Photo Flash: Industry Reading of THE JERUSALEM SYNDROME, 11/16

A by-invitation-only industry reading of the new musical comedy The Jerusalem Syndrome was held on November 16 at the TBG Theatre in Manhattan, and another performance will be held this Thursday, November 19 at 4PM. The Jerusalem Syndrome was a Next Link selection in the 2008 NYMF as well as the winner of the 2008 Theater for the American Musical Prize. The Jerusalem Syndrome has book and lyrics by Kleban Award winners Laurence Holzman and Felicia Needleman and music by Kyle Rosen.

This reading features the talents of Liz Larsen (Hairspray, The Most Happy Fella), Chip Zien (Les Miserables, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Into The Woods), Bruce Sabath (Company), Alan H. Green (Happiness, Spelling Bee National Tour), Julie Reiber (Wicked), Michael Kadin Craig (Altar Boyz), Ryan Murray, Bret Carr, Roger DeWitt (The Woman in White, The Adding Machine), Wendy Fox, Vanessa Lemonides (Jewtopia), Felicia Ricci (The Chocolate Tree-NAMT), Emily Shoolin (Enter Laughing) and J.D. Webster (Wonderful Town, Ragtime, Showboat).

Sariva Goetz is the music director. Annette Jolles, whose credits include Little by Little, That Time of the Year, Wall to Wall Sondheim at Symphony Space, directs.

This tuneful show brings to life the strange, but real, psychological phenomenon that makes tourists in Jerusalem come to believe they are figures from the Bible. The musical follows an ensemble of characters whose lives intertwine when they journey to Israel and experience the syndrome. Zaniness ensues as Moses leads Noah, Abraham, John the Baptist and not one, but two Virgin Marys on an exodus from the psych ward while Jesus roams the Holy City working his own kind of miracles

Laurence Holzman and Felicia Needleman’s other collaborations include That Time of the Year, an original holiday musical revue that will run at the York Theatre this December (original cast recording now out on JAY Records); Wallenberg, a musical drama about Raoul Wallenberg which premiered at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2006; Suddenly Hope, an original musical comedy that played at the Denver Civic Theatre and the Stamford Center for the Arts; and a musical version of the 1942 film I Married a Witch, for which they earned ASCAP’s Sammy Cahn Award for Outstanding Lyricists.

In addition to The Jerusalem Syndrome, Kyle Rosen composed music for the shows Suddenly Hope and That Time of the Year. He also orchestrated the music for the NBC Movie-of-the-Week, A Child Lost Forever. He is the recipient of Princeton’s Milton Lyon Award for songwriting and is a former president of the Triangle Club.

For more information see www.thejerusalemsyndrome.com or contact Brierpatch Productions at 646-688-5715.

Photo credit: Ellen Marks

The cast of The Jerusalem Syndrome