Kimmel's The Brain from Planet X to Invade NYMF

The New York Musical Theatre Festival and Kritzerland, Inc. will present the New York premiere of The Brain from Planet X, a 1950's sci-fi spoof about alien invasion with book by David Wechter and Bruce Kimmel and music, lyrics and direction by Kimmel. 

"An affectionate and hilarious send-up of bad 50s sci-fi movies, The Brain from Planet X tells the story of an alien invasion circa 1958.  A Brain and its two alien cohorts, Zubrick and Yoni, arrive on Earth to take over the San Fernando Valley --starting with the happy nuclear family, the Bunsons.  It's the first step on the road to their quest of taking over the entire planet and to destroying the family unit.  It's tuneful, toe-tapping, and terrifyingly fun," state press notes.

Featured in the company are Benjamin Clark, Merrill Grant, Naomi Kakuk, Steve Luker, Cason Murphy, Barry Pearl and Alet Taylor.

Co-Author, Composer/Lyricist and  Director Kimmel wrote, and starred in the cult movie hit, The First Nudie Musical (currently available in a Special Edition DVD). With David Wechter, he co-created the story for the hit film, The Faculty, directed by Robert Rodriguez and was a writer/producer on "Penn and Teller's: Bullshit!' for Showtime. As an actor, Kimmel guest-starred on most of the long-running television shows of the 1970s.  Since 1993, Kimmel has been one of the leading producers of theatre music on CD, having produced over 150 albums. He was nominated for a Grammy for producing the revival cast album of Hello, Dolly!, and he also created the critically-acclaimed "Lost in Boston" and "Unsung Musicals" series. Kimmel has produced solo albums for many of today's best-known musical theatre performers, and he has also produced many off-Broadway and Broadway cast albums.  Kimmel is the author six novels and co-wrote and directed a critically acclaimed musical revue, What If? and directed the world premiere of The Brain from Planet X in December of 2006. He has recently directed one-person shows for Linda Purl, Kevin Spirtas, and Joan Ryan.

Co-Author Wechter co-wrote and co-directed the Disney cult film, Midnight Madness, and wrote and directed the film, The Malibu Bikini Shop. With Bruce Kimmel, he wrote the original screenplay for the hit film, The Faculty, directed by Robert Rodriguez. Wechter currently executive produces 'Cowboy U" for CMT. He also executive produced "Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making The Team," "Scariest Places On Earth," and was the supervising producer and writer of "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!" for Showtime, which won a Writers Guild Of America Award for Best Comedy.

The production team includes Musical Director Larry Goldberg, Orchestrator Larry Moore and Choreographer, Adam Cates.  The design team includes sets by Heather Wolensky.   Joe Barros is the Assistant Director and Rachel Maier is the Production Stage Manager

Now in its 4th year, The New York Musical Theatre Festival is the largest musical theatre event in America.  NYMF premiered 99 new musicals during its first three seasons, with more than a dozen of these shows transferring to successful off-Broadway and regional productions.  Hailed as "the Sundance of Musical Theatre," NYMF is widely regarded as the premier source for new material and talent discovery. 

NYMF is a flagship program of The National Music Theater Network, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, and is presented by BroadwayWorld.com in association with amNewYork, Ars Nova, GSD Productions, King Displays, Panasonic Astrovision, Playbill, Variety Magazine and Verizon Wireless, and is proudly supported by Backstage, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Broadway Bullet, BroadwayBox.com, BroadwayInsider.com, Choice Signs, City Theatricals, Frank & Camille's Fine Pianos, HX Magazine, Port Authority of NY and NJ, Seasons of Savings, Tekserve, TheatreMania.com, TheMENevent, Virgin Megastore and Wybron. NYMF is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

Performances are Thursday, September 20th at 8:00 pm, Friday, September 21st at 8:00 pm, Tuesday, September 25th at 1:00 pm, Wednesday, September 26th at 4:30 pm, Friday, September 28th at 4:30 pm, Sunday, September 30th at 8:00 pm.  All tickets are $20.00.   For reservations please call (212) 352-3101 or visit www.nymf.org to purchase tickets online. The Acorn Theatre is located at 410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues.