Ciara Renee and Ben Fankhauser to Lead Teen Jesus Musical at Joe's Pub

Joe's Pub presents A.D. 16, a new musical from the writers of Despicable Me and This is Us, live in concert Monday, October 16 at 9:30pm. With a book by Bekah Brunstetter (The Cake, Be a Good Little Widow) and music & lyrics by Cinco Paul (Bubble Boy), A.D. 16 imagines what would happen if a teenage Mary Magdalene got a crush on the boy next door-teenage Jesus.

The stellar cast features Broadway's Ciara Renee (Big Fish, Pippin) as Mary Magdalene and Ben Fankhauser (Newsies, Beautiful) as Jesus, with Gerard Canonico (Groundhog Day, Spring Awakening), Brittney Johnson (Sunset Blvd.), Graham Stevens, and Brian CharLes Johnson also in the cast.

Directed by Stephen Brackett with music direction by Charlie Rosen, A.D. 16 boasts an R&B-flavored score that evokes the best of TLC, Tony! Toni! Tone!, En Vogue, Prince and more. A touching and hilarious coming-of-age story, the new musical asks the question: what if your first crush was REALLY perfect?

Bekah Brunstetter's latest play, The Cake, just had its premiere with the Echo Theater Company in Los Angeles and is scheduled at four more theaters, including the La Jolla Playhouse and Houston's Alley Theatre. She has written for the TV shows Switched at Birth and American Gods, and is currently in her second season as a writer-producer on NBC's acclaimed drama This Is Us.

Cinco Paul is a screenwriter whose credits include all three Despicable Me movies, The Secret Life of Pets, Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who, and Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. He is the recipient of both the ASCAP Harold Arlen Musical Theater Award and the Sammy Cahn Award. His musical Bubble Boy was described by Stephen Schwartz as "One of the cleverest, funniest, and most endearing musicals I've seen in a long time."

Tickets for A.D. 16 in concert are $25 and may be purchased at www.publictheater.org. For ticket reservations and additional information, please call Joe's Pub at 212-967-7555.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos