Public's CAPEMAN Concert Opens at the Delacorte, 8/14

The Public Theater's (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) concert version of Paul Simon's THE CAPEMAN, opens today, August 14, and will run through August 16 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Free tickets will be distributed the day of the show.

THE CAPEMAN, featuring music by Paul Simon and book and lyrics by Paul Simon and Derek Walcott, will be directed by Tony Award nominee Diane Paulus, who directed the concert version of HAIR at the Delacorte in 2007. Sergio Trujillo will provide choreography and the Grammy-winning Oscar Hernández and an extraordinary 13-piece orchestra will play Simon's haunting score. Every night after the show, legendary Puerto Rican sensation Danny Rivera will perform a special vocal encore.

THE CAPEMAN cast features Obie Bermudez as Umbrella Man; Natascia Diaz as Esmerelda Agrón; Ivan Hernandez as Salvador Agrón; Nicole Lequerica as Aurea Agrón; Jorge Maldonado as Reverend Gonzalez; Luba Mason as Mrs. Young; Anthony Lee Medina as Young Sal; Élan Luz Rivera as Bernadette; and Abraham Rodriguez as Santero. The ensemble will include Bryan Anthony, Xavier Cano, MyrnaLynn Gomila, Nina Lafarga, Omar Lopez-Cepero, Cornell McKnight, Frank Negrón, Luis Salgado, and Tanairi Vazquez. Diaz, Mason, Gomila, Negron and Rivera appeared in the original production of The Capeman on Broadway; Mason and Gomila are reprising their roles from that production.

THE CAPEMAN will feature scenic consultation by Riccardo Hernandez; costume design by Emilio Sosa; lighting design by Peter Kaczorowski; and sound design by ACME Sound Partners.

Originally on Broadway in 1998, Simon's musical THE CAPEMAN tells the true story of a Nuyorican street gang member whose story exploded on to the front pages of the tabloids in 1959, ultimately revealing the cultural and racial tensions beneath the surface of New York in that era. THE CAPEMAN's score is a dazzling blend of Latin music, Doo Wop and artful ballads to tell a gripping and controversial New York story.

Free tickets will be distributed the day of the show in person at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park beginning at 1 p.m. or by registering for Virtual Ticketing online at ShakespeareInThePark.org the day of the performance you want to attend. Virtual Ticketing recipients are chosen at random to receive tickets, not in the order requests are received.

Reserved Concert Seats can now be reserved for a tax-deductible donation of $175 per seat. These seats are available only at The Public Theater box office or by calling (212) 967-7555.

Priority Concert Seating, for a tax deductible donation of $250 or $500, is available through The Public Theater Development Office at partners@publictheater.org. The $500 Priority Seats for the final performance on Monday night, August 16 includes admission to a post-show cast party.

Priority Concert Seating availability is limited to ensure that that highest number of free seats are available for the general public on the day of the show.

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Paul Simon (Music, Book and Lyrics) is a twelve-time Grammy Award winner, Oscar nominee, Kennedy Center honoree, and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as both a solo artist and as part of the legendary duo of Simon & Garfunkel. His songwriting catalog includes four of the most-broadcast songs in the world, "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Mrs. Robinson," "Scarborough Fair," and "The Sound of Silence," which have been heard on radio airwaves an estimated 75 million times. In 2006, Time magazine named him one of "100 People Who Shaped the World." Simon wrote and starred in the 1980 film One Trick Pony; The Capeman was his first composition for musical theater and ran on Broadway in 1998.

Derek Walcott (Book and Lyrics) is a poet and playwright who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992. He wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Ti-Jean and His Brothers, which premiered at the Delacorte Theater in 1971. He is best known for the epic poem Omeros, a book-length poetic adaptation of Homer's Odyssey set in part in the Caribbean. Walcott has published more than 20 collections of poetry and written dozens of plays, including the OBIE-winning The Dream on Monkey Mountain, He is the founder of Trinidad Theatre Workshop as well as Boston Playwrights' Theatre at Boston University, where he also served as a professor of drama and poetry until 2007. He is currently a distinguished scholar-in-residence at Canada's University of Alberta and a professor of poetry at the University of Essex in England.

Diane Paulus (Director). Her most recent theater credits include The Public Theater's revival of Hair on Broadway (2009 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, nominated for 8 Tony Awards including Best Director, as well as winner of a Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Drama League Award for Best Revival of a Musical) and London's West End. She is the creator and director of The Donkey Show, a disco adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which ran for six years off-Broadway, and toured internationally. Other recent work includes Il Mondo Della Luna at the Hayden Planetarium, Kiss Me, Kate at Glimmerglass Opera; and Lost Highway, an ENO co-production with the Young Vic. She is the Artistic Director of American Repertory Theater in Boston, where she recently directed the new musical, Johnny Baseball.

Bryan Anthony (Ensemble) has been seen in Bandstand: A Reelin' and A Rockin' and My Big Gay Italian Wedding onstage and in the films The Sweetest Thing, 500 Days of Summer, and Little Mermaid 3.

OBIE BERMUDEZ (Umbrella Man) is a Puerto Rican pop singer who has released four albums: Locales, Confesiones, Todo el Año, and Lo Que Trajo El Barco. He made his theatrical debut in a 2007 production of El Canto del Coqui and sang on the Songs of the Capeman recording, under the direction of Oscar Hernández and the Spanish Harlem Orquestra.

Xavier Cano (Ensemble) made his Broadway debut in the 2007 revival of Grease. He played Chino in the 50th anniversary European tour of West Side Story, Juan in Altar Boyz at the Adirondack Theater Festival, and appeared in the world premiere of Mariel at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.

