The Pirate Queen's Broadway Castcom Launches 1/30

Castcom, featuring the upcoming Broadway musical The Pirate Queen by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, will be launched on Tuesday, January 30th, 2007, leading up to the first preview on March 6th, 2007.

Castcom will feature new video diaries, interviews, and behind the scenes footage. Hundreds of thousands of people viewed castcom, while The Pirate Queen prepared for its world premiere at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago this fall. Castcom is a first for a musical theatre production and you are invited to join the company as they continue on their journey to Broadway. 

According to press notes, "The Pirate Queen Castcom is an on-line web communication which gives our cast and creatives an opportunity to tell you their story and bring you, our viewer, behind the scenes on our journey to bring a major new musical to the Broadway stage."

"With sweeping melodies and joyous Irish dancing, The Pirate Queen celebrates the real-life story of Ireland's bravest heroine Grace O'Malley.  To protect her people and save her one true love, O'Malley must confront the one woman more powerful than her, Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Commissioned and produced by Moya Doherty and John McColgan, the producers of Riverdance, this new musical combines classic storytelling and a sweeping score, with the powerful, vibrant traditions of Irish dance and song, to create a modern musical event that is both an historic romance and a timeless epic."

The Pirate Queen features a new score from the Tony Award-winning team of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg (Les Miserables, Miss Saigon).  The new musical will be directed by Tony Award-winner Frank Galati (Ragtime) with musical staging by Graciela Daniele (Bernarda Alba).

The cast of 42 is led by Stephanie J. Block (Grace O'Malley), Hadley Fraser(Tiernan), Linda Balgord (Queen Elizabeth I), Marcus Chait (Donal), Jeff McCarthy (Dubhdara) and William Youmans (Bingham).

The creative team also includes choreographer Mark Dendy, who recently worked at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on Julie Taymor's The Magic Flute; John Dempsey (Witches of Eastwick), who has co-written the lyrics; and Richard Maltby, Jr., (Miss Saigon, co-lyricist; Ain't Misbehavin', conceived/direction), who will work with the writing team on  book and lyrics.  Julian Kelly is the show's orchestrator, vocal arranger and musical supervisor and director.

The show will feature sets by three-time Tony Award-winner Eugene Lee (Wicked), costumes by two-time Tony Award-winner Martin Pakledinaz (Kiss Me, Kate), lighting by four-time Tony-nominee Kenneth Posner (Wicked), and sound by Jonathan Deans (Ragtime).

Tickets are currently available online at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster at (212)307-4100. Tickets are also available at the Hilton Theatre Box Office (213 West 42nd Street, NYC).

Log on today to www.ThePirateQueen.com/castcom to catch up on the Castcom archive from fall 2006.