Chorus of "Rosie's Broadway Kids" Make Stage Debuts in Brundibar and Comedy on the Bridge

A chorus of young performers from Rosie's Broadway Kids, an arts education organization created by Rosie O'Donnell which enriches the lives of children through the arts, will make their professional New York City stage debuts in the upcoming productions of Brundibar and Comedy on the Bridge at The New Victory Theater. A co-production of Berkeley Rep and Yale Repertory Theatre, this adaptation of a pair of stirring Czech operas marks the collaboration of legendary illustrator Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are) and Tony Award-winning playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America). Brundibar and Comedy on the Bridge, both directed by Kushner's longtime collaborator, Berkeley Rep Artistic Director Tony Taccone, will be performed at The New Victory Theater on 42nd Street from Friday, April 28 through Sunday, May 21, 2006. The Opening is Sunday, May 7.

Rosie's Broadway Kids (RBKids) is a not-for-profit arts education organization founded by Ms. O'Donnell in 2003. Using professional teaching artists, Rosie's Broadway Kids provides New York City fifth graders with in-school classes in dance and music, and a professional theater experience for those who might not otherwise have the opportunity. The program's mission is to inspire excellence, motivate learning, uplift the human spirit and install a lifelong appreciation for the arts.

The young performers who will be featured in Brundibar and Comedy on the Bridge are members of Team Excel, a RBKids scholarship program offering an extensive curriculum in the study of musical theater. Members of Team Excel are graduates of RKids' PS Broadway, a fifteen-week in-school program for fifth graders that consists of classes in music and dance as well as classes that provide an overview of American Musical Theater. The special group of talented students involved in Team Excel meets after school and during the summer for classes in jazz, tap, ballet, drama and voice. The Summer Intensive for Team Excel members is a four-week program held during the month of July at New York's City Center. Students attend classes Monday through Friday from 9:30-3:30. In addition to their regular curriculum of classes, students have private vocal and acting coaching, and instrumental music classes. Under the direction of founder Rosie O'Donnell, students re-construct and polish a scene from a Broadway musical. At times during the four weeks RBKids teaching staff is joined by professional actors, singers, and dancers from the Broadway community, who conduct master classes in their fields of expertise.

"I am thrilled that this special group of PS Broadway graduates will have the chance to make their professional stage debuts. I love Broadway and the theater – its energy is vibrant and alive. It's life altering. It was for me, and now it is for these talented kids. I am very proud," says Rosie O'Donnell, the founder of Rosie's Broadway Kids.

Lori Klinger, Artistic Director of Rosie's Broadway Kids, says, "The children and their families - and all of us on staff - are really excited about this extraordinary opportunity. This is the first step on our journey of making a performing team with our most advanced students. Collaborating with Berkeley Rep and The New Victory Theater is an amazing start."

Brundibar and Comedy on the Bridge mark the first professional theatre experience for RBKids, who join a stellar cast lead by Euan Morton (Tony and Olivier Award nominee for Taboo).

An allegory of innocence triumphing over evil, Brundibar features music by Hans Krása and Kushner's translation and adaptation of the original libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister. Brundibar tells the tale of a brother and sister who must earn enough money to buy milk for their sick mother. They join forces with some talking animals and a throng of kids to outwit the town's sinister organ grinder, Brundibar (Mr. Morton). It is presented alongside a second Kushner/Sendak adaptation, Comedy on the Bridge, an absurdist commentary on war written in Czechoslovakia in the thirties by Václav Kliment Klicpera with music by Bohuslav Martinů. In Comedy on the Bridge, a pair of sweethearts, a businessman, his wife and a professor become trapped in the middle of a guarded bridge split between two warring towns.