Seeing Stars will be directed by Jenn Thompson., who directed the workshop reading at The York Theatre in February. A company member of the celebrated Off Broadway theatre company TACT /The Actor's Theatre Company, MS. Thompson directed last season's critically-acclaimed production of Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce, as well as Tennessee Williams' The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, which was selected by The New York Times as one of the "Top Ten Theatre Picks" for 2008. Other NYC directing credits include productions at The Rattlestick, The NY Fringe Festival, American Globe Theatre as well as extensive regional credits. This November, she will direct the Off-Broadway production of The Late Christopher Bean at the Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row. She is making her NYMF debut.
Seeing Stars choreography will be provided by Liza Genarro, whose credits include the Broadway revivals of Once Upon A Mattress, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, and the critically acclaimed The Most Happy Fella, directed by Gerald Gutierrez. The Roundabout Theater Company's Tin Pan Alley Rag, which Ms. Genarro choreographed, is currently running Off Broadway.
The musical director for Seeing Stars is Mark Berman, whose conducting credits include Broadway's Rent, Smokey Joe's Café, and Blood Brothers. He has also played lead piano on Hair, Dreamgirls, The Boy From Oz, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Life, etc. Mr. Berman has played and recorded with some of the biggest names in rock pop and jazz including Aretha Franklin, Phoebe Snow, Carole King, Gladys Knight, Elvis Costello, Buddy Miles, Illinois Jacquette, Jackie McClean, Phil Ramone, and he has written music for HBO's Sex and the City and SHOWTIME's Nurse Jackie, among many other television programs. Mark's piano can be heard on the iconic Sex and the City theme.
Award-winning Fight Director B.H. Barry will stage the flying fisticuffs. His multiple Broadway credits include: Kiss Me, Kate; The Life; Crazy for You; An Inspector Calls; City of Angels; Moon Over Buffalo; Voices in the Dark; My Favorite Year; Big River; Noises Off; and Ragtime, among many other productions.
The New York Musical Theatre Festival, now in its sixth year, has premiered more than 175 new musicals since 2004. The largest musical theatre event in America, NYMF has been hailed as "the Sundance of Musical Theatre," and is widely regarded as the key source for new material and talent discovery. NYMF is the flagship program of National Music Theater Network, Inc., a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization. NYMF 2009 is presented in association with BroadwayWorld.com, Production Resource Group and TheaterMania.com, and is supported by Back Stage, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, BroadwayBox.com, BroadwayInsider.com, Broadway.TV, Clear Channel Spectacolor, DFD-TV, Frank & Camille's Fine Pianos, King Displays, Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, New World Stages, NASDAQ OMX , Next Magazine, PMD Promotions, Queerty.com, Reuters, Sweet Caroline's, Tekserve, TheMenEvent.com, The Tank, and Times Square Squared. Major supporters include The ASCAP Foundation, BMI Foundation, Inc., The Broadway League, The BWF Foundation, The Nathan Cummings Foundation with the support and encouragement of Jamie Mayer, The Charlie & Jane Fink Charitable Fund, The Rodgers & Hammerstein Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and The Theater League. NYMF is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. NYMF's programs are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. NYMF Memberships, which combine charitable contributions with valuable, flexible ticket packages and perks like early seating, and tickets to individual events are available for purchase at (212) 352-3101 or www.nymf.org.
