The Children Runs as Part of NYMF, 9/12-9/24

The Children, a musical comedy based on the 1980 b-horror film of the same title, will be performed as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival.  Performances will run from September 12th through 24th at the TBG Theatre on 36th Street.

"A cloud of radioactive waste turns a school bus full of children into second-rate zombies, who proceed to track down and zap their negligent parents with an irradiated embrace. The social satire elements of the film (irresponsible parents, latch-key kids, fears of power plants in suburbia) are all parodied here," state press notes on the show, which was performed in spring of 1998 at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts Festival of the Arts, where it received top honors.  The show will be presented by Maffei Productions and NYFM.

The Children features music by Hal Goldberg (Nerds://A Musical Software Satire at '05 NYFM) and book and lyrics by Stan Richardson (plays such as wHormone and Colombus).  Tony Speciale will direct.

It was then revised, workshopped and had its Off-Off-Broadway debut in the Performance Club of the Obie-Award winning HERE Arts Center in the Fall of 1999, followed by a run at the Dorothy B. Williams Theater at HERE in the Spring of 2000. The Children: The Original Pre-Off-Broadway Cast Recording was released in December of 2000.

The musical is based upon the motion picture The Children produced by Carlton J. Albright.  

Maffei Productions LLC is comprised of Gary and Charlie Maffei. Recent projects include Lonely Street, Legally Blonde, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and HATS! (associate producer).  

The New York Musical Theatre Festival, now in its third year, is a three-week event in NYC that has premiered over 70 musicals in its first two years, becoming the largest musical theatre event in American history. Hailed as "the Sundance of Musical Theatre," it is now widely regarded among the entertainment industry as the key source for new material and talent discovery. NYMF is a flagship program of the National Music Theater Network, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, is produced in association with Virgin Megastores, Playbill and New World Stages, and proudly supported by Verizon Wireless, the IN:NYC Card, amNewYork, Village Voice, WB11, Receptasign, King Displays, WNYC, Reuters Financial, Niaterra, Rosco Lighting, TheaterMania.com, BroadwayWorld.com, Broadway.com, Izze, Manhattan Living, HX, Zero In Media, Panasonic Astrovision, Next, BroadwayBox.com, HotNYCdeals.com and TheMenEvent.com.

The performance schedule is: 9/12 at 8PM (Preview), 9/15 at 8PM, 9/16 at 1PM and at 8PM, 9/20 at 1PM, 9/24 at 1PM. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased through Theatermania.com or TheChildrenTheWebsite.com. Pre-orders can be submitted to Maffei Productions, 253 West 35th St, 16th Floor. Include $20 per seat and indicate date and time of show requested.

For more information, images and sound bytes, visit www.thechildrenthewebsite.com.