TV: Kate Shindle in Rehearsal for NYMF's 'BEST OF THE FEST'

New York Musical Theater Festival will kick off its sixth season with a Gala Celebration of its first five years, called BEST OF THE FEST, on Monday, April 20th at 7 PM at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). Tickets are NOW ON SALE at Telecharge.com or by phone at 212/239-6200. Broadway's Kate Shindle, who will be a part of the gala event, took a moment out of rehearsal to chat with BWW TV!

Kate Shindle most recently co-starred as Vivienne in Broadway's Legally Blonde, following Broadway outings as Sally Bowles in Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall's acclaimed Cabaret and Lucy in Jekyll & Hyde. Her other work ranges from Arthur Miller's After the Fall (Maggie) to A Midsummer Night's Dream (Helena), plus roles in Into the Woods, Gypsy, Himself and Nora, First Lady Suite, and The Last Five Years. She won the New York Musical Theatre Festival's Outstanding Individual Performance Award for the title role in Sympathy Jones. Kate is currently working on numerous shows in development, including one in which she stars as screen legend Greta Garbo. Kate and musical director extraordinaire John McDaniel recently joined forces on the musical project CLASSIC which played at Birdland.

Just added to the all-star roster is Michael Berresse (who recently starred in A Chorus Line and directed the NYMF hit [title of show] as masters of ceremonies, as well as Autumn Hulbert featured on TV's "The Search for Elle Woods") and Nicholas Galbraith (I & Albert, York Theatre).

Also performing numbers from many of the acclaimed NYMF shows of the past are the casts of acclaimed NYMF shows [title of show], Altar Boyz, ROOMS a rock romance (Leslie Kritzer & Doug Kreeger), as well as Ryan Bogner (Bedbugs!), Diane Davis, Mary Bond Davis (Hairspray),Celina Carvajal, (Bedbugs!, Rooms), Jenn Colella (Urban Cowboy), Tom Deckman(Spamalot), Debbie Gravitte (Tony Award - Jerome Robbins' Broadway, Blues In The Night, Zorba, Chicago, and Les Miserables), Ivan Hernandez (The Most Happy Fella), Liz Larsen (Tony Award nomination for The Most Happy Fella revival and also appeared on Broadway in Hairspray, The Rocky Horror Show, Damn Yankees, and Fiddler on the Roof),Nellie McKay (The Threepenny Opera), Euan Morton (Taboo, Tony Kushner's adaptation of Brundibár at The New Victory Theatre, won an Obie Award for Measure For Pleasure at The Public Theatre, and NYMF Best Actor Award for the title role of the musical Caligula),Kate Reinders (Gypsy, Wicked), Kate Shindle (Cabaret), and Rachel Stern (Shrek, Cry-Baby, High Fidelity, Tarzan).

Since its inception in 2004, The New York Musical Theatre Festival has premiered more than 175 new musicals - more than 40 of which have gone on to award-winning productions in New York, in regional theaters and in almost every state and in 10 countries worldwide. NYMF 2004 hit Altar Boyz has played well over 1,500 performances Off-Broadway and spawned two National Tours; fellow NYMF alum [title of show] recently played at the Lyceum Theatre on Broadway; Next to Normal opens on Broadway this Spring; and Rooms recently began performances Off-Broadway at New World Stages. This year's Festival will run September 28th through October 18th.
NYMF's fifth season enjoyed 24 full productions, a dance series, a developmental series, concerts and special events.

NYMF is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. Visit www.nymf.org