David Cromer Brought in to Direct YANK! for Broadway

The producers of Yank! A WWII Love Story announced today that award-winning director David Cromer will helm the upcoming Broadway production of the new musical by David and Joseph Zellnik. He replaces Igor Goldin, who directed the production off-Broadway this season.

Cromer, who received praise (as well as Obie and Lucille Lortel awards) for his direction of the musical Adding Machine, and whose history-making, award-winning production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town continues in its second year Off-Broadway, will make his Broadway musical debut with Yank!. He recently received his third Lucille Lortel Award for his direction of the play, When the Rain Stops Falling, at Lincoln Center Theatre.

Yank! will premiere on Broadway during the 2010-11 Season.

This past season, The York Theatre Company production of Yank! began performances at The York Theatre at Saint Peter's on Feb. 16 with an opening night on Feb. 24. Its SRO engagement was extended by popular demand. That production has received seven Drama Desk nominations, including Outstanding Musical; two Outer Critics Circle nominations, including Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical, and two Lucille Lortel Award nominations, including Outstanding Musical.

Prior to its Off-Broadway premiere, Yank! had productions at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, Diversionary Theatre in San Diego, CA and The Gallery Players in Brooklyn, NY.

The producers of the upcoming Broadway production of Yank! include Maren Berthelsen, Pamela Koslow, Stuart Wilk, Matt Schicker, Hugh Hayes, Jim Kierstead, Sondra Healy, Shidan Majidi and Karl Held and Craig Haffner of Held-Haffner Productions.

Set during World War II, Yank! chronicles the relationship between two servicemen long before Don't Ask Don't Tell was part of the national discussion. With a lively score inspired by the pop sounds of the 1940s, Yank! captures the spirit and exuberance of the era as it explores questions of prejudice, courage and survival.

Other honors for Yank! include a GLAAD Media Award nomination, a NYMF Audience Award for Best Musical, and the New York Innovative Theater Award for Outstanding Musical Production.

Additional news about the Broadway production of Yank! will be forthcoming.

David Cromer is currently represented in New York by his Obie and Lortel Award-winning production  of Thornton Wilder's Our Town at The Barrow Street Theatre, and recently directed the Lincoln Center Theater production of When the Rain Stops Falling, for which he received his third consecutive Lucille Lortel Award. His New York production of the new musical, Adding Machine, was awarded 2 Outer Critics Circle Awards (Outstanding New Off Broadway Musical, Outstanding New Score), 4 Lucille Lortel Awards (including Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Director, Outstanding Lead Actor, Outstanding Lighting Design), 4 Obie Awards (plus 10 total nominations from the Drama Desk Awards and Drama League Awards, including Best Musical). He directed last season's Broadway revival of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs, and is currently at work on his production of A Streetcar Named Desire at The Writers' Theatre in Chicago. He directed the World Premiere of Orson's Shadow at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, as well as Off-Broadway at The Barrow Street Theatre, the Alley Theatre in Houston, the Williamstown Theatre Festival and The Westport Country Playhouse. Other regional credits include The Grapes of Wrath at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC, and a recent return to The Alley to direct Sarah Ruhl's The Clean House. His extensive credits in Chicago include: the World Premiere of Adding Machine: A Chamber Musical (based on the play by Elmer Rice) at Next Theatre, Come Back Little Sheba at Shattered Globe, The Cider House Rules at Famous Door (co-directed with Marc Grapey), The Dazzle and Golden Boy at Steppenwolf, The Price and Booth at Writers Theatre, Angels in America at The Journeymen, Betty's Summer Vacation at Roadworks, MOJO and The Hot l Baltimore at Mary-Arrchie, Journey's End and Translations at Seanachai, among others. He was Artistic Director of Big Game Theatre from 1991-93 where he directed The Sirens of Titan, Lydie Breeze, On the Bum, Spring Awakening and Women and Water. He was nominated for the Joseph Calloway Award in 2005 for his direction of the New York production of Orson's Shadow. His productions in Chicago have won a total of 16 Joseph Jefferson Awards including Best Production and Best Director for The Cider House Rules, The Price, and Angels in America.

Photo Credit: BWW-Staff

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