Photo Flash: The York Theatre Company Begins Rehearsals For I LOVE MY WIFE

I Love My Wife will feature Jenni Barber (Spelling Bee), Heidi Blickenstaff ([title of show]),
Matt Castle (Company), Josh Grisetti (Enter Laughing, The Musical), Jesse Means (Show Boat), Adam Monley (Mamma Mia!), Louis Tucci (Buddy) and Scott Wakefield (Ring of Fire). Carl Andress (The Divine Sister) will direct with Matt Castle also serving as music director.

I Love My Wife is a dynamic, irreverent look at relationships and marriage during the sexual revolution of the 1970s. Grappling with the rapidly shifting spirit of the time, two New Jersey couples consider merging their marriages in this hilarious hit musical from Broadway's 1977 season. I Love My Wife features book and lyrics by Michael Stewart and music composed and arranged by Cy Coleman.

The 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 both 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.

GENERAL INFO:

2010 Musicals in Mufti Concert Series:
I Love My Wife
Book and Lyrics by Michael Stewart
Music Composed and Arranged by Cy Coleman
October 22-24, 2010

Tickets: $39.50 at www.yorktheatre.org or 212-935-5820

Photo credit is Ben Strothmann.