'The Hired Man' Begins as Part of Brits Off-Bway

59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) welcomes New Perspectives (Nottingham) to Brits Off Broadway with THE HIRED MAN, book by Melvyn Bragg, music and lyrics by Howard Goodall and directed by Daniel Buckroyd.  THE HIRED MAN, which plays in Theater A, begins performances on Friday, June 6 for a limited engagement through Sunday, June 29.  Press opening is Wednesday, June 11 at 8:00 PM.  The performance schedule is Tuesday – Friday at 8:00 PM; Saturday at 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM; and Sunday at 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Tickets are $50 ($35 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or go to www.ticketcentral.com.  For more information, visit www.59e59.org or www.britsoffbroadway.com.

Set in rural Cumbria in the early part of the twentieth century, THE HIRED MAN tells the timeless, moving story of a young married couple and their struggle to carve a living from the land, just as the rhythms of English country life are being interrupted by the gathering storm of war in Europe.

Adapted from Melvyn Bragg's 1969 novel, with music and lyrics by Howard Goodall, THE HIRED MAN is acclaimed for its epic, amusing and  nostalgic book and its rousing, romantic, award-winning score.

The Guardian hailed this new production as "a wholemeal alternative to sugary musicals and presents a lesson in how to produce an authentically English strain of music theatre, with a harmonic language closer to Delius or Vaughan Williams than Disney and Lloyd Webber." The Telegraph said, "Howard Goodall's score has the undulating beauty of the landscape it describes. Not to be missed!"

The cast features Richard Colvin, Lee Foster, Katie Howell, Simon Pontin, David Stothard, Claire Sundin, Stuart Ward and Andrew Wheaton.

Melvyn Bragg (book) published his first novel For Want of A Nail in 1965 and wrote the novel A Hired Man in 1969, which was the basis of the musical THE HIRED MAN. His latest novel Remember Me has just been published in the UK. His latest television series 'Travels in Written Britain' launched in April on ITV. He has written over 20 books including The Soldier's Return (1999, W H Smith Literary Award). For film, he wrote the book for the movie musical Jesus Christ Superstar and also wrote the screenplays for Isadora (starring Vanessa Redgrave and Jason Robards) and The Music Lovers (with Richard Chamberlain and Glenda Jackson).   A broadcasting veteran since 1961, he has presented and edited ITV's 'The South Bank Show' since 1978, which has won over 120 Awards.

Howard Goodall's (music and lyrics) very popular TV themes include 'Mr. Bean,' 'The Catherine Tate Show' and 'The Vicar of Dibley.' He wrote the score for the 2002 HBO/BBC production of The Gathering Storm, starring Albert Finney and Vanessa Redgrave, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Award.  He scored the feature films Mr. Bean's Vacation, Johnny English and Rowan Atkinson on Location in Boston as well as scoring the entire "Blackadder" series, which is now available on DVD in the US.  He is the recipient of the 2007 Making Music/Sir Charles Groves Prize for outstanding Contribution to British Music. He is the 'ambassador' for singing in England with a £10m budget to fund a national singing campaign.

The design team includes production design by Juliet Shillingford, and lighting by Mark Dymock.  The musical director is Richard Reeday.

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