Wetherhead, Hanlon Set for Musical Monday's Queen Esther

A new musical based on the story of Purim, from the 2006 Drama Desk and Tony Honored BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, will play at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre, Monday April 23, at 6PM. The show, Queen Esther, follows the titular character as she rises from being the poorest girl in her village to Queen of Persia. When the King's advisor, Haaman, states his intention to kill her people, she is forced to choose between revealing her Jewish identity or enjoying her new life as Queen.

Press notes state, "This hilarious and energetic piece is the first work by composer Joshua Salzman and bookwriter/lyricist Ryan Cunningham since their off-Broadway debut last season, I Love You Because.  The show earned the team a Drama Desk nomination, spawned a cast-album and prompted the Associated Press to call the show 'A promising debut of a new song-writing duo.'"

The 60-minute show stars Kate Wetherhead (Spelling Bee, Legally Blonde), Colin Hanlon (Rent, I Love You Because), and Michael Holmes (Oklahoma, The Producers), featuring Salzman on piano and Cunningham as Esther's cow-milking Uncle Mordechai.

Now in its ninth year, Musical Mondays Theatre Lab, founded by Bick Goss, develops new works for the musical theater.To date, twelve of the musicals developed by MMTL have gone on to other venues (off-Broadway and regional theaters) and five of the writers (or writing teams) have been commissioned to write new works for both not-for-profit and the commercial theater.   MMTL presented early works of Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez (Avenue Q), Tom Kitt and Amanda Green (High Fidelity) and the 2007 Richard Rodgers Award Winning musical Calvin Berger, by Barry Wyner. 

Admission is $10.00, for reservations call (212) 989-6706. Queen Esther runs at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre, April 23 at 6PM, on Broadway at 76th, on the third floor.  Visit www.bmi.com for more information on BMI.

Photo - Kate Wetherhead