Michael McCorry Rose, Mary Testa and More Will Lead Reading of ELYSIAN FIELDS

An industry reading of Elysian Fields... a new musical will be presented on Tuesday, October 22nd at 2:00pm at Pearl Studios, 500 8th Avenue, Room 301.

Starring in the reading are Michael McCorry Rose (The Queen of Versailles, Wicked, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder), Max Chernin (Parade, Sunday in the Park with George), Anthony Wayne (Tina, Tootsie, Once On This Island, Pippin, The Color Purple, A Chorus Line, Anything Goes, Priscilla Queen of the Desert), Bianca Leigh (Oh, Mary!, The Nap), Mary Testa (Oklahoma!, Wicked, Guys & Dolls, 42nd Street, Marie Christine, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum), Matt Allen (Once Upon A One More Time, Escape to Margaritaville, The Wedding Singer, Something Rotten, Honeymoon in Vegas, Oklahoma!, Annie Get Your Gun), Stephanie Rosenberg (Saw, Moulin Rouge, Our Town, The Best Man), and Jake Swain (Mean Girls).

The reading is being produced by St. Pete Productions and ElysianOnBroadway, LLC. It will be directed by Gerard Alessandrini, creator of the beloved Forbidden Broadway series. "This show has everything," says Alessandrini. "It's fresh, inventive, as poignant as it is funny, and most importantly of all, ridiculously entertaining." Beth Falcone (Wanda's World, Unexpected Joy) will music direct. Tama-Rose Bazzle (The Little Dancer, The Last Boy) will stage manage.

Elysian Fields takes place at the Blue Moon of Kentucky Club's 2016 Presidents' Day P.I.L.F* Party. (*Presidents I'd Like to... Find on the dance floor). Hostess Black-Eyed Suzie (Wayne) and the evening's attendees gather to celebrate the recent Supreme Court ruling affirming gay marriage by having bar patrons Josh Reddy (Rose) and Abe Manowitz (Cherin) tie the knot on the dance floor. But mid-party, Abe gets cold feet, risking a disastrous end to the annual event.

In this time-travel musical, we also meet another couple named Josh and Abe: Joshua Speed and his long-time bedmate Abraham Lincoln. Rose and Chernin also play the 19th century pair, making for a highly theatrical event that shines a light on love's power to transcend time and space.

The score is a hybrid of Bluegrass, pulsing club music and traditional Broadway fare. The presentation will feature a live Bluegrass band.

Elysian Fields' writers Steve Fisher and Marc Fliedner are married.

Fisher's play The Last Boy was the very first show to be produced in midtown after the pandemic closed down New York theater. It won four Broadway World Awards for Best Play, Best Production, Best Direction, and Best Performance. Fisher's Isabelle and The Pretty-Ugly Spell (which received a rave from the New York Times), and The Little Dancer (featured on Good Morning America) also enjoyed successful Off-Broadway runs. His musical Mandela! was a Richard Rodgers Award finalist.

Fliedner is a civil rights attorney who has been a tireless advocate for the LGBTQ+ community throughout his career. He was the first openly gay man in the country to run for district attorney.

"Obviously, the subject matter of Elysian Fields resonates for Steve, Gerard and me as gay men," says Fliedner. "But the show's message is universal. As Speed and Lincoln sing, 'Wherever love was... love lives... love always is.'"

Check out the show's deck here.

Industry may RSVP for the reading here.

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