John Tartaglia to Direct CLAUDIO QUEST: A SUPER NEW MUSICAL at NYMF

CLAUDIO QUEST, a super new musical, receives its New York premiere this July as part of the 2015 New York Musical Theatre Festival. With a book, music and lyrics Drew Fornarola and Marshall Pailet and direction by Tony Award nominee John Tartaglia (Avenue Q), CLAUDIO QUEST begins performances July 7, 2015 at the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at the Pershing Square Signature Theatre and runs through July 14, 2015. Individual tickets go on sale Monday, June 15 and can be purchased at www.claudioquest.com.

CLAUDIO QUEST is a new musical comedy that follows a very super hero, his less super little brother, and one butt-kicking princess, as the three embark on a mission to overcome killer eggplants, a love-starved platypus, and their own 8-bit existential crisis.

CLAUDIO QUEST stars CJ Eldred (First National Tour, The Book of Mormon) as "Claudio", Ethan Slater as "Luis", Andre Ward (Broadway's Rock of Ages) as "Bruiser", Lesley McKinnell (First National Tour, Wicked) as "Princess Poinsettia", and Lindsey Brett Carothers (Broadway's Bring It On: The Musical) as "Princess Fish", with Max Chernin, Alex Goley, Abby Hart, Katie Lee Hill, Andre Jordan, and Tiffany Mann rounding out the cast.

CLAUDIO QUEST features a book, music and lyrics by Drew Fornarola and Marshall Pailet and is directed by Tony Award nominee John Tartaglia (Avenue Q), with choreography by Shannon Lewis, scenic design by Timothy R. Mackabee, costume design by Leon Dobkowski, lighting design by Jennifer Schriever, sound design by Matt Kraus, puppetry by Puppet Kitchen Productions, music direction by Gary Adler, orchestrations by Doug Katsaros, and casting by Telsey + Company/Craig Burns, CSA.

Drew Fornarola is a songwriter and playwright from NYC. He is developing a movie and a stage musical for DreamWorks. His work is published by Samuel French (Thucydides, Uncle Pirate), Dramatic Publishing (COLLEGE the Musical), and TRW (Molly Shannon's Tilly the Trickster).

Marshall Pailet is an eight-year-old videogame geek in the body of a man with the face of a boy. As a writer/director, his credits include Triassic Parq (Off-Broadway); Loch Ness; The Chocolate Tree; Where It's At; as well as many directing projects. His upcoming projects include Who's Your Baghdaddy (Off-Broadway); Untitled (DreamWorks Theatricals); and Zombies on Broadway (RKO Stage).

The schedule for CLAUDIO QUEST is as follows: July 7 at 7pm, July 10 at 1pm, July 12 at 8pm, July 13 at 1pm, and July 14 at 9pm.

CLAUDIO QUEST is an official 2015 New York Musical Theatre Festival selection.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival nurtures the creation, production, and public presentation of stylistically, thematically, and culturally diverse new musicals to ensure the future vitality of musical theatre.

Now in its twelfth year, the Festival is the largest musical theatre event in America. The preeminent site for launching new musicals and discovering new talent, the Festival provides an affordable platform for artists to mount professional productions that reach their peers, industry leaders, and musical theatre fans. More than 90 Festival shows have gone on to productions on and Off-Broadway, in regional theaters in all 50 states, and in more than 20 countries worldwide. Festival alumni have received a wide array of awards including the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2013, NYMF received a special Drama Desk Award in recognition of its work "creating and nurturing new musical theatre, ensuring the future of this essential art form."

NYMF is the flagship program of National Music Theater Network, Inc., a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization. NYMF is supported, in part, 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.

Photo by Walter McBride