Goodspeed Presents CARNIVAL!, 7/9-9/18

Two time Tony Award-winning Goodspeed Musicals is thrilled to present Carnival!. This musical love story will run from July 9 - Sept 18 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn. This production will be sponsored by Bank of America, Amica and Mohegan Sun. 

The magical and heart-warming tale of a naïve young woman who eagerly joins a traveling circus. Surrounded by a riot of acrobats and jugglers, music makers and clowns, she is dazzled at first by the troupe's manipulative magician. In the end she finds happiness with a disillusioned puppeteer who can only express himself through his delightful puppets. Based on the film Lili and with songs like "Love Makes the World Go Round" and "Her Face," Carnival! casts a romantic spell over the entire audience.

Carnival! features Music and Lyrics by Bob Merrill, Book by Michael Stewart, based on Material by Helen Deutsch with Revisions by Francine Pascal.

Lili will be played by Lauren Worsham. Paul will be played by Adam Monley who appeared on Broadway in Mamma Mia!. Mr. Monley played Dominique in The Norma Terris production of The Baker's Wife. Marco will be played by Mike McGowan whose Broadway credits include Ragtime, Grease, The Apple Tree and The Producers. Mr. McGowan previously performed in Goodspeed's 2001 production of They All Laughed. Rosalie will be played by Michelle Blakely who performed the Broadway revivals of Annie Get Your Gun and Grease. Jacquot will be played by Nathan Klau. Schlegel will be played by Laurent Giroux whose Broadway credits include The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Dancin' and Pippin. Mr. Giroux returns to Goodspeed where previously he played M. le Marquis in The Baker's Wife.

The ensemble will include Joshua Dean and Ben Franklin, co-founders for New York based aerial theatre company Suspended Cirque. Mr. Dean has performed around the world as a ballet, modern, and musical theater dancer. Mr. Franklin has performed all over the world as an actor/singer/dancer. He has worked in numerous regional theatres, national tours, world cruises, Off-Broadway, and Lincoln Center.

Price Waldman from Broadway's The Little Mermaid and Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! joins the ensemble. Mr. Waldman returns to Goodspeed where he previously performed in Sweeney Todd and Amour. Other members of the ensemble include Timothy Hughes, Kara Kimmer (Goodspeed's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), Robin Masella, Clifton Samuels, Amy Shure, Justin Urso and Dana Winkle (Goodspeed's Pippin and Mack & Mabel). The swings will be Miguel Edson and Melissa Steadman.

Carnival! will be directed by Darko Tresnjak, who directed Goodspeed Musicals' Amour and A Little Night Music. Carnival! will be choreographed by Peggy Hickey, whose previous Goodspeed Musicals credits include Brigadoon, King of Hearts, Amour, On The Twentieth Century, and A Little Night Music.

Scenic designs will be by David P. Gordon whose New York Credits include String Fever, Cheat, and Princess Turandot. Mr. Gordon also designed the Goodspeed production of A Little Night Music. Costume Design will be by Fabio Toblini. Mr. Toblini has served as Assistant Costume Designer for Broadway's Triumph of Love and assisted Costume Designer Ann Hould-Ward with her Broadway sensation Beauty and the Beast . Mr. Toblini served as Assistant Costume designer for Goodspeed's revival of Man of LaMancha in 2000. Lighting design will be by John Lasiter whose designs for Goodspeed Musicals include Annie Get Your Gun, Camelot, Big River and 1776. His off-Broadway credits include The Seagull, Common Vision, and Make Me A Song. Mr. Lasiter was Assistant Lighting Designer for the Broadway production of A Grand Night for Singing . Puppet designer for Carnival! will be Robert Smythe. Mr. Smythe is considered one of the foremost puppet artists in the United States. As the founder and Artistic Director of Mum Puppettheatre, the only regional theater in the United States devoted to puppetry, he wrote, directed and performed over 20 original productions using puppets, masks and human actors.

The Music Director for Carnival! will be Michael O'Flaherty. He is in his 19th season as Goodspeed's Resident Music Director. F. Wade Russo will be Assistant Music Director. Orchestrations will be provided by Dan DeLange, who provided the orchestrations for Goodspeed Musicals' Annie Get Your Gun, Camelot, 42nd Street, Half a Sixpence, High Button Shoes, Singin' in the Rain, The Boy Friend, Red Hot and Blue, Call Me Madam, and Babes in Arms. Carnival! is produced for Goodspeed Musicals by Michael P. Price.

Carnival! will run July 9 through September 18, 2010 [Official Press Opening August 4, 2010]. Curtain times are Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m. (with select performances at 2:00 p.m.), Friday at 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. (with select performances at 6:30 p.m.).

Tickets are available through the Box Office (860.873.8668), open seven days a week, or on-line at www.goodspeed.org. For show highlights, exclusive photos, special events and more visit us at goodspeed.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Dedicated to the preservation and advancement of musical theatre, Goodspeed Musicals produces three musicals each season at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn., and additional productions at The Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, Conn., which was opened in 1984 for the development of new musicals. The only regional theatre to receive two Tony Awards (for outstanding achievement), Goodspeed also maintains The Scherer Library of Musical Theatre and The Max Showalter Center for Education in the Musical Theater. Goodspeed gratefully acknowledges the support of assisting production sponsor Bank of America; supporting sponsors Amica and Mohegan Sun; and Sennheiser, the official audio sponsor of Goodspeed Musicals. Goodspeed Musicals is supported in part by the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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