On September 12th, The Great American Trailer Park Musical will give a benefit performance for the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), where it premiered last year to packed houses and strong reviews. The rip-roaring musical begins previews on August 20th, and will open at Dodgers Stages (340 W. 50th St.) on September 15th
A party celebrating the Festival, with food, drinks, celebrity guests and more, will follow the benefit performance. The evening's festivities will be hosted by actors Sutton Foster (Little Women) and John Lithgow (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) as well as producers Rocco Landesman (Sweet Charity, Doubt) and Kevin McCollum (Avenue Q), and will kick off NYMF's 2005 Festival.Produced by Jean Doumanian and Jeffrey Richards, the musical will star Shuler Hensley (Tony Award for Oklahoma, "Van Helsing"), Orfeh (Saturday Night Fever, Love, Janis), Linda Hart (Hairspray, Anything Goes), Kaitlin Hopkins (Bat Boy, Noises Off, Bare), Leslie Kritzer (Hairspray, Bat Boy), Wayne Wilcox (A Man of No Importance, The Light in the Piazza)
and original cast member Marya Grandy. Markas Henry will design the
costumes, while Peter Fitzgerald will do the same for the sound; they
join previously-announced set designer Derek McLane and lighting
designer Donald Holder.
The Great American Trailer Park Musical, which was a hit at last summer's New York Musical Theatre Festival,will
be helmed by Betsy Kelso, who wrote the show's book to David Nehls'
country-and-blues music and lyrics. In the musical, "an agoraphobic
housewife must tear herself away from Dr. Phil long
enough to leave her trailer and save her marriage. Why the sudden fuss
after
being safely tucked away for nearly 20 years? Armadillo Acres' newest
tenant--a hot, young stripper with an questionable agenda. With
guidance from a trailer-trash style Greek Chorus (three local women
with phobias, neurosis and hang-ups of their own), the story unfolds."The 2005 New York Musical Theatre Festival runs September 12th – October 2nd in various off-Broadway theaters in the Times Square area. Festival passes are currently on sale and individual tickets will be made available to the public on August 29th.
Tickets for the Gala are $150.00 and include the preview performance and gala celebration. For additional information (on both the gala and NYMF) and ticket purchases, please go to www.nymf.org or call 212-664-0979. To learn more about The Great American Trailer Park Musical, visit www.trailerparkmusical.com.
