Scott Bakula, Hannah Cruz, Ben Levi Ross Lead Premiere of Jason Robert Brown's THE CONNECTOR

MCC Theater will present the World Premiere of The Connector, a new musical with music and lyrics by Tony Award® winner Jason Robert Brown (Parade), a book by Jonathan Marc Sherman (Clive), conceived and directed by Daisy Prince (The Last Five Years), and choreographed by Karla Puno Garcia (Days of Wine and Roses). The Connector will begin performances on January 12, 2024 with an opening night set for February 6 and a limited engagement through February 18, 2024 at MCC Theater’s Newman Mills Theater (511 W 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019).

 

The cast of The Connector will include Scott Bakula (“Quantum Leap;” “NCIS: New Orleans”), Joanna Carpenter (Sweeney Todd), Max Crumm (Millennials Are Killing Musicals), Hannah Cruz (MCC’s Only Gold), George Dvorsky (Closer Than Ever), Ashley Pérez Flanagan (Oratorio For Living Things), Danielle Lee Greaves (Parade), Mylinda Hull (Mr. Saturday Night), Daniel Jenkins (Oslo), Cedric Lamar (King Lear), Jessica Molaskey (Songs for a New World), Fergie Philippe (Hamilton),  Eliseo Román (In the Heights), Ben Levi Ross (Dear Evan Hansen), Ann Sanders (The Music Man), Kyle Sherman (Ordinary Days) and Michael Winther (Fun Home).

 

The Connector will feature scenic design by Beowulf Boritt (New York, New York), costume design by Márion Tálan de la Rosa (Oratorio For Living Things), lighting design by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew (Kimberly Akimbo), sound design by Jon Weston (Parade), and orchestrations and arrangements by Jason Robert Brown. Tom Murray is the Music Director and Kristy Norter is the Music Coordinator. Erin Gioia Albrecht is the Production Stage Manager and casting is by The Telsey Office / Patrick Goodwin, CSA.

 

From Tony Award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown (Parade) comes a timely new musical about two talented young journalists on increasingly diverging paths. Set in the late 1990s amid a rapidly changing media landscape we meet a fast-rising journalist, Ethan Dobson, and an assistant copy editor, Robin Martinez, at the revered magazine The Connector. In a world that values the next big sensation, Ethan’s writing prowess and ambition force him to confront how far he’ll go for the ultimate scoop and Robin to consider how far she’ll go to stop him.

 

With a book by Jonathan Marc Sherman, The Connector will feature Brown leading the band at each performance and reuniting with The Last Five Yearsand Songs for a New World director Daisy Prince.

 

The Connector is supported by the Gary Platt Initiative for New Musicals at MCC Theater and the Burton A. Zipser and Sandra D. Zipser Foundation.

 

The performance schedule for The Connector is as follows:

• January 12 – February 4: Tuesdays-Fridays at 7PM, Saturdays at 2PM & 8PM, and Sundays at 2PM & 7PM.
• February 6 – 18: Tuesdays-Fridays at 7PM, Thursdays at 2PM; Saturdays at 2PM & 8PM, and Sundays at 2PM.

Exceptions: There will be no matinee performance on Saturday January 13. The Thursday February 8 matinee will be a 1PM student performance.

 

MCC will also offer audience conversations after the Wednesday January 18, Tuesday January 23, Thursday February 8 and Thursday February 15 evening performances. Public Engagement offerings also include an open forum on Theater Critique & Journalism on Monday January 8 and a Fact vs Fiction community game night on Sunday January 28. A talkback with the creative team will follow the performance on Tuesday January 30. An open caption performance will be held on Friday February 16.

 

Priority access tickets to The Connector for Patrons will go on sale November 8 and Subscriber on sale will be November 9. General on sale will begin on November 16.

 

Subscriptions for MCC’s 2023/24 season start at $210 plus fees and include Walk on Through: Confessions of a Museum Novice, The Connector, and The Lonely Few, plus unlimited free ticket exchanges, 20% off guest tickets, waived ticket fees, and first access to tickets. MCC also offers a no-frills Flex Ticket package starting at $250.  

