Kate Baldwin, Carolee Carmello, Mary Testa & More to Lead Reading of Michael John LaChiusa's New Musical FIRST DAUGHTER SUITE Tonight

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival will present a reading of Michael John LaChiusa's First Daughter Suite on October 14, 2013 in New York City.

The new work, a follow up to his 1993 chamber musical First Lady Suite, features book and score by Mr. LaChiusa and is directed by his longtime collaborator Kirsten Sanderson. Musical direction is by Max Mamon.

The reading will feature Kate Baldwin, Carolee Carmello, Kathleen Chalfant, Mary Testa, Donna Lynne Champlin, Jessica Grove?, Rebecca Luker, Charlotte Maltby, Luba Mason, Theresa McCarthy, Betsy Morgan, Isabel Santiago, and Carly Tamer. The reading is produced by Jacob S. Porter.

Mr. LaChiusa was commissioned by OSF in 2011 to create a new musical, funded by The Edgerton Foundation. The Edgerton Foundation of Los Angeles, California awarded a four- year grant in 2009 for the creation of five new American musicals at the Festival.

This commission is among many that are part of OSF's programs to develop new work. American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle, initiated in 2008 has commissioned 21 projects to date. One of those projects, Robert Schenkkan's All the Way was developed and premiered at OSF in 2012 and recently completed a highly successful run at American

Repertory Theatre. The A.R.T. production will head to Broadway soon, under the direction of OSF Artistic Director Bill Rauch.

"We are incredibly proud to support the work of extraordinary artists like Michael John LaChiusa," says Rauch. "I am so glad that the musical commissions and American Revolutions commissions are bearing beautiful fruit."

Mr. LaChiusa is one of the "greats" in modern musical theatre. Past works include See What I Wanna See, Chronicle of the Death Foretold, and the Obie-award winning Hello Again and First Lady Suite. His musicals, The Wild Party and Marie Christine were represented on Broadway during the 1999-2000 season, both earning Tony nominations for Best Book and Best Original Score. His musical adaptation of Edna Ferber's 1952 novel, Giant, had its world premiere at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA.

Photo by Walter McBride