SEEING STARS To Make NYMF Premiere, Opens 10/7

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) and Seeing Stars the Musical Inc. present the original musical SEEING STARS, Music by Don Breithaupt, Lyrics by Jeff Breithaupt, Book by Shelley McPherson and directed by Jenn Thompson in the 2009 NYMF. 

Seeing Stars, set in the rich milieu of New York's 1930s boxing scene, is a tough and tender romantic comedy centered on a love triangle that gets settled in the ring. This originalmusical tells the story of childhood friends Eddie "Bare Knuckles" McSorley and "Gentleman" Joe Sullivan; two rival boxers in love with Jean, a feisty reporter working at the World Chronicle. A black-and-blue romance with a bruising climax and a colorful cast of pugs, thugs and dames, Seeing Stars picks up where Broadway's mid-century giants left off with a larger-than-life landscape populated by tuneful palookas and palpable local color. Filled with laughs, style and memorable melodies, Seeing Stars explores the world of "boys being boys" and the women who love them.

Featuring music and lyrics by the Breithaupt Brothers - Don (composer) and Jeff (lyricist) - Seeing Stars was part of The York Theatre's Developmental Reading Series earlier this year, before being selected (in a double blind-jury process) as part of The New York Musical Theatre Festival's 2009 Next Link Project. Originally from Canada, The Breithaupt Brothers host a regular revue of their songs at New York's Joe's Pub at the Public Theater. Past performers include Tony Award-winners James Naughton and LaChanze, multiple Tony nominee Kelli O'Hara, Norm Lewis, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Carolyn Leonhart, Catherine Russell, Denzal Sinclaire, Rebecca Martin, Adam Brazier, BETTY, Jamie Leonhart, Sarah Slean, Patricia O'Callaghan, and recent Grammy nominee Kate McGarry, among many others. Their songs have been featured on Showtime's The L Word and have been recorded by Brent Carver, Dione Taylor, Adi Braun, Rikki Rumball, Denzal Sinclaire, Joe Coughlin, and Lorraine Lawson. Don, who last month was honored with a 2009 Emmy Award for outstanding theme song for the Canadian television show 6teen(Cartoon Network), is based in Toronto while Jeff resides in NYC. Book writer Shelley McPherson is a New York based performer and writer whose work has been seen at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater, Queen's Theatre in the Park, HERE, New York Theatre Workshop, E.S.T., The Rude Mechanicals, and The Workshop Theatre Company and many regional theaters around the country. Shelley played Donna in the award-winning film Fall Before Paradise.

Seeing Stars features a cast of 20 including Broadway leading man Kevin Earley, whose credits include A Tale of Two Cities, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Les Miserables, as Champion boxer Eddie McSorley. Awards include LA Drama Critic's Circle Award (Rutledge, 1776), Joseph Jefferson Award (Balladeer in ASSASSINS), B. Iden Payen Award (Curly, OKLAHOMA), Three Robby Awards andFour LA Ovation Award Nominations. His debut CD entitled "Earley Standards" is currently available on iTunes and CDBaby. "Gentleman" Joe Sullivan, Eddie's rival inside and out of the ring, will be played by Michael Halling, who's many Broadway credits include: A Tale of Two Cities, In My Life, Pajama Game, The Boy From Oz, and The Scarlett Pimpernel. Most recently he originated the role of George Brush in the world premiere of Lee Blessing's adaptation of Thornton Wilder's Heaven's my Destination, at The Cleveland Playhouse. Other cast members include Margaret Nichols (Nat'l Tour: Les Miserables, Off-B-way's Bedroom Farce) as reporter Jean Barker, Jane Blass (B-way's Hair Spray) as sexy chanteuse Maxi as well as John Plumpis (Nat'l Tours: The Lion King, Barrymore and Laughter on the 23rd Floor), Richard Pruitt ( B-way's 42nd Street and On The Waterfront), Evan Thompson (B-way's 1776, City of Angels, Ivanov, An American Daughter), andRobert Stoeckle (B-way's It's So NIce To Be Civilized and The Canterbury Tales).

