Phillips and Easterbrook Join 'Dance With Me'

Joining previously announced Jai Rodriguez (Rent, The Producers, Zanna, Don't!) as Desi Arnaz and Jim J. Bullock (Hair and TV's "Too Close for Comfort") as Harry Hackerman in the new musical DANCE WITH ME about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz are Fleur Phillips (The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and Scapin) who will be tackling the role of Lucille Ball and Leslie Easterbrook (California Suite, On the Twentieth Century and the Police Academy movies) as Dede Ball.  Also featured will be Joaquin Torres (King Lear at the Public Theatre) as Junior and Michelle Blakely (Annie Get Your Gun and Grease) as Carole Lombard, Danny Bolero (Joseph and the Amazing…) as Desiderio and Eileen Galinda (Mark Taper Forum) as Lolita, as well as Whitney Avalon, Philip D'Amore, Troy Burgess, Matt Crabtree, Hattie Davis, Rachel Genevieve, Mike Lorre, Kevin W. High, Stacey Mosely, Masaya Palmer, Alyssa Preston and Bobby Reed.
 
DANCE WITH ME,with book, music and lyrics by Robert Bartley and Danny Whitman,will play for four performances on July 10, 11, 12 and 13 in the Festival of New American Musicals in Los Angeles.
 
DANCE WITH ME is a brand new original musical that follows in the footsteps of many great American musicals such as GYPSY, Jersey Boys, DREAMGIRLS and FUNNY GIRL in that it is about famous icons.  With an original score that spans from big band to hot Latin conga rhythms, DANCE WITH ME tells the story of how Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz struggled against all odds to be together and make television history.
 
Escaping the bloodshed of his native Island, a young Cuban boy sets sail on a turbulent journey that leads him all the way to Hollywood and into the arms of a fiery, redheaded movie star named Lucille Ball. At the climax of DANCE WITH ME, Desi and Lucy put their money, their trust and their dreams on the line in a gamble to save one thing—their marriage.  They risk it all on an untested medium called television. Can these two star crossed lovers blaze a path that defies Hollywood and history to be together?

DANCE WITH ME most recently had a staged reading at off Broadway's Drama Desk Award-winning York Theatre Company in New York City.  It was just announced that DANCE WITH ME is a finalist for the prestigious National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) festival next fall, and was a finalist for the 2008 Eugene O'Neil Music Theatre Conference.  The authors of DANCE WITH ME are the creators of the annual all-star Broadway event, BROADWAY BACKWARDS.  Recent incarnations of DANCE WITH ME have featured such Broadway talent as Tony Yazbeck, currently stopping the show every night in GYPSY starring Patti LuPone, Jenn Colella (star of Broadway's URBAN COWBOY and HIGH FIDELITY).

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.DanceWithMeTheMusical.com.

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