of the American musical theatre canon, and how past works influence the artists and repertoire of today and tomorrow. Founded in 2009, UMC relaunched in 2018 after a three-year hiatus for research and development with a renewed focus on presenting works which speak directly to the influence of the past on both the present and future. In the fall of 2019, the York Theater Company will host UMC's production of 45 Minutes from Coontown, focused on black musical writers, and in the fall of 2020, they will host UMC's production of 68 Ways to Go, focused on female musical writers completing the Show Time! trilogy.

For more information and to purchase tickets to Show Time!, please visit: www.UnsungMusicals.org

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