Seeing Stars will be directed by Jenn Thompson., who directed the workshop reading at The York Theatre in February. A company member of the celebrated Off Broadway theatre company TACT/The Actor's Theatre Company, MS. Thompson directed last season's critically-acclaimed production of Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce, as well as Tennessee Williams' The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, which was selected by The New York Times as one of the "Top Ten Theatre Picks" for 2008. Other NYC directing credits include productions at The Rattlestick, The NY Fringe Festival, American Globe Theatre as well as extensive regional credits. This November, she will direct the Off-Broadway production of The Late Christopher Bean at the Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row. She is making her NYMF debut.

Seeing Stars choreography will be provided by Liza Genarro, whose credits include the Broadway revivals of Once Upon A Mattress, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, and the critically acclaimed The Most Happy Fella, directed by Gerald Gutierrez. The Roundabout Theater Company's Tin Pan Alley Rag, which Ms. Genarro choreographed, is currently running Off Broadway.

The musical director for Seeing Stars is Mark Berman, whose conducting credits include Broadway's Rent, Smokey Joe's Café, and Blood Brothers. He has also played lead piano on Hair, Dreamgirls, The Boy From Oz, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Life, etc. Mr. Berman has played and recorded with some of the biggest names in rock pop and jazz including Aretha Franklin, Phoebe Snow, Carole King, Gladys Knight, Elvis Costello, Buddy Miles, Illinois Jacquette, Jackie McClean, Phil Ramone, and he has written music for HBO's Sex and the City and SHOWTIME's Nurse Jackie, among many other television programs. Mark's piano can be heard on the iconic Sex and the City theme.

Award-winning Fight Director B.H. Barry will stage the flying fisticuffs. His multiple Broadway credits include: Kiss Me, Kate; The Life; Crazy for You; An Inspector Calls; City of Angels; Moon Over Buffalo; Voices in the Dark; My Favorite Year; Big River; Noises Off; and Ragtime, among many other productions.

Seeing Stars performances will take place on Wednesday October 7th at 8:00PM, Saturday October 10th at 5:00PM, Sunday October 11th at 4:00 PM, Tuesday Oct 13th at 9:00PM, Friday Oct 16th at 9:00PM and Saturday October 17th at 1:00PM at The Theatre at St. Clement's. Tickets, priced at $20, can be purchased online at www.nymf.org/seeingstars or by calling (212) 352-3101. For more information, please visit www.NYMF.org/seeingstars or www.seeingstarsthemusical.com.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival, now in its sixth year, has premiered more than 175 new musicals since 2004. The largest musical theatre event in America, NYMF has been hailed as "the Sundance of Musical Theatre," and is widely regarded as the key source for new material and talent discovery. NYMF is the flagship program of National Music Theater Network, Inc., a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization. NYMF 2009 is presented in association with BroadwayWorld.com, Production Resource Group and TheaterMania.com, and is supported by Back Stage, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, BroadwayBox.com, BroadwayInsider.com, Broadway.TV, Clear Channel Spectacolor, DFD-TV, Frank & Camille's Fine Pianos, King Displays, Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, New World Stages, NASDAQ OMX, Next Magazine, PMD Promotions, Queerty.com, Reuters, Sweet Caroline's, Tekserve, TheMenEvent.com, The Tank, and Times Square Squared. Major supporters include The ASCAP Foundation, BMI Foundation, Inc., The Broadway League, The BWF Foundation, The Nathan Cummings Foundation with the support and encouragement of Jamie Mayer, The Charlie & Jane Fink Charitable Fund, The Rodgers & Hammerstein Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and The Theater League. NYMF is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. NYMF's programs are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. NYMF Memberships, which combine charitable contributions with valuable, flexible ticket packages and perks like early seating, and tickets to individual events are available for purchase at (212) 352-3101 or www.nymf.org.