Samantha Hill, Joe Carroll, Fred Applegate & More to Lead Presentation of New Musical EMPIRE

The grandeur of New York City comes to life in Empire, by Caroline Sherman and Robert Hull, an original new musical about how dreamers and doers changed the face of Manhattan forever.

The show will be directed and choreographed by Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominated Marcia Milgrom Dodge (Ragtime) on January 22nd and 23rd in Manhattan prior to a pre-Broadway tryout, with music direction by Fred Lassen.

Presentation cast will feature Joe Carroll, who starred as Prince Topher in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, Hannah Elless from Godspell, Samantha Hill currently playing Cosette in the revival of Les Miserables, Fred Applegate currently playing Father O'Brien in The Last Ship, Nick Wyman who appeared as Roger Strong in Catch Me If You Can, and Tony Award nominated Michael Mulheren who recently starred in Spider Man, Turn Off the Dark.

According to press notes, from the moment they meet, Michael Shaw and Ms. Frankie Goodheart do not get along. Both have been hired to build the Al Smith Building which becomes the Empire State Building. Michael is an ambitious architect with dreams as high as the sky while Frankie, Al Smith's girl Friday has given up on her dreams and just hopes to leave her mark on the city. The stock market crashes and Michael struggles to keep the project moving forward while dealing with the hard nosed "can do" Frankie, inexperienced building financiers Al Smith and John J. Raskob, and an unbelievable deadline of 15 months to build 102 stories. Everything is on schedule when an accident occurs and Frankie is fired. With his dream in jeopardy, Michael must step up and become the leader as he fights to make sure everyone makes it to the finish line together and on time. If he is successful, he just might get to kiss his girl on top of the Empire State Building.

The Tony Award winning creative team for EMPIRE includes Jess Goldstein (costume designer), Natasha Katz (lighting designer) and Grammy Award winner Don Sebesky (orchestrations).

EMPIRE is produced by Marquee Ventures, Sue Vaccaro, Lynne Walder, Michael & Gabrielle Palitz, Jeff Davis, The Rivet Gang, Dr. Dale Archer, Sidcat Strategies and Howard Olah-Reiken.