Photo Flash: First Look at Shuler Hensley in SILENCE! THE MUSICAL

On June 1st, Broadway favorite Shuler Hensley opened as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in Off-Broadway's smash hit SILENCE! The Musical for four weeks only through June 24th, filling in for the vacationing David Garrison. Winner of the 2012 Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Musical, SILENCE! is the unauthorized parody of The Silence of the Lambs, with book by Hunter Bell, music & lyrics by Jon and Al Kaplan, and direction & choreography by Christopher Gattelli, and is currently playing to sold out crowds at The 9th Space Theatre at Performance Space 122, 150 First Avenue (at 9th St.)

Shuler Hensley won Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Olivier Awards for his brooding performance as Jud Fry in Trevor Nunn's 2002 revival of Oklahoma! He also starred on Broadway as Javert in Les Miserables, The Monster in Young Frankenstein and Kerchak in Tarzan. Off-Broadway credits include The Great Trailer Park Musical and Sweet and Sad (Drama Desk and OBIE Awards), and his films include Monday Night Mayhem; The Bread, My Sweet; The Legend of Zorro; After.Life; Someone Like You; Opa! and Van Helsing.

In the Academy Award-winning film The Silence of the Lambs, rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling matches wits with the brilliant but insane cannibal, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, to catch the serial killer known only as Buffalo Bill. Clarice faces her own demons while racing the clock to unlock Lecter's clues before another innocent girl is killed and skinned by Buffalo Bill. The laugh-out-loud wicked satire, SILENCE! The Musical, features a singing chorus of floppy eared lambs narrating the action as Buffalo Bill gleefully dances a hoedown while kidnapping hapless Catherine Martin. Even Dr. Lecter, scary as ever, sings about the life he'd like to lead someday outside the prison walls.

Jenn Harris (Clarice Starling) and Stephen Bienskie (Buffalo Bill) currently head the cast of SILENCE! The Musical, which also features Callan Bergmann, Harry Bouvy, Ashlee Dupré, Annie Funke, Howard Kaye, Topher Nuccio, Ronica V. Reddick, Pamela Bob and Doug Trapp. Music Supervisor is Mark Hartman, with orchestrations by Brian J. Nash.

Created by Jon and Al Kaplan in 2002, SILENCE! began as a collection of songs on the internet which immediately attracted a staggering number of fans. The Kaplans' subsequent screenplay SILENCE! The Musical was adapted by Hunter Bell into a live stage show, which also featured newly composed songs by the brothers. Fueled by a rabid cult following, SILENCE! shattered every box office record at the 2005 FringeNYC Festival, winning the award for Best Musical. SILENCE! The Musical met with further success in London where it garnered ecstatic reviews at the Above The Stag Theatre.

A long list of luminaries have turned up in the audience at the hit show over the past few months including Jodie Foster, Matt Bomer (twice!), Joan Rivers, Jonathan Demme, Kelly Ripa, James Earl Jones, Josh Groban, T.R. Knight , Jonathan Groff, Justin Kirk, Neil Simon, Corbin Bleu, Lisa Lampanelli, Willie Garson, Mario Cantone, Erin Cummings, Stephen Schwartz, David LaChapelle, Steven Pasquale, Jeremy Jordan, James Lapine, John Kander, Chita Rivera, Georgia Engel, John Rando, Cady Huffman, Christian Campbell, Seth Rudetsky, Eden Espinosa, Telly Leung, Reed Birney, Charlotte d'Amboise, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Carol Woods, and Anthony Heald.

SILENCE! The Musical is produced Off-Broadway by Theater Mogul. The playing schedule is Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 8 PM, and Sundays at 3 & 7 PM. Running time is 88 minutes with no intermission. Tickets are $25 - $79 and are available by calling 212-352-3101 or through www.SilenceTheMusical.com.