 

For the most up to date covid safety policy be sure to monitor mcctheater.org/covid-safety. 

 

The following organizations provide MCC Theater with General Operating and Production Support: Howard Gilman Foundation, Shubert Foundation, Laurents/Hatcher Foundation, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Fund, Richenthal Foundation, Burton A. and Sandra D. Zipser Foundation, Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation, Charles & Lucille King Family Foundation Inc., Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation Inc., Lucille Lortel Foundation, Actors’ Equity Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

 

Funding for closed caption performances is provided, in part, by a grant from NYSCA/TDF TAP Plus.

 

In November, MCC will present the World Premiere of Walk on Through: Confessions of a Museum Novice, written and performed by Tony Award® winner Gavin Creel (Into the Woods) and directed by Linda Goodrich (Loud Nite). In April 2024, the MCC season will conclude with the NY Premiere of The Lonely Few, a new rock musical with music and lyrics by Zoe Sarnak (Secret Soldiers), a book by Rachel Bonds (Sundown, Yellow Moon), and direction by Trip Cullman (MCC’s Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow) and Ellenore Scott (Titanique). MCC will also present the 23rd Edition of Uncensored, an MCC Youth Company Production in April 2024. 

 

ABOUT MCC THEATER

 

MCC Theater is one of New York’s leading nonprofit Off-Broadway companies, driven by a mission to provoke conversations that have never happened and otherwise never would. Founded in 1986 by Bob LuPone (1946-2022) and Bernie Telsey, and later joined by co-Artistic Director Will Cantler, as a collective of artists leading peer-based classes to support their own development as actors, writers and directors, MCC fulfills its mission of through the production of world, American, and New York premiere plays and musicals that challenge artists and audiences to confront contemporary personal and social issues, and robust playwright development and education initiatives that foster the next generation of theater artists and students.

 

MCC Theater’s celebrated productions include Hansol Jung’s Lortel Award winning Wolf Play; Guadalís Del Carmen’s HOLA nominated Bees & Honey; Kate Nash’s Only Gold with a book by Andy Blankenbuehler and Ted Malawer; Donja R. Love’s soft; Ross Golan’s The Wrong Man; Aziza Barnes’ BLKS; Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play; Penelope Skinner’s The Village Bike; Robert Askins’ Hand to God (Broadway transfer; five 2015 Tony Award® nominations including Best Play); John Pollono’s Small Engine Repair; Paul Downs Colaizzo’s Really Really; Sharr White’s The Other Place(Broadway transfer); Jeff Talbott’s The Submission (Laurents/Hatcher Award); Neil LaBute’s reasons to be pretty (Broadway transfer, three 2009 Tony Award® nominations, including Best Play), Some Girl(s), Fat Pig, The Mercy Seat, and All The Ways To Say I Love You; Michael Weller’s Fifty Words; Alexi Kaye Campbell’s The Pride; Bryony Lavery’s Frozen (Broadway transfer; four 2004 Tony Award® nominations including Best Play, Tony Award® for Best Featured Actor); Tim Blake Nelson’s The Grey Zone; Rebecca Gilman’s The Glory of Living (2002 Pulitzer Prize finalist); Margaret Edson’s Wit (1999 Pulitzer Prize); and musicals including Alice by Heart, Ride the Cyclone, Carrie, and Coraline.  Many plays developed and produced by MCC have gone on to productions throughout the country and around the world. 

 

Over the years MCC has worked with thousands of students through the innovative MCC Youth Company, school partnerships, and student matinee programs.

 

Executive Director Blake West joined the company in 2006. MCC opened the doors to its new home in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space, on January 9, 2019, unifying the company’s activities under one roof for the first time and expanding its producing, artist development, and education programming. MCC founding Co-Artistic Director Bob LuPone sadly passed away on August 27, 2022. MCC continues to honor his fierce need for engagement with the art, the artists, and the audience and remember the profound impact he had on everyone who entered its spaces.