Prospect Theater Company Announces 2012-13 Season: WORKING, DEATH FOR FIVE VOICES and UNLOCK'D

Prospect Theater Company, one of America's leading producers of new musical theater, has announced programming for its 2012 – 2013 season. Season subscription packages featuring tickets to all three productions are offered at the discounted rate of $99 (or $125 for Premium seating) until October 15. Visit www.ProspectTheater.org or call (212) 352-3101 and use code EB2012.

The announcement was made today by Prospect Theater Company Producing Artistic Director Cara Reichel and Managing Director Melissa Huber.

The Prospect season will kick off with a one-night-only concert presentation of The Rockae, a hard rock musical based on Euripides' The Bacchae featuring music and lyrics by Peter Mills and a book by Mills and Cara Reichel, at 6:30pm on Sunday, October 7 at Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker Street, NYC). Tickets for the benefit performance ($15-$35) are available by visiting www.ProspectTheater.org or calling (212) 505-FISH.

The newly-revised version of Working – A Musical will make its NYC premiere on December 1, 2012 at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, NYC) and continue through December 30. This acclaimed musical has been reimagined by Stephen Schwartz and director Gordon Greenberg, with new songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights, 2008 Tony Award). The script is adapted by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso from the 1974 book of interviews by Studs Terkel, with additional contributions by Greenberg. Six actors bring to life thirty-six everyday Americans sharing insights into their jobs through songs by Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Mary Rodgers and Susan Birkenhead, Stephen Schwartz, James Taylor, and Miranda. The production has choreography by Josh Rhodes and new arrangements and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire. The new version of Working was previously developed at the Asolo Theatre (2008) and The Old Globe (2009) and seen in a commercial run at Chicago's Broadway Playhouse (2011) which the Chicago Sun-Times called "Winningly reimagined, enhanced and fully engaging. A spirited, life-affirming production…with fresh, clever, richly animated direction."

Death For Five Voices, an original musical drama from Prospect Theater Company founding artists Peter Mills and Cara Reichel, will begin performances on February 16, 2013 and run through March 17 at the West End Theatre (263 West 86th St., NYC). Inspired by true events in the life of the brilliant and infamous Renaissance composer and murderer Carlo Gesualdo, Death For Five Voices is a compelling and psychologically complex world premiere work with a score that explores the darker realms of desire and inspiration. Mills and Reichel's prior collaborations include Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge, Illyria, The Rockae, The Flood, Honor, and The Pursuit of Persephone, among other works. Mills has been honored for his work with the prestigious Cole Porter Award (2011), Kleban Prize for Lyrics (2010), and the Fred Ebb Award (2007).

Unlock'd, the "Best of Fest" winner at the 2007 New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) and a recipient of the prestigious Richard Rodgers Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, will be presented in Summer 2013 at a venue to be announced. Classical meets pop in this 18th-century romance, with book and lyrics by Sam Carner and music by Derek Gregor. Based on Alexander Pope's tempest-in-a-teapot tale of squabbling lovers and the mischievous spirits who surround them, this delightfully inventive musical comedy brings to life the bright and the beautiful, the geek and the gorgeous, as they frolic through the tangled gardens of Love. Since NYMF, the show has been further developed through the TheatreWorks New Work Festival (Palo Alto, CA) and the Ravinia Festival.

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