How Now, Dow Jones With Litzsinger, Hanlon, Berman In Development For Fringe

UnsungMusicalsCo. is proud to announce the development of a new production of How Now, Dow Jones (www.HowNowDowJones.com) starring Sarah Litzsinger (Beauty and the Beast), Colin Hanlon (Rent) and FrEd Berman (The Normal Heart). With book by Max Shulman, music by Academy Award winner Elmer Bernstein and lyrics by Tony Award nominee Carolyn Leigh, this newly revised version will be presented as part of the 2009 New York International Fringe Festival.

How Now, Dow Jones is a zany 1968 musical comedy that follows Kate, the voice of Dow Jones, whose fiancé won't marry her until the Dow Jones Averages hit 1,000! Bribery, adultery and neurotic Republicans are abound in this madcap and timely tale set in the heart of Wall Street.

As revised and directed by Ben West (Old Acquaintance), this new version will be performed without an intermission by a cast of eight. The Tony-nominated score will feature three new songs: "Don't Let a Good Thing Get Away", "Where You Are" and "Touch and Go"; all cut from the original Broadway production. Additionally, four major roles and The Ensemble have been eliminated while five musical numbers have been cut.

The production also stars Shane Bland (Bombay Dreams), Dennis O'Bannion (White Christmas), Elon Rutberg (The Black Monk) and Cori Silberman (Movie Geek) with choreography by Rommy Sandhu (Applause, Mary Poppins) and music direction and arrangements by Fran Minarik (Sessions, The J.A.P. Show). Chris Aniello (Fela!) is the general manager.

Dates for this developmental Fringe Festival production will be announced shortly. Tickets are available starting July 24 by visiting www.FringeNYC.org or calling 866-468-7619. Visit: www.HowNowDowJones.com. The Fringe Festival runs August 14 - 30.

The original Broadway production of How Now, Dow Jones opened on December 7, 1967 starring Tony Roberts, Marlyn Mason and Brenda Vaccaro. The David Merrick production was directed by George Abbott with choreography by Gillian Lynne (and an uncredited Michael Bennett). It played 220 performances and was nominated for six Tony Awards including Best Musical, winning one for co-star Hiram Sherman. The musical, originally presented with a cast of over 40 actors, has been rarely performed since.

Sarah Litzsinger is Broadway's longest running Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Other Broadway credits include Marilyn: An American Fable, Oliver! (Bet), Les Miserables (Eponine/Cosette) and Amour (Madeleine). Sarah also played Eva Peron in the 25th anniversary tour of Evita and starred as the Narrator opposite Donny Osmond in Joseph...Dreamcoat (the Canadian Company). Some of her other favorite roles are: Cathy in The Last 5 Years, Susan in Tick, Tick...Boom!, and Cordelia in Falsettos (George Street Playhouse). Sarah is also the recipient of the 2007 Breakout Award at the HBO Aspen comedy Festival (for her comedy act she wrote and starred in with partner, Kate Reinders). She also performed this act at the TBS Comedy Festival at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas in 2008.

Colin Hanlon was most recently Jon in tick, tick...Boom! at Westport Country Playhouse (dir. Scott Schwartz). Broadway/Off-B'way: Rent (every white guy in the show), Pirates of Penzance (Frederic) and I Love You Because (Austin) (CD on PS Classics). Regionally, Colin spent 3 seasons at George Street Playhouse doing tick, tick...Boom!, The Last Five Years and Falsettos. He's also worked at the Adirondack Theatre Festival, Cape Cod Theatre Festival and 2 seasons at the O'Neill Theatre Conference. He was in the first professional production of Edges by Pasek & Paul. Recently, Colin was in Jim Henson's Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas at Goodspeed and the world premiere of Sarah, Plain and Tall (dir. Joe Calarco) at the Dallas Theater Center. Upcoming projects: Writing Arthur and Next Thing You Know.

FrEd Berman Off Broadway: Bury The Dead, Room Service, Shockheaded Peter, The Normal Heart, The Vocal Lords (Theatre at St. Clements), Theda Bara and The Frontier Rabbi (York), To Paint The Earth (NYMF), The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde (NYMF), Twelfth Night & A Midsummer Night's Dream (NY Classical). Regional: Paper Mill Playhouse, Geva, Huntington, O'Neill Theatre Center, North Shore Music Theatre, New Repertory, Cleveland Play House, Maltz Jupiter, Texas Shakespeare Festival, two Nat'l tours. Film/Television: "Law & Order"; "Law & Order: CI"; "Daily Pops (MTV pilot)"; "All My Children"; Twelve Thirty, A Very Special Episode, Chicago Ten, ReDirecting Eddie, Goin' Down, Four Letter Words, Him!, tons of voice-overs and commercials.