Natascia Diaz (Esmerelda Agrón) has appeared on Broadway in Man of La Mancha, Seussical, Carousel, and the original 1998 production of The Capeman. Her additional credits include the off-Broadway production of Jacques Brel..., the pre-Broadway tour of Sweet Charity, Anita in the national tour of West Side Story, and the documentary Every Little Step, about the casting of the revival of A Chorus Line. She won a 2009 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical for her performance in Rooms.

Ivan Hernandez (Salvador Agrón) played Mitch in the York Theatre Company's production of the Broadway-bound musical Yank!. He has also appeared off-Broadway in Romantic Poetry at Manhattan Theater Club and the revival of The Fantasticks. His other credits include the world premiere of Zhivago at The Old Globe, The Most Happy Fella at New York City Opera, and a workshop of The Mambo Kings in 2004.

Nina Lafarga (Ensemble) was a member of the original cast of Broadway's In the Heights. She has also been seen on Broadway in Sweet Charity and Aida, and off-Broadway in the City Center Encores! presentation of Fanny. She has appeared in featured roles on "All My Children," "As The World Turns," and "30 Rock."

Myrna Lee GOMILA (Ensemble) made her Broadway debut in the original production of The Capeman. Her other theater credits include Little Shop of Horrors at the Weston Playhouse, Annie at Happy Medium, The Sound of Music at Bronx Community Theater, and multiple roles on HBO's "Autopsy."

Nicole Lequerica (Aurea Agrón) is a recent graduate of the jazz music program at William Paterson University. She has performed at NJPAC and The Rainbow Room, and participated in the recent Capeman concert at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music.

Omar Lopez-Cepero (Ensemble) made his Broadway debut in American Idiot. He played the lead role of Che Guevara in a national tour of Evita and has been seen on regional stages in productions of Les Miserables, High School Musical 2, West Side Story, Grease, Sweeney Todd, Swing!, and Fiddler on the Roof. He is a former member of the Pop/R&B group Nuance.

Jorge Maldonado (Reverend Gonzalez) has been in the Latin music business for more than 40 years. He has performed with a variety of artists including Sonora Matancera, Louie Ramirez, Charanga America, Manny Oquendos' Libre, Latin Legends Orchestra, and Johnny Pacheco y su Tumbao Anejo.

Luba Mason (Mrs. Young) is re-creating her original role from the 1998 Broadway premiere of The Capeman. She has appeared on Broadway as Velma Kelly in Chicago, Lucy in Jekyll & Hyde, Hedy LaRue in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, Joanna in Sunset Boulevard, Ziegfeld's Favorite in The Will Rogers Follies.

CORNELL McKNIGHT (Ensemble) performed in the concert Songs from The Capeman at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music. He has performed around the country as a member of the influential gospel music quartet The Dixie Hummingbirds.

Anthony Lee Medina (Young Sal) was recently seen in the first national tour of Spring Awakening. His many regional theater credits include roles in The Wild Party, Zombie Prom, Footloose, Dirty Christmas, Aladdin, High School Musical, and Fame.
FRANK NEGRÓN (Ensemble) appeared in the original Broadway production of The Capeman and performed in the concert Songs from The Capeman at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music. He has released seven studio albums and has received Grammy Award nominations, Billboard Award nominations and two Premio Lo Nuestro Awards for Song of the Year.

DANNY RIVERA (Special Guest--Encore Performer) is a Puerto Rican singer/songwriter whose career has spanned nearly 50 years and two dozen albums, including the hit singles "Jesucristo," "Mi Viejo," "Vecino, Dame La Mano," and "Mi Pueblo." He has performed at Madison Square Garden and Carnegie Hall and shared the stage with Placido Domingo, Julio Iglesias, and Will Smith.

Elan Luz Rivera (Bernadette) appeared in the original Broadway production of The Capeman in the role of Cookie. Her theater credits include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer on Broadway, Ten Years of Hope at St. Luke's Church, The Me Nobody Knows for Whitehorse Productions, and the lead role of Honey in Jonathan Schwartz's Go Go Beach.

Luis Salgado (Ensemble) has appeared in New York in In the Heights and Fame on 42nd Street and in the pre-Broadway tryout of The Mambo Kings. His film credits include Step Up 2 the Streets, Across the Universe, American Gangster, Enchanted, and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.

TANAIRI VAZQUEZ (Ensemble) was last seen on Broadway as Lupe in the 2009 revival of West Side Story. She appeared in three Debbie Allen productions at the Kennedy Center: Soul Possessed, Dreams, and Brothers of the Night.

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Andrew D. Hamingson, Executive Director) was founded by Joseph Papp in 1954 and is now one of the nation's preeminent cultural institutions, producing new plays, musicals, and productions of classics at its downtown headquarters and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The Public's mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day onstage and through extensive outreach and education programs. Each year, over 250,000 people attend Public Theater-related productions and events at six downtown stages, including Joe's Pub, and Shakespeare in the Park. The Public has won 42 Tony Awards, 151 Obies, 41 Drama Desk Awards and four Pulitzer Prizes. The Public has brought 53 shows to Broadway, including Sticks and Bones; That Championship Season; A Chorus Line; The Pirates of Penzance; The Tempest; Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk; On the Town; The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Topdog/Underdog; Elaine Stritch at Liberty; Take Me Out; Caroline, or Change; Well; Passing Strange; the Tony Award-winning revival of Hair; and this fall, the rock musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and the 2010 Shakespeare in the Park production of The Merchant of Venice. www.publictheater.org.