Mientus, Halling, Cansler Set For SHINE! The Horatio Alger Musical, Part Of NYMF

SHINE! The Horatio Alger Musical with a Book by Richard Seff; Music by Roger Dean Anderson and Lyrics by Lee Goldsmith is being presented by Other Side Productions (Peter Mercurio, Chuck Blasius - Co-Artistic Directors) as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival at The Theater at St. Clements, 423 West 46th Street. The director is Peter Flynn and the choreographer is Devanand Janki. Michael Bottari & Ronald Case are the set and costume designers. Greg Anthony is the music supervisor, arranger, orchestrator; Annbritt duChateau is the music director and the associate musical directors are Danny Percefull and Sue Anschultz. With a highly melodic, hummable and bouncy score with bright lyrics, "SHINE the Horatio Alger Musical", has tons of period atmosphere, nostalgic charm, comedy and entertainment. A multi-talented cast of 18 makes this one of the largest of the festival productions. Performances will be: Thurs. 10/7 at 8pm; Sat. 10/9 at 5pm; Mon. 10/11, at 9pm; Fri. 10/15, at 1pm; Sat. 10/16, at 9pm and Sun. 10/17 at 3pm. www.shinethemusical.com

The principals for the show are: Andy Mientus (Richard Hunter) is making his NYC debut. He has appeared in the original tour of "Spring Awakening" (Hanschen), "Academy" in South Korea, and as Huck in "Big River". Michael Halling (Luke Gerrish) has been on Broadway in: "A Tale of Two Cities" (Gaspard); "The Pajama Game" (Cyrus; u/s Harry Connick Jr.); "The Boy From Oz" (Standby for Hugh Jackman); "In My Life"); "The Scarlet Pimpernel". NYC Opera's "Candide". National Tours are: "Les Miserables" (Enjolras); "The Full Monty"). Meggie Cansler (Stacia Jane Hauser) has been seen on Broadway in "The Apple Tree", "Finian's Rainbow", and "Wicked". She was also the Galinda understudy for the first national tour. Jimmy Ray Bennett is a founding member of the national "cult hit" The Nuclear Family. NYC theatre includes "White's Lies" w/ Betty Buckley, Sohovik in the Encores' revival of "Damn Yankees" w/ Sean Hayes and Jane Krakowski. William Ryall (Silas Snobden) some of his numerous Broadway shows are: "Guys and Dolls", "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", "Seussical", "High Society", "How To Succeed...", "Grand Hotel", "Me and My Girl", "Amadeus", "Chess" (in concert). NYC Opera: "The Most Happy Fella". Stanton Nash (Higgins) was in: "Wicked"; "Huck Finn" (Steppenwolf); "The Wood Demon", and "Madame X". Regional credits include: "Take Flight" (McCarter Theatre); "The Cherry Orchard", "A Streetcar Named Desire" to name a few. Philip Chaffin (Allen Carlisle) made his Broadway debut in the premiere of Alan Menken and Tim Rice's "King David", and has since appeared in dozens of New York concerts, including Encores! and Lyrics & Lyricists. He has also released three albums. Tyler Merna (Rob Carlisle) some of his NYC credits include "Afterlight", "Tusk! Tusk!". On television he played the role of Joan Rivers grandson on ZRock. Dan Lawler (Foswell) was recently seen Off-Broadwayi n "With Glee", "Pinkalicious, The Musical". Some of his regional credits are "Sweeney Todd"), "The Odyssey: An Epic Musical". Evan Jay Newman (Mickey Maguire) shows on Broadway are : "Les Miserables"; Paul Simon's "The Capeman"; "A Christmas Carol" and the tours of "Beauty and the Beast", and "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". And Kathy Mcgrath is Mrs. Mooney.

"SHINE! The Horatio Alger Musical" follows the tale of Ragged Dick (Horatio Alger's first best-selling hero) in lower Manhattan (1876) as he rises from penniless bootblack to budding Wall Street entrepreneur. Dick's adventures with a little bit of luck, some charm and a whole lot of hard work bring him face to face with scheming ex-convicts, vicious comic villains, kind benefactors, and a world of colorful street characters in this charming rags-to-riches romp for everyone.
Richard Seff (Book) has spent a lifetime in the theatre as actor, playwright, columnist, critic, agent, librettist, investor and now memoirist. He first acted professionally in 1946 and took a 22 year leave of absence from the stage to become an agent representing artists in the musical theatre on Broadway. Roger Dean Anderson (Composer) has been fortunate to collaborate with such legendary talents, Michael Smuin, Joe Layton, Wally Harper, Tony Walton, Vivian Matalon and Hal Prince. In 1979 he was paired with lyricist Lee Goldsmith, more than 30 years his senior; later composing the award-winning "Chaplin", followed by "Quality Street". Recent projects include "Ladykiller"; "Flying Tigers" and "Abe". Lee Goldsmith (Lyricist) enjoyed an early career with National Comics scripting stories for The Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and The Flash. He adapted several projects for the stage, writing book and lyrics: "Come Back Little Sheba", "Golddiggers of 1633" and his ground-breaking Broadway musical "Sextet".

Peter Flynn (Director) is Artistic Director of The Hangar Theatre and staged the star-studded Broadway concerts of "On the Twentieth Century" (Douglas Sills, Marin Mazzie, & Joanne Worley); "Chess" (Josh Groban); and "Funny Girl" (Whoopi Goldberg, Bebe Neuwirth, & Peter Gallagher, among others). Devanand Janki (Choreographer): directed & choreographed the award-winning hit "Zanna, Don't"! and "Junie B. Jones", "Cupid & Psyche", "Henry & Mudge" and John Patrick Shanley's "Romantic Poetry" (MTC). Broadway concerts: director of "Hair" (all-star cast, featuring Jennifer Hudson), choreographer of "Funny Girl" (16 Fanny Brices, including Whoopi Goldberg, Bebe Neuwirth, & Jane Krakowski).