Shane Bland Credits include Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bombay Dreams (Original Broadway Cast, 1st US Tour ); Disney's The Lion King (Toronto Company); Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Montreal); and Harold Prince's Show Boat (Canada, 1st US Tour). Regional credits include the Genie in Disney's Aladdin Jr., The Producers, J.C. Superstar, Peter Pan, Man of La Mancha and Enter the Guardsman. Shane has made appearances on Live! With Regis & Kelly, ABC's Good Morning America, and on NBC's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Shane can also be seen in the opening credits of the documentary Show Business: The Road to Broadway!

Dennis O'Bannion most recently performed in Irving Berlin's White Christmas at the Fox Theatre. Favorite credits include Candide (New York City Opera), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Cape Playhouse, Regional Premiere), Meet Me in St. Louis and Hello Dolly! with choreographer Mia Michaels (Paper Mill Playhouse).

Elon Rutberg most recently appeared Off-Broadway in Wendy Kesselman's The Black Monk opposite Austin Pendleton (Beckett Theater/Theatre Row). New York credits include the world premieres of Pulitzer Prize-nominee Steven Drukman's Fox Hollow (LinhArt Theatre), Sean Keogh's Rainy Day People (2nd Ave Theater) and the New York premiere of Charles Mee's Full Circle (Loewe Theatre). TV: Fox's "On the Lot". Also a writer, director and musician, Elon won a 2005 Emmy Award for his telecast writing work on the PBS "Great Performances" broadcast of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Passion. Training: NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/PHTS.

CORI SILBERMAN Previous New York credits include: Company (Sarah), Falsettos (Dr. Charlotte), As It Is In Heaven (Sister Phoebe), Parade (Nurse), Between Daylight and Boonville (Marlene), and Fen (Multiple characters). Currently, Cori splits her time between performing and producing having produced Movie Geek and Lost: How A Certain TV Mega Hunk Stole My Identity at FringeNYC and Off-Broadway. Cori is pleased to be part of the original programming team at AMC-TV.

Ben West Broadway: Old Acquaintance, assistant director and dramaturg; August: Osage County and The Homecoming, assistant producer. Other assistant directing credits include the Ravinia Festival production of Gypsy starring Patti LuPone, Gunmetal Blues starring Alison Fraser and the premieres of David Grimm's Chick: The Great Osram, Neil Sedaka's Breaking Up is Hard to Do and Mary Pat Gleason's Stopping Traffic. Acting credits include Of Thee I Sing at Paper Mill Playhouse and the 1993 world premiere musical Chaplin. He has also worked in various capacities on the Broadway productions of Talk Radio and Spring Awakening.

Rommy Sandhu has been choreographing and performing across the country for over 15 years. Recent choreography: Encores! Applause (Assoc. to K. Marshall), ...Tom Sawyer (Assoc. to D. Marquez), The Ark (Assoc. to R. Roderick), Breaking Up is Hard to Do (Assoc. to L. Shriver), Ragtime, The Pajama Game, NYC 2012 (Asst. to K. Marshall), Singing...Rain, Jack Price (Corrican Theatre, NY), BC/EFA Fundraisers Gypsy Of The Year and Easter Bonnet; Fascinatin' Rhythm (Assoc. to D. Marquez), Maury Yeston's Hans Christian Anderson (Assoc. to G. Thacher); pre-Broadway workshops: Thoroughly Modern Millie and The Billy Joel Songbook Musical. Performing: Dance Captain for S. Stroman, K. Marshall and M. Bourne appearing on Broadway in Mary Poppins, Bombay Dreams, Oklahoma!, Annie Get Your Gun, On The Town, The Life, among others. National Tours: Carousel, Kiss Me Kate and Evita.

Fran Minarik has appeared on-stage accompanying Jackie Hoffman in The J.A.P. Show. His music has recently been heard in the documentaries The Making of "The Boys in the Band" and When Ocean Meets Sky and in the short film The Rub. His recent Musical Direction/Conducting credits include the Broadway production of In My Life (Associate Conductor), Sessions, My Way and Smokey Joe's Cafe at the Lyric Theatre and 1776 at Ford's Theatre. He orchestrated the opening for Broadway Bares XII: A Comic Strip and appeared with Susan Lucci on "All My Children".

UNSUNGMUSICALSCO. INC. is a not-for-profit Production Company dedicated to the preservation of musical theatre through the presentation of infrequently performed musicals. It is the belief of UMC that the musical form must be advanced by looking to the musicals of the past, particularly those that are lesser-known. UMC does not seek to present these shows simply as they existed but rather to present them anew, treating each property as a new musical thereby providing a unique collaboration between the artists of today and those of the past.

 

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