Reading of Revised 'Bright Lights' Premieres at Harvard

A recently revised version of Paul Scott Goodman's musical Bright Lights, Big City will have its premiere at Harvard University as a free semi-staged reading.  The musical will be presented on  March 5 at the Adams House Pool Theater at 7 and 10 PM.

Bright Lights, Big City - based on the acclaimed novel by Jay McInerney about life in the fast lane - will be presented in consultation with composer Goodman, music director-orchestrator Jesse Vargas and Sh-K-Boom Records' Kurt Deutsch.  The cast will include Matthew Bohrer, Jennifer Brown, Rachel Flynn, Talisa Friedman, Jillian Goodman, Blair Harshbarger, Arlo Hill, Walter Klyce, Lauren Jackson, Michael Joyce, Eric Lang, Jonah Priour, Alison Rich, Jen Rugani, Kieran Shanahan, Michael Vinson, Tatiana Wilson and Sara Wright.

The show follows Jamie, "an aspiring fiction writer stuck in fact-checking, as he descends into the drug culture of 1980s Manhattan and realizes that life is more than a party," state press materials.  The Harvard readings will be produced by Barry Shafrin and performed courtesy of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, who will "incorporate adjustments made throughout the rehearsal process into the final version of the score, and which will afterwards be released for production worldwide."

The score of Bright Lights, Big City - with music, lyrics and book by Goodman - is preserved on the Sh-K-Boom Records studio cast recording that features Patrick Wilson, Sherie Rene Scott, Jesse L. Martin, Christine Ebersole, Gavin Creel, Eden Espinosa, Celia Keenan-Bolger and others.  The musical, which features book, lyrics and music by Goodman, was first seen at the New York Theatre Workshop, where it was directed by Michael Greif (Rent).  It also received a production at the Prince Music Theatre in Philadelphia last year.

The Adams House Pool Theater is located at 26 Plympton Street in Cambridge, MA. E-mail blbc.show@gmail.com or call (617) 785-0722 for free tickets.  Visit www.sh-k-boom.com for more on Sh-K-Boom Records.