Paramour's Hyler Directs GEORAMA in NYMF

GEORAMA: AN AMERICAN PANORAMA TOLD ON 3 MILES OF CANVAS, as an official selection of the 2017 New York Musical Festival's Next Link Project, is pleased to announce the New York premiere production of GEORAMA: AN AMERICAN PANORAMA TOLD ON 3 MILES OF CANVAS, music and lyrics by co-book writer Matt Schatz, additional music & lyrics plus arrangements by Jack Herrick, musical direction by Jacob Yates, and directed by co-book writer West Hyler.

GEORAMA: AN AMERICAN PANORAMA TOLD ON 3 MILES OF CANVAS will play a limited engagement at Off-Broadway's Peter Jay Sharp Theater (416 West 42nd Street, NYC). Performances begin Wednesday, August 2 and continue through Sunday, August 6.

In the 1850s John Banvard did more to elevate fine arts than any single American artist before him. Banvard was the most famous living painter in the world and the first millionaire artist, world-renowned for his three-mile long moving panorama celebrating the majesty of the Mighty Mississippi. Today an examination of reference books will not turn up a single mention of his name. John Banvard, the greatest artist of his time, has been utterly obliterated by history. This musical tells his story.

The production stars Randy Blair* (Original Hipolito/Elton John in Broadway's Amelie) as Taylor, P.J. Griffith* (American Idiot, Mamma Mia, We Will Rock You) as John Banvard, Jillian Louis* (It Shoulda Been You, Cheers, Flambe Dreams) as Elizabeth, Nick Sullivan (Newsies, Kinky Boots, Footloose) as William Chapman, Ana Marcu (90201; The Musical) as Musician 2, and Jacob Yates (Georama, Dreamgirls) as Musician 1. More musicians to be announced. *Performing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association. The production features projection design by Jason Thompson, costume design by Whitney Locher, and lighting design by Ann Wrightson. Lisa Klages* is the production stage manager. Mark McDaniels is the General Manager, Ulmer Theatricals is the Management Supervisor, Hannah Lang is the Company Manager, Amanda Connor is the Assistant Director and Katie Rosin/Kampfire PR is doing the publicity.

GEORAMA plays the following schedule:

• Wednesday, August 2, 2017 at 8:00 pm

• Friday, August 4, 2017 at 2:00 pm

• Friday, August 4, 2017 at 5:30 pm

• Saturday, August 5, 2017 at 9:00 pm

• Sunday, August 6, 2017 at 5:30 pm

Tickets are $27.50 and are now available online at www.nymf.org or by calling 212-352-3101. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at theater one hour prior to performance Running Time: 85 minutes Website: http://www.georamamusical.comnymf.org/Georama

Jack Herrick (Arrangements and Additional Music & Lyrics) wrote music and lyrics for Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind, which he performed with the Red Clay Ramblers in 1985. He wrote and produced music and lyrics for Shepard's two feature films, "Far North" and "Silent Tongue." For regional theatre, he co-wrote book, music and lyrics for Tar Heel Voices and Cool Spring, Kudzu, Ear Rings, Munci Meg and Glory Bound. In 2001, he wrote music and lyrics for Lone Star Love, produced by the Great Lakes Theater Festival. With the Red Clay Ramblers, Bill Irwin and Dave Shiner, Herrick created and performed Fool Moon, which earned a Special Tony Award in 1999.

West Hyler (Book/Director) most recently opened Cirque du Soleil Paramour on Broadway as story writer and director. Other Broadway credits include How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Jersey Boys (including international productions across five continents). His directing work has been seen at Lincoln Center, The State Theater of Beijing, The Sofia Puppet Theater, St. Louis Repertory, Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival, Ars Nova, New York Musical Theater Festival, 59E59, Actors Theater of Louisville, The Colony Theater, Cleveland Playhouse Square, Great River Shakespeare Festival, and the Eugene O'Neill Theater Conference, amongst others. In the world of spectacle West wrote and directed the Big Apple Circus seasons of Legendarium and Metamorphoses at Lincoln Center

Matt Schatz (Music & Lyrics) won the 2012 Kleban Prize in Musical Theatre, and has been a finalist for Fred Ebb Award, the Jonathan Larson Grant, and the P73 Playwriting Fellowship. Plays and musicals include Georama (St. Louis Rep) The Burdens (O'Neill Play Festival), I Battled Lenny Ross (book by Anna Ziegler, Ensemble Studio Theatre), Dunkfest '88 (Ars Nova's ANT Fest), Oh, Gastronomy! (Humana Festival), Love Trapezoid (Astoria Performing Arts Center), and The Tallest Building in the World (Luna Stage). He's currently working on new musical commissions for the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Project, and for Tony Award winning producer, Jill Furman (Hamilton). Matt is an alumnus of Youngblood at EST, the Interstate 73 Writers Group, and the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop. He's a proud member of ASCAP, Dramatists Guild, Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Playwrights Union and the Writers Guild of America.

The New York Musical Festival nurtures the creation, production, and public presentation of stylistically, thematically, and culturally diverse new musicals to ensure the future vitality of musical theater.

Now in its fourteenth year, the Festival is the premier musical theater event in the world. 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 90 Festival shows have gone on to productions on and Off-Broadway, in regional theaters in all 50 states, and in more than 24 countries worldwide. Festival alumni have received a wide array of awards including the Tony Award® 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. 2017 NYMF is sponsored by The City of New York Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, PRG, TheaterMania, Clear Channel Outdoor and the Village Voice, and is supported, in part, 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. 

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The 2017 New York Musical Festival will take place July 10 - August 6. For more information, please visit: www.nymf.org