TV: Behind the Beat - BABY IT'S YOU!

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On November 13, 2009, the much anticipated world premiere of BABY IT'S YOU! by Colin Escott (Grammy for The Complete Hank Williams, and author of Broadway-bound Million Dollar Quartet) and Floyd Mutrux (Broadway-bound Million Dollar Quartet and the award-winning film American Hot Wax) made its spectacular debut at the historic Pasadena Playhouse to an SRO house and has been playing to capacity crowds ever since. Broadway World TV's own Dean Butler and Michael Sterling were there to talk to the cast and creative team for an inside look at what may well be heading to a theatre on Broadway or even London's West End in the not-so-distant future.

Wrapped in the sensational songs of the 60s, this new musical is about the groundbreaking girl group, The Shirelles and Florence Greenberg, the New Jersey housewife who discovered them. With the help of African-American songwriter, producer Luther Dixon, Florence took on a male dominated industry and revolutionized pop music. Her company, Scepter Records, created the most important songs in the golden era of rock 'n' roll, from artists including The Isley Brothers, The Kingsmen, Chuck Jackson and Dionne Warwick. Also directed by Floyd Mutrux, the cast includes Erica Ash as Micki/Shirelle (MAD TV, The Lion King); Berlando Drake as Shirley/Shirelle (Raelette in the Ray Charles Orchestra); Geno Henderson as Ron Isley/Chuck Jackson/Gene Chandler (Performed with The Gap Band, Sly Stone, The Pointer Sisters, The 5th Dimension); Meeghan Holaway as Florence Greenberg (Off-Broadway's Dinner with Friends); Adam Irizarry as Stanley/Mr. Bass Man/Burt Bacharach, Co-Musical Director ("The Piano Man" in Broadway's Movin Out); Paulette Ivory as Beverly/Shirelle/Dionne Warwick (Pasadena Playhouse's Purlie, National Tour of Aida, West End's The Lion King); Crystal Starr Knighton as Doris/Shirelle/Millie (Background Singer for Jessica Simpson, Kanye West, Smokey Robinson); Allan Louis as Luther Dixon (Ragtime, Stomp the Yard, Marco Giordani in CW's Privileged); Matt McKenzie as Marvin Schlacter (Broadway's Monday After the Miracle, Academy Award-winning film Gods and Monsters); Barry Pearl as Bernie Greenberg/Milt Gabler (Broadway's Bye Bye Birdie, Oliver!)' Suzanne Petrela as Mary Jane/Lesley Gore (Pasadena Playhouse's Mask, Center Theatre Group's Post Office); and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs as Jocko Henderson (Welcome Back, Kotter, The Jacksons: An American Dream, NAACP Award Recipient for The Mighty Gents, national tours of Mr. Right Now! and His Woman, His Wife)

The creative team also includes Birgitte Mutrux (choreography), Richard Perry (music supervisor/arrangements), Anna Louizos (scenic design), Lizz Wolf (costume design), Howell Binkley (lighting design), Martin Carrillo (sound design), Carol Doran (wig and hair design), Jason H. Thompson (projection design), Adam Irizarry (musical director/additional arrangements), Michael Donovan (casting), Joan Stein (general manager), Ronn Goswick (production stage manager), Lea Chazin (assistant stage manager), and Bari Newport (Assistant Director).

BABY IT'S YOU!, presented by special arrangement with American Pop Anthology, Jonathan Sanger, Jerry Katell, Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, Joan Stein, and in association with Universal Music Group, plays at Pasadena Playhouse, 39 South El Molino Avenue in Pasadena through Decembe 13, 2009. Performance schedule is Tuesday through Friday at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday at 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.; and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Tickets may be purchased by calling the Pasadena Playhouse at 626-356-7529 or by visiting the Pasadena Playhouse Box Office, open from 12:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. daily excluding holidays; and online at www.Pasadenaplayhouse.org. Group Sales (15 or more) are available by calling 626-737-2851.