LIFE COULD BE A DREAM Begins Performances Tonight at NYMF

Performances of the New York premiere of Roger Bean's ("The Marvelous Wonderettes") new musical LIFE COULD BE A DREAM - winner of the LA Drama Critics Circle, LA Weekly Theatre and Backstage Garland Awards for Outstanding Musical - begin tonight (Monday, July 8th) at The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street) in Manhattan.

LIFE COULD BE A DREAM is an official selection of the 2013 New York Musical Theatre Festival.

Following their performance on Monday, July 8th, the cast of LIFE COULD BE A DREAM will head over to Birdland (315 West 44th Street) at 10pm to perform two numbers from the musical ("Fools Fall in Love" and "The Glory of Love") at Jim Caruso's "Cast Party." For more information about Jim Caruso's "Cast Party" please visit http://www.castpartynyc.com.

LIFE COULD BE A DREAM tells the story of the singing group "The Crooning Crabcakes" - a boy group hoping for fame and fortune in the Big Whopper Radio 'Dream-of-a-Lifetime Talent Search.' The boys are; egocentric slacker Denny, geeky soda jerk Eugene, church choir singer Wally and dreamboat Skip, trouble comes when Lois, a former Springfield High School Song Leader, arrives to put some polish on the boys. Denny and Wally both fall in love, Eugene falls apart and heartthrob Skip sends the whole situation spinning.

LIFE COULD BE A DREAM includes such popular songs from the 50's and 60's as "Earth Angel," "I Only Have Eyes for You," "The Wanderer," "Unchained Melody," "Runaround Sue," and "Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream)."

When it premiered in Los Angeles, LIFE COULD BE A DREAM was a "Critics Pick" at the LA Times who exclaimed "Dream is so frothy it floats!" LA Weekly hailed it as "affectionate and clever...a rousing good-time musical." The American Radio Network exclaimed "fabulous, charming and affectionate." The Los Angeles Examiner said, "Bean is back with another fabulous, feel-good musical...the sweet story is an audience-pleasing and delicious romp."

Created and directed by Roger Bean, LIFE COULD BE A DREAM has choreography by Lee Martino (2012 Joel Hirschhorn Award for Career Excellence in Theatre), musical direction by Michael Borth ("The Marvelous Wonderettes"), set design by Michael Carnahan (Signature Theatre's "The First Breeze of Summer"), costume design by Tony Award nominee Bobby Pearce ("Taboo"), lighting design by Grant Yeager ("Now.Here.This."), and Sound Design by Tony Award nominee Cricket S. Myers ("Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo").

The Los Angeles cast of LIFE COULD BE A DREAM - Doug Carpenter (NYMF "Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice") as Skip, Ryan Castellino (Pasadena Playhouse's "Mask") as Wally, Jim Holdridge ("Stomp") as Eugene and Daniel Tatar ("The 25th Annual...Spelling Bee") as Denny - will be reprising their roles. The role of "Lois" will be played by Victoria Matlock ("The Marvelous Wonderettes").

Roger Bean is the creator of the long-running off-Broadway hit "The Marvelous Wonderettes" (which played for 18 months at The Westside Theatre), along with the sequels "Wonderettes: Caps & Gowns" and "Winter Wonderettes." Original cast albums for all three shows in the Wonderettes franchise are available from iTunes and Amazon. "The Marvelous Wonderettes" received the 2007 LA Ovation Award for Best Musical, and in 2010 "Life Could Be A Dream" received the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, the LA Weekly Theatre Award and the Backstage Garland Award for Outstanding Musical. Other musicals created by MR. Bean include "Summer of Love," "Route 66," "Why Do Fools Fall In Love?" and "The Andrews Brothers."
The Pershing Square Signature Center is the official hub of The New York Musical Theatre Festival.
The performance schedule for LIFE COULD BE A DREAM is as follows: Monday, July 8th at 7:00 pm; Thursday, July 11th at 1pm; Saturday, July 13th at 5:00 pm; Saturday, July 13th at 9:00 pm;Sunday, July 14th at 1:00 pm and Sunday, July 14th at 5:00 pm at The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street).

Tickets are general admission and can be purchased at www.NYMF.org. Membership packages to purchase tickets for multiple shows are also available.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) exists to revitalize musical theatre culture by discovering and promoting new musical theatre artists, producers and projects; nurturing a vibrant and innovative artistic community; and connecting one of America's greatest art forms with a diverse, contemporary audience.

Now in its tenth 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 theater fans. More than 85 festival shows have gone on to productions on and off-Broadway, in 48 states, and more than 20 countries worldwide, and Festival alumni have received a wide array of awards including the Tony and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2013, NYMF received a special Drama Desk Award in recognition of its work "creating and nurturing new musical theater, 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 2013 is presented in association with Dunkin' Donuts, BroadwayWorld.com, Production Resource Group, and TheaterMania.com, and 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 from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. Major supporters include The ASCAP Foundation, BMI Foundation, Inc., The BWF Foundation, Con Edison, The Nathan Cummings Foundation with the support and encouragement of Jamie Mayer Phinney, The New Musical Development Foundation, The Jerome Robbins Foundation, The Rodgers & Hammerstein Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and The Theater League.

NYMF Memberships, which combine charitable contributions with valuable, flexible ticket packages and perks like early seating, and tickets to individual events, are currently available for purchase at (212) 352-3101 or www.nymf.org.

For more information, please visit: www.nymf.org