Photo Flash: York Theatre Co Presents Musical in Mufti COCO

Susan Blommaert (Grease), Lewis Cleale (Spamalot), Tom Galantich (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), Brian Hissong (West Side Story international tour), Julie Kotarides (Miss Liberty: Musicals in Mufti), Robert Lenzi (South Pacific), Peter Lockyer (South Pacific), Michelle Lookadoo (The Little Mermaid), Heather Parcells (A Chorus Line) and David Turner (Sunday in the Park with George) join the previously announced Jessica Grové (Sunday in the Park with George), Tony-nominee Charles Kimbrough (Accent on Youth), and Andrea Marcovicci (Any Given Day). Coco will be directed by Mark Kaufmann, with music direction by Michael Horsley.
The Fall 2010 Musicals in Mufti season continues in October with The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd (October 1-3, 2010), I Remember Mama (October 8-10, 2010) and I Love My Wife (October 22-24, 2010). Complete casting the remaining Muftis will be announced shortly.

Each show will play five performances: Friday at 8 PM, Saturday at 2:30 & 8 PM, and Sunday at 2:30 & 7:30 PM. Audience talkbacks will follow all matinees. Tickets are priced at $39.50. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.yorktheatre.org or call the York's Box Office at 212-935-5820.

‘Mufti' (pronounced MUFF' tee) means "in street clothes; without the usual trappings" and each show in the Series is presented script-in-hand, with minimal staging. To date, the York has presented over 75 Mufti concert revivals of musical theatre gems from Broadway, Off-Broadway and London, celebrating great writers from the world of musical theatre; entire Series have celebrated Joseph Stein, Richard Rodgers, Larry Grossman and George Abbott. AM New York recently declared the Musicals in Mufti Series as "increasingly essential."

The York Theatre Company is the only theater in New York City - and one of very few in the world - dedicated to developing and fully producing new musicals and preserving neglected, notable shows from the past. Over the past two seasons, York productions have been nominated for 25 Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Awards (and its productions of Yank! A WWII Love Story and Enter Laughing, The Musical have both been announced for Broadway transfers). For over four decades, York's intimate, imaginative style of producing both original and neglected classic musicals has resulted in critical acclaim and recognition from artists and audiences alike. Under the guidance of Artistic Director James Morgan since 1997, the York has focused exclusively on new musicals in its Mainstage Series-most of them world, American, or New York premieres-by some of the field's most esteemed creators, and has also helped launch the careers of many talented new writers. Over 30 cast recordings from York Theatre Company productions are now available on CD, and commercial transfers of such York productions as The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!), Souvenir, Jolson & Company, and acclaimed revivals of Sweeney Todd and Pacific Overtures have all showcased the importance of the York and its programs.

Photo credit: Ben Strothmann