Tony Nominee Willy Falk to Star in LIGHTER: A NEW MUSICAL COMEDY at NYMF

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) and Nothing to Lose Productions are proud to present present LIGHTER with Book, Music & Lyrics by Monica Bauer, Music Arrangements by Brent-Alan Huffman, choreography by DJ Salisbury, and directed by Craig J. George.

The seven-member cast includes Cicely Daniels (Broadway: The Little Mermaid, Rent, All Shook Up) as Lulu, Willy Falk (Broadway: Tony nominee for Chris in the original cast of Miss Saigon, Les Miserables, A Chorus Line) as Dr. Dan, Dierdre Friel (Regional: Portland Stage, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, London.; Television: "The Sopranos") as Connie, Eric Leviton (Touring: The Full Monty, Seussical) as Stevie, Marguerite Willbanks (Broadway: Beauty and Beast) as Sister Rose, Cathy Prince as Jane and Charly Seamon as Helen.

The limited 6-performance engagement begins Monday, October 5, 2009 and will continue through Saturday, October 17, 2009 at TBG Theater (312 West 36th Street). For more information, visit www.lighterthemusical.com.

LIGHTER is an original musical comedy about two diet-crossed lovers. Stevie and Connie seem like the ideal couple until a humiliating search for a size sixteen wedding dress pushes Connie to leave her chubby would-be-hubby to become a fanatical follower of Dr. Dan, diet guru and host of American Weight Loss Idol. Soon Connie is starring on TV as his newest singing weight-loss sensation, prompting love-lorn Stevie, her Jamician friend Lulu, and Sister Rose the Nutrition Nun to stop her before she becomes the ultimate Skinny Bitch.

Playwright, librettist, composer, and lyricist Monica Bauer has had work produced in Boston, Chicago, San Diego, Denver, Atlanta, and off-off Broadway. Awards include Outstanding Playwriting (Midtown International Theater Festival 2008, The Higher Education of Khalid Amir), Audience Favorite Award (Atlantis PlayMakers, My Trip to the State Pen) and Finalist for the 2008 Heideman Award (Answering). Published plays include The Diet Monologues (JAC Publications), My Trip to the State Pen, The Drug Problem, and The Most Important Thing (Brooklyn). Critical praise for Bauer's work: Dan Bacalzo in TheaterMania has called Bauer's writing "engaging and witty, prompting plenty of laughter" (reviewing The Maternal Instinct, MITF 2006). Ron Cohen,, writing for Backstage, wrote that "Bauer's music has a tuneful piquancy, and her lyrics more often than not hit a smile-provoking bull's-eye" (Diet Monologues: The Musical, off-off Broadway, 2007).

Craig J. George (Director) Off-Broadway: Taming of the Shrew at the Duke on 42nd Street. Regional: World Premiere of The Aperture by Sean Christopher Lewis (Cleveland Public Theatre & FringeNYC 2009),Measure for Measure (Cleveland Public Theatre); Alfred Kinsey: A Love Story (Michael Weller Theater).

Brent-Alan Huffman (Music Director and Arranger): Broadway and Touring: assistant conductor for The Little Mermaid, Beauty And The Beast (conducted the Broadway and National Touring companies). A nominee for "Outstanding Music Director" by the 2008 NAACP Theatre Awards for his work on the world premiere of Sister Act, he is Music Director of the upcoming Broadway musical Leap of Faith.

DJ Salisbury (Choreographer). Regional:Paper Mill Playhouse, ArtsCenter of Coastal Carolina, Lyric Theater of Oklahoma, West Virginia Public, Dallas Summer Musicals, Theatre of the Stars-Atlanta, Sacramento Music Circus, NY's Gateway Playhouse and Florida's Riverside Theatre. In 2008, DJ created the choreography for ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" Road Trip and the Rachael Ray "Dance Off!" Show.

The creative team includes Jonathan Collins (Scenic Design), Amelia Pedigo-Otto (Costume Design), and Simon Cleveland (Lighting Design).

Lighter will play the following performance schedule: Monday, October 5th at 8:00 p.m., Wednesday, October 7th at 4:30 p.m., Sunday, October 11th at 1:00 p.m., Wednesday, October 14th at 8:00 p.m., Friday, October 16th at 4:30 p.m. and Saturday, October 17th at 8:00 p.m.

Tickets to individual festival events are now on sale to NYMF Members and will go on sale to the general public on September 1. NYMF Memberships, which combine charitable contributions with valuable, flexible ticket packages and perks like early seating, are currently available for purchase at (212) 352-3101 or www.nymf.org

Hailed as "the Sundance of Musical Theatre," the three-week annual festival works to revitalize one of America's greatest art forms by discovering, supporting and promoting new musical theater artists, producers, and projects, and by introducing a diverse audience to the vibrancy of contemporary musical theater. Widely regarded as the essential source for new material and talent discovery, NYMF is the flagship program of National Music Theater Network, Inc., a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization. NYMF 2009 is presented in association with BroadwayWorld.com, Production Resource Group and TheaterMania.com, and is supported by Back Stage, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, BroadwayBox.com, BroadwayInsider.com, Broadway.TV, Clear Channel Spectacolor, DFD-TV, Frank & Camille's Fine Pianos, King Displays, Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, New World Stages, NASDAQ OMX, Next Magazine, Queerty.com, Reuters, Sweet Caroline's, Tekserve, TheMenEvent.com, The Tank, and Times Square Squared. Major supporters include The ASCAP Foundation, BMI Foundation, Inc., The Nathan Cummings Foundation with the support and encouragement of Jamie Mayer, The Charlie & Jane Fink Charitable Fund, The Rodgers & Hammerstein Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and The Theater League. NYMF is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.