UNEXPECTED JOY Musical Makes World Premiere Tonight at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater

Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater presents the world premiere of UNEXPECTED JOY, starring Sally Mayes, Lacretta, Michele Duffy, and Charity Farrell.

UNEXPECTED JOY is directed by Lynne Taylor Corbett, with Musical Direction and Additional Vocal Arrangements by Gillian Berkowitz. This musical by Bill Russell and Janet Hood is produced in association with Jim Kierstead, Linda & Craig Wielkotz, and Gabby Hanna & Marcy Feller. Casting is by Stephen DeAngelis. UNEXPECTED JOY opens tonight, July 21, running Wednesdays-Mondays through August 20.

Sally made her Broadway debut in Cy Coleman's Welcome to the Club. Her performance won critical praise along with a Theater World Award and Outer Critics Circle nomination as one of Broadway's Outstanding Newcomers. On Broadway, Sally is perhaps best known for her performance in the Roundabout Theater revival of She Loves Me for which she won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations. Sally appeared as Aunt Corene in Urban Cowboy (Drama Desk nomination). She drew raves as Mae West in the National Tour of Dirty Blonde and also appeared in the Broadway revival of Steel Magnolias. Sally Starred in several Off-Broadway productions including Closer Than Ever (Outer Critics Circle nomination), Das Barbecu, Pete n' Keely (Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Musical), Play It Cool, Good Ol' Girls, and The Best is Yet to Come. Film and Television credits include Alpha House, City Hall, Double Parked and Bye Bye Birdie, Law and Order Criminal Intent, Sex and the City and The Job. Sally also appears on countless cast recordings including, Closer Than Ever, She Loves Me, Das Barbecu, Bye Bye Birdie, Lost in Boston, Unsung Musicals, Unsung Sondheim, and Night of the Hunter, to mention a few. Sally has five solo albums, The Dorothy Fields Songbook, Our Private World: The Comden and Green Songbook, The Story Hour, Boys and Girls Like You and Me, and Valentine. Sally's much anticipated nightclub appearances have garnered her rave reviews from coast to coast; she has been nominated for twelve Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs (MAC) awards, and has won two Back Stage Bistro awards for excellence in cabaret and recording.

Most recently, Lacretta made her Broadway debut in Disaster! Select credits: Broadway National Tours: The Book of Mormon (Latter Day). Regional: A Wrinkle in Time (Coterie), Legally Blonde (Barter), All Shook Up (FRP), Ragtime (PCS), Avenue Q (Barter) Hairspray (Broadway Rose). Opera: Carmen (Carmen), Gianni Schicchi (Zita), The Theory of Everything (Nightclub Singer, Pa'qo). Guest Soloist: Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra, The Amanda McBroom Project. Workshops: Disaster! The Musical, This One Girl's Story (Gayfest), Street Lights (Joe Drymala) Harlem Ladies...(York Theatre). Television: Street Revenge (Law & Order: SVU) Game Over (30 Rock).

Michelle Duffy made her Broadway debut in the Tony-nominated Alan Menken musical Leap of Faith and her off-Broadway debut in 2014 in Heathers: The Musical originating the roles of Susie Raylove in the former and Ms. Fleming and Veronica's Mother in the latter. She's on the original soundtrack recordings of both shows. She also originated the roles of Cynthia in First Wives Club: The Musical at The Oriental Theater in Chicago and Dani in Gettin' The Band Back Together, directed by John Rando, at George Street Theater and most recently played Brooke Wyeth in Rubicon Theater's Other Desert Cities. Recent tv credits include guest star roles on "The Good Wife" and "Elementary", the HBO miniseries "Crime" and "The Carrie Diaries" and this fall completed filming in three indie features: "Pitching Tents" ,"The Hudson Tribes", and "Atlantic Motel". Michelle is currently developing her own show "Tenn O'Clock Cocktails" based on the work of Tennessee Williams. Having worked extensively in theater throughout Chicago and the west coast before finally coming to NYC, she has been the recipient of Ovation, Bay Area Theater Critics Circle, Garland, and Wilde Awards and is a three-time nominee for the Joseph Jefferson.

Charity Farrell's New York credits include Peace, Love and Cupcakes, John 8, Madame Infamy: the Concert; and regionally Fiddler on the Roof, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Film) The Father and the Bear, Forevers End, and How It Ends.

UNEXPECTED JOY has book and lyrics by Tony nominee Bill Russell (Side Show, Lucky Duck) and music by Janet Hood. It marks the first collaboration between the two since their song cycle Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, which was inspired by the AIDS memorial quilT. Russell is a Tony Award nominee for book and lyrics to Side Show, on which he collaborated with Dreamgirls composer Henry Krieger. Russell has also penned book and lyrics to The Last Smoker in America and Kept.

According to the authors, "UNEXPECTED JOY is a new musical about four women - all of them singers, but of various experience and success: Joy, a baby-boomer, her daughter Rachel, Rachel's daughter Tamara, and Lou, the woman Joy is intending to marry. But Joy hasn't told Rachel about her wedding plans and has good reason to be apprehensive. Rachel is married to a successful televangelist and performs regularly on his TV show. And Lou is a self-described lesbian terrorist. When the family comes together for a concert honoring Rachel's father (her mother never married him), the sparks and music fly!"

IF YOU GO:

UNEXPECTED JOY
A World Premiere Musical
Produced by Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater in association with Jim Kierstead
Book and Lyrics by Bill Russell; Music by Janet Hood
Directed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett
Musical Direction by Gillian Berkowitz
July 21 - August 20, 2016
Previews July 21 and 22
Performances Wednesday-Monday at 8:00PM
Sunday July 31, August 7 & August 14 at 3:00PM & 8:00PM
Tickets: $20-$50
Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater
2357 Route 6, Wellfleet
508-349-9428
www.what.org

Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater is the award-winning theater company that inspired "a new vigor for theater on the Cape" (New York Times). In honor of the theater's namesake, Julie Harris, WHAT continues to be a sounding board for new and bold ideas, presenting "continually adventurous theater" (Boston Globe), and year-round programming.

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