Photos & Video: Go Inside HARMONY's Special Rosh Hashanah Celebration

The start of the Jewish New Year holiday of Rosh Hashanah was marked by the cast of Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman’s musical Harmony at the Barrymore Theatre on West 47th Street. Joining the cast and playwright Bruce Sussman was Rabbi Jill Hausman from The Actors’ Temple. Traditional treats including apples and honey were offered as well as rugelach from Junior’s Times Square.

Check out photos and video!

Rabbi Hausman welcomed the crowd, giving the first blessing, and then turned it over to Zal Owen (Harry), one of the Harmonists in the show, for a few words and a final blessing. Playwright and lyricist Sussman then escorted the guests into the theatre for a sneak peek at the show’s load-in of sets and lights. Ending the afternoon, Producer Ken Davenport thanked all for coming to celebrate at the show’s new ‘home’. 

Harmony, the new, original musical by Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman with direction and choreography by Warren Carlyle will begin previews on Wednesday, October 18, ahead of a Monday, November 13 official opening night.

The show stars Chip Zien; Sierra Boggess; Julie Benko; the Comedian Harmonists Sean Bell, Danny Kornfeld, Zal Owen, Eric Peters, Blake Roman, and Steven Telsey; Allison Semmes and Andrew O’Shanick. They join Zak Edwards, Dan Hoy, Bruce Landry, RhonniRose Mantilla, Daniel Z. Miller, Benjamin H. Moore, Matthew Mucha, Constantine Pappas, Kayleen Seidl, Kyla Stone, Bronwyn Tarboton, Kate Wesler, Stuart Zagnit, and Lee Zarrett.

The creative team for Harmony includes Beowulf Boritt (scenic design), Linda Cho & Ricky Lurie (costume design), Jules Fisher + Peggy Eisenhauer (lighting design), Dan Moses Schreier (sound design), batwin + robin productions (media design), Tom Watson (wig & hair design), Jamibeth Margolis, CSA (casting), Sara Edwards (associate director/choreographer), John O’Neill (music director), Michael Aarons (music coordinator), Doug Walter (orchestrations) and Scott Taylor Rollison (production stage manager).

Harmony features an original new score by legendary Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Award® winner Barry Manilow with lyrics and book by Drama Desk Award Winner, Bruce Sussman. Directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Warren Carlyle (The Music Man, Hello Dolly!), this timely and captivating rags-to-riches story lost to history comes to dazzling life with a sensational cast of Broadway favorites.

Based on an unbelievable true story, Harmony tells the tale of the most successful entertainers you've never heard of. . . until now. In the 1920s and 30s, The Comedian Harmonists sold millions of records, made dozens of films, and sold-out the biggest theaters around the world.  Their heavenly harmonies and musical comedy antics catapulted these six talented young men from singing in the subway tunnels of Berlin to international superstardom.

What happened next is the story of Harmony.