Smoking Bloomberg Wafts to NYMF, 9/13-9/24

The New York Musical Theatre Festival and AnyMinuteNow Productions will present the New York premiere of Smoking Bloomberg, a raucous musical comedy with book, music and lyrics by David Cornue, Sam Holtzapple, Warren Loy and Chris Todd.  Directed by John Ruocco, the show will play a strictly-limited, six-performance engagement as part of the third annual New York Musical Theatre Festival.  Performances begin on Wednesday, September 13th at The Theatre at St. Clements (423 West 46th Street).

Smoking Bloomberg "is a musical satire about a Korean dry cleaner's quest for revenge against Mayor Bloomberg and the smoking ban that has ruined her business.  Full of pissed-off New Yorkers, rich white guys, and potential WMDs, the show offers a biting, irreverent lampoon of American democracy and the individual's place within it," according to press notes.

The show was selected as AnyMinuteNow's Next Big Musical in the company's first competition held on May 22, 2006.  "AnyMinuteNow, a not-for-profit community of vibrant professional artists committed to simple, compelling story-telling and to nurturing and educating new voices in every aspect of the musical theater, initiated the competition in January, 2006.  Writers were invited to submit ensemble musicals that had some previous development but had never received a New York production.  From there, the field was narrowed to three finalists, each of which received a table read. Finally, the competition culminated with a public performance of excerpts of each musical finalist before a panel of guest judges which included director Michael Allosso (AnyMinuteNow's Triumph of Love), Rob Hartmann (composer and teacher, NYU Graduate Musical Writing Program) and producer Jennifer Maloney (Chita Rivera: A Dancer's Life, I Love You Because, "As the World Turns").  Both the judges and audience declared Smoking Bloomberg the strongest piece of the evening.

The cast includes Davis Duffield, Christopher Guilmet, Anthony Holds, Edward Juvier (Les Miserables), Francis Kelly, Doan MacKenzie (You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown; The King And I), Jihyen Park (Miss Saigon, The King and I) in the lead role of Kim, Blair Ross (42nd Street), Debargo Sanyal, Tina Stafford, Bronwyn Stayoch and Matt Witten.

Smoking Bloomberg has scenic design by Rob Odorisio and costume design by Leon Dobkowski.

The show will be performed at The Theatre at St. Clements (423 W. 46th Street). The performance schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, September 13th at 8:00 pm
Saturday, September 16th at 5:00 pm
Saturday, September 16th at 9:00 pm
Wednesday, September 20th at 5:00 pm
Saturday, September 23rd at 1:00 pm
Sunday, September 24th at 8:00 pm

Individual tickets for Smoking Bloomberg are $20.00 and are available online at www.NYMF.org or by calling www.TheaterMania.com at 212-352-3101 beginning September 1, 2006.  NYMF Memberships - securing tickets to multiple NYMF productions and events - are currently available (Silver Membership - $60, including a $20 tax-deductible donation; Gold Membership - $100, including a $30 tax-deductible donation; and Platinum Membership -$250, including a $45 tax-deductible donation).  For more information, visit www.NYMF.org.