Ashley Brown, Katie Klaus & More to Lead QUEEN MOTHER Readings in NYC this Week

In recent weeks the cast and creative team of the new musical Queen Mother, which chronicles the life of Hannah Hill, Charlie Chaplin's troubled mother, have been in residence on the Goodspeed Musicals campus in East Haddam, Conn. The team assembled to develop this engaging piece in preparation for upcoming invite-only industry workshops at New York Live Arts on Thursday, July 31 and Friday, August 1, 2014. Broadway's Ashley Brown (Mary Poppins, Beauty and the Beast) and Katie Klaus (The Bridges of Madison County, Bonnie and Clyde) lead the cast.

Queen Mother is based on the original play by Roberto Gómez Bolaños and features book and music by Florinda Meza, lyrics by Jack Murphy, and arrangements and orchestrations by Michael Moricz. Additional material by Lynne Taylor-Corbett and additional compositions by Michael Moricz. Queen Mother is directed and choreographed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett. The Music Director is Edward G. Robinson.

The reading will also feature Matt Bailey, Klea Blackhurst, Jonathan Brody, Vincent Mario Crocilla, Eric Michael Gillett, Ethan Khusidman, Brittney Lee Hamilton, Jeffrey Scott Stevens. The ensemble will include Lori Ann Ferreri, Matt Gibson, Brody Karn, Michael Milton, Sarah O'Conner, Amber Owens, Natasha Scearse, Laura E. Taylor, Natalie Wisdon, and John Yi.

Queen Mother explores the life of Hannah Hill, Charlie Chaplin's mother. Hannah was first and foremost a mother, but also a late 19th century London music hall star filled with talent, passion and emotion... the result of a personality disorder that oscillated between peaks of happiness to the edge of an abyss of sorrow and insanity. This new musical tells her controversial life story by creating an absurd world that goes back and forth from the sparkle, lights and tinsel of the 19th century London music hall to the cold, dark, and constantly melancholic depths of a 19th century London asylum.

Dedicated to the preservation and advancement of musical theatre, Goodspeed Musicals, the first regional theatre to receive two Tony Awards for outstanding achievement, produces three musicals each season at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn., and additional musicals at The Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, Conn. In 2014, Goodspeed celebrates 30 years of developing new musicals at The Norma Terris Theatre. In addition to the two theatres and production facilities, Goodspeed maintains The Scherer Library of Musical Theatre and The Max Showalter Center for Education in Musical Theatre. Goodspeed Musicals gratefully acknowledges the support of the Department of Economic and Community Development with support from the Connecticut Office of the Arts.