One-Man Musical WILLIAM Opens Tomorrow at FringeNYC

William, A One-Man Musical About Shakespeare, opens Saturday at the New York International Fringe Festival New York, NY - Saturday August 17, 2013.

The acclaimed Swedish one-man musical theatre piece, William, which ponders a little-known event in the early career of William Shakespeare, will make its English language debut for a five performance run beginning Saturday afternoon, August 17 at 2:45pm at SubCulture, 45 Bleecker Street, NYC. William is being presented as part of the New York International Fringe Festival.

Produced by Stockholms MusikTeater, William has book, lyrics and music by Jan-Erik Sääf. The musical has toured extensively throughout Sweden; this will be its English language debut. New York based book-writer/lyricist/playwright Owen Robertson has done the translation.

William delves into the mystery surrounding the birth of Shakespeare's famous sonnets. Who was the inspiration? The never-identified Dark Lady of his professed passions or the beautiful young Earl of Southampton who, rumor had it, once stole the bisexual Bard's heart? A story of high comedy and dark dangers, William sets half a dozen of Shakespeare's gorgeous sonnets to appropriately romantic music and also provides five original book numbers.

Having played the title character since the show's inception, Sweden's musical theatre treasure Jonas Nerbe will be making his American debut in the role he helped to create. He is accompanied by a New York based String quartet: Stefani Collins, Sarah Koenig-Plonskier, Catie Longhi and Bridget Pasker. Original Swedish director Andreas Boonstra returns for William's Fringe Festival run.

Sweden's most prolific writer of new musical theatre, Jan-Erik Sääf (http://janeriksaaf.se/) has written about subjects as varied as a couple meeting through a personal ad to the life of Sigmund Freud. He was recently celebrated in a concert of his work presented at the Palladium in Malmo, Sweden entitled Twelve Musicals and an Opera. Owen Robertson's stage writings include Ticket to Ride (also at FringeNYC) and his musical Saving Anne, which played Ann Arbor, MI, Chicago and London. In 2009, Jan-Erik and Owen's collaboration for the Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival resulted in the award-winning musical Connect/Disconnect.

After its August 17th premiere, William can be seen Sunday, August 18th at 8:15 pm, the following Tuesday the 20th at 2:00 pm, Friday, the 24th at 10:00 pm and Saturday the 25th at noon, all at SubCulture.

Tickets can be ordered in advance for $15 through the Fringe website: www.FringeNYC.org or at the door.

For more info on William, go to http://www.stockholmsmusikteater.nu/.