Queens Theater In The Park Presents CLOSER THAN EVER 4/16-25

Queens Theatre in the Park (QTP) and Bristol Riverside Theatre, in association with Neil Berg and Adam Friedson, will present a new production of the award-winning musical revue Closer Than Ever directed by Richard Malty. Jr. and starring original cast members Sally Mayes and Lynne Wintersteller along with Broadway alums George Dvorsky and Sal Viviano from April 16-25 (Wednesday and Thursday at 2PM; Friday and Saturday at 8pm; Saturday at 2pm; and Sunday at 3pm) in the Claire Shulman Playhouse Main Stage Theatre at Queens Theatre in the Park, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Flushing, NY

Tickets are $32-38 and are available at www.queenstheatre.org or by phone at 718-760-0064. Con Edison is the sponsor of "Closer Than Ever" at Queens Theatre in the Park.

In this 20th Anniversary production cast members Mayes and Wintersteller along with original musical director Patrick Brady are reunited under the direction of Tony award winning director, Richard Maltby Jr. The production is also part of a month long celebration and series of events honoring Maltby & Shire including their toast at CAP 21's annual gala on March 11th ,the opening night gala of Closer Than Ever on April 16th , and the opening April 30th at the McCarter Center of their new musical Take Flight.

With music by David Shire and lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr., Closer Than Ever is a theatrical revue filled with wise and witty "songs of experience," that reflect on marriage, parents, children, and lasting friendships. As part of their ongoing efforts to update and keep the work relevant to a new generation of theatergoers Maltby and Shire are adding new material which includes a new song called "Dating Again" about the pitfalls and pleasures of being single again, as well as updating outdated lyrics and additional material.

In addition to the early casting including Ms. Mayes and Ms. Wintersteller, the production will also feature co-direction & musical staging by J. Kurt Stamm, musical direction by Patrick Brady, scenery designed by Roman Tatarowicz, costumes designed by Thom Heyer and lighting designed by Ryan O'Gara.

Closer Than Ever won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical, and Maltby, Shire, and Wintersteller garnered Drama Desk Awards. Howard Kissel of The NY Daily News noted, "Probably the best musical we'll see this season...There is more genuine drama in each Maltby and Shire song than in the entirety of most of the bloated spectacles that now pass for Broadway musicals. The cast overflows with talent!Michael Kuchwara of AP wrote ‘One of the finest scores of the year. Closer Than Ever is an exhilarating musical revue that reaffirm's one's belief that the American musical theater isn't dead yet." And Stephen Holden wrote in the New York Times, "The songs of Maltby and Shire communicate something rarely found in theatre music nowadays: a rich sweeping sense of lives being lived and people changing over time."

After the Queens performance dates, Closer Than Ever will also play May 4-23 dates at the Bristol Riverside Theatre in Bristol, PA.

David Shire An Oscar and Grammy winner and multiple Tony and Emmy nominee, Shire has composed prolifically for the theater, films, television and recordings. Broadway: Baby (Tony nominations, Best Score, Musical); Big (Tony nomination, Best Score). Off-Broadway:
Starting Here, Starting Now (Grammy nomination); Closer
Than Ever (Outer Critics Circle Award, Best Score, Musical). Take
Flight (pre-Broadway) currently at McCarter Theatre. Film scores
include Norma Rae (Academy Award), The Conversation, All
the President's Men, The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, Zodiac,
Saturday Night Fever (two Grammys). Numerous television
scores have garnered five Emmy nominations. Songs recorded by
Barbra Streisand, Maureen McGovern, Melissa Manchester, Jennifer
Warnes, John Pizzerelli, Kiri Te Kanawa, Liz Callaway, Nancy
Lamont, many others. His "With You I'm Born Again" was an
international hit single for Billy Preston and Syreeta.,