The Gallery Players Presents TOP OF THE HEAP 10/24-11/8

The Gallery Players, three-time recipient of the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical, is proud to announce casting and creative team for its fall musical: Top of the Heap. Based in 1950s Brooklyn, Top of the Heap follows Like You Like It and Yank! A new musical in The Gallery Players' tradition of championing new, undiscovered hit musicals. Top of the Heap makes its Brooklyn premiere with a limited engagement: October 24-November 8, 2009.

It's New York City, 1955. The Brooklyn Dodgers are about to square off with the Yankees in a World Series that will net "dem bums" their first title in fifty-five years. So, T.V.'s most popular variety program, ‘Top of the Heap,' is headed to Brooklyn for a live, remote broadcast tied into the Series. A struggling pair of nightclub comics see this as a chance to bluff their way out of the dives where they perform and into television. But, they soon discover just how high a price they'll have to pay. Top of the Heap features a timeless jazz-inflected score with Music by Jeffrey Lodin and Book and Lyrics by William Squier. The Stamford Advocate called Top of the Heap, "A gritty musical that takes a look at the darker side of showbiz."

Top of the Heap is directed by The Gallery Players' Executive Director, Neal J. Freeman (Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Gallery Players; Ensemble Studio Theatre; Sonnet Rep): "Directing Top of the Heap at The Gallery Players is a special privilege for me. As a Brooklyn-based artist, it is easy for me to identify with the struggle of the two leads against the odds to make something special happen for themselves in their home borough. As I walk to rehearsal every day, I imagine the characters working and living on a street just like ours some 50 years ago, and it is both humbling and exhilarating to step into the theater and help to bring the story to life on our stage. I read the piece before listening to it and was immediately captured by the elegance of the story telling. Hearing the wonderfully unique and jazzy score sealed the deal. I knew this was a piece I wanted to direct."

The cast of Top of the Heap features stars of National Broadway Tours, Regional musical theatre and beyond: Josh Bates, Ray Bendana*, Ronn Burton, John Cardenas, Tina Marie Casamento*(First National Broadway Tours: Kiss me Kate, Victor/Victoria), Kristin Farrell*, Roy Flores, Carolyn Hartvigsen, Greg Horton*, Lorinne Lampert*, Kenny Wade Marshall*, David Perlman*(The Who's Tommy, The Gallery Players), Anette Michelle Sanders*(First National Tour, Mamma Mia!; Neil Simon's The Dinner Party, Mark Taper Forum & Kennedy Center - Original Cast), Hollis Scarborough* (Regional: Hairspray Las Vegas; Like You Like It, The Gallery Players), Natasha Soto-Albors* and James Andrew Walsh* *denotes member, Actor's Equity Association.

The Gallery Players' Executive Director Neal J. Freeman (director) and Artistic Director Heather Siobhan Curran (producer for The Gallery Players) lead a creative team that frequents the theatre: Musical Director: Lilli Wosk, Choreographer: Katharine Pettit, Set Design: Ann Bartek, Costume Design: Megan Q. Dudley, Lighting Design: Tsubasa Kamei (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, Eve Adamson Award), Video Design: Nicholas Meyer, Production Stage Manager: Caitlin Orr, Associate Set Design/Properties: Elyse Handelman

Top of the Heap gets its Brooklyn premiere with a limited engagement starting Saturday, October 24, 2009 and runs Thursdays, Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 2pm & 8pm and Sundays at 3pm through November 8, 2009.

Tickets to Top of the Heap are $18 for adults, $14 for Seniors & Children 12 and under, and can be purchased by calling TheaterMania at (212) 352-3101, or online at www.galleryplayers.com. The Gallery Players is located at 199 14th St., between 4th and 5th Avenues in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Take the F Train to 4th Ave. or the R Train to 9th Street. By car: BQE to Hamilton Avenue to 14th Street.

Top of the Heap began in the Tony-Honored BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, and was further developed at: the Broadway Theater Institute, CAP 21, the Dramatist's Guild, New American Theater (Rockford, IL), Theater Building Chicago and York Theater Company. It received its first full staging at Curtain Call, Inc., (Stamford, CT) in 2004. Top of the Heap was one of the winners of the 2006 Global Search for New Musicals and presented at the Cardiff International Festival of Musical Theater. It spent five weeks in 2007 at the Spirit of Broadway Theater (Norwich, CT), where it received the National Music Theater Network's ‘Director's Choice' Award, then was performed at the New York Musical Theater Festival. Jeffrey Lodin & William Squier's other collaborations include theatre, film and television: 100 Years into the Heart (NYMF 04, book: Richard Vetere), Rebels 1775 (co-book: J. Allen, M. Allen), Blindsided By A Diaper (book: Dana Hilmer & W. Squier), Disney's Doug Live! (Walt Disney World); television: P.B.&J. Otter (Disney Channel); film: Doug's First Movie. William Squier (Book & Lyrics) is an Emmy Award winner (WKYC-TV's Unusual Phenomenon).

A New York institution since 1967, The Gallery Players has served actors and audiences alike for more than 4 decades by showcasing burgeoning new talent and offering a home base for theater professionals. Its eclectic programming of intimate revivals and ambitious new work in inventive productions has earned it the reputation of "New York's Best Kept Secret." The Gallery Players is the recipient of the Off-Off Broadway Review's 2000 Award for Lifetime Achievement and is the three-time recipient of New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical in 2007, 2008 and 2009 for their productions of Urinetown! The musical, Yank! A New Musical and Like You Like It. Among its famous alumni are founding member Harvey Fierstein; Broadway regulars Nancy Anderson, Jeffry Denman and Diedre Goodwin; New York theater personality Seth Rudetsky and many others.

The Gallery Players' 43rd season continues with Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge December 5-December 20, 2009, Caroline, or Change, running January 30-February 21, 2010, Arthur Miller's The Crucible March 20-April 4th 2010, City of Angels May 1-23, 2010, and closes with The 13th Annual Black Box New Play Festival, June 10-27, 2010. For more information and subscriptions to The Gallery Players' 43rd season, visit www.galleryplayers.com.