REUNION, A MUSICAL COMEDY Opens Tonight at NoHo Arts Center

This melodic, memorable and quirky pop score provides biting social commentary along with a little romance and an outrageously good time for all. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll cringe.

High school was the best time in our lives, for some of us. But for many of us, it's hard to return to that memory. For Elliot, a neurotic but very successful novelist, the searing recollection of his night at the school dance when he lacked the courage to tell that special girl exactly how he felt about her, still haunts him. Years later, a twist of fate has sent Elliot to his high school reunion, for a second chance?

"If you ever wanted to attend your high school reunion, but didn't...come to ours, we're having huge fun creating a fabulous time for you. It's a joyful look backward to High School without the angst." - Kay Cole; Director/Choreographer

Kay Cole (Director/Choreographer) is admired for her directing and choreography work on Broadway (Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks-Belasco Theatre), Geffen Playhouse (Nightmare Alley, Atlanta, Paint Your Wagon, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks); Kirk Douglas Theatre (Gaytino, Dogeaters); Reprise! Broadway (Three Penny Opera, Fiorello, City of Angels, Company, On The 20th Century, Follies, Sweeney Todd, and Most Happy Fella, Antaeus Theatre (Tonight at 8:30), Playwrights Arena (The Next Step, Songs For A New World), Shakespeare LA (As You Like It, Comedy of Errors), Pasadena Playhouse (Under One Umbrella, 110 in the Shade, Do I Hear A Waltz), Hollywood Bowl (Sound of Music, Bernsteins' Mass, Mame, My Fair Lady, Music Man, Camelot), London West End (The Fantasticks , Blockheads), and many more. Film and Television, directing includes Country Rules, THQ, Waiting in Line. Choreographing: Guidepost Junction, Ella, Jekyll, Disney's Santa Clause 3, Awakening of Spring and Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks starring Gena Rowlands, Cheyenne Jackson, Rita Moreno and Jackie Weaver. Kay is the recipient of the 2006 Playwrights Arena Award for Outstanding Contribution to Los Angeles Theatre, and in 2009, she received a nomination for Best Choreography from the NAACP Theatre Awards for her work in Atlanta, at the Geffen Playhouse.

"I was actively planning my own high school reunion when Marc and Michael contacted me and told me they were writing a musical based on their reunion experience. It was almost kismet to become involved creatively with the fictional reunion of the students of Frogs Neck High School. And though none of the characters are based on my own classmates, they are all nonetheless very real to me...and very familiar." - David M. Matthews; Book and Lyrics

Book, Music and Lyrics by Marc Ellis, (EMMY nom for Untold Stories - The Search for Amelia Earhart; produced music for Disney specials and The Today Show; scores for Adam Sandler's 8 Crazy Nights, The Master of Disguise, and provided additional music for Click, Anchorman, and Dickie Roberts), Book and Lyrics by Michael Lange (Co-Exec Producer/Director on four seasons of ABC Family's Greek directing 34 episodes, Co-Exec Producer/Directed Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva for a season and Jane By Design for ABC Family, DGA Award nom, and Sundance Festival feature), and David M. Matthews (EMMY award-winning composer/writer/producer, worked on The Nanny, Living Single, The Young and the Restless, Half & Half, and The Soul Man. He made his feature film directorial debut with the indie thriller, N-Secure, and is the author of the relationship advice book, "Every Man Sees You Naked: An Insiders Guide to How Men Think").

Our cast includes Sharon Catherine Brown (Broadway: Effie in Dreamgirls, The Narrator in Joseph...Dreamcoat, Seasons of Love soloist in Rent with Neil Patrick Harris. Ovation Award nom for Smokey Joe's Cafe) as Janet, Christopher Youngsman (Broadway/National Tours-Grease and Urinetown; Off Broadway/Regional Forever Plaid and Gypsy) as Gordon, Janna Cardia (Cinderella-Broadway Asia; Music Man - In Concert w/ Shirley Jones) as Sharon, Ali Axelrod (The Seagull, King John) as Young Amelia, David Babich (Monkey Mind at Academy of New Musical Theatre and Quarantine at the Skylight Theate) as Elliot, Julia Marie Buis (Upright Citizens Brigade, The Groundlings) as Margot, Michael Gabiano (Naked Christmas -P6/Celebration Theatre) as David, Bradley Kuykendall (Spring Awakening- NOHO Arts Center) as Tony, Suzanne Myers (Webseries Office Problems) as Patty, Kim Reed (Assassins-Coeurage Theatre; Justin Love-Celebration Theatre) as Amelia, Jeffrey Rockwell (2 Pianos 4 Hands-National Tour; Young Frankenstein-Musical Theatre West) as Jack, Marc Cedric Smith (Chicago Lyric and Seattle Opera, Hal Prince's First National tour of Show Boat) as Wayne.

BlackHart Productions and Theatre Planners (Producers) have assembled a multi-award winning design team includes Joel Daavid (Set Design), Matt Richter (Lighting Design), Drew Dalzell (Sound Design), Mylette Nora (Costume Design), Yee Eun Nam (Projection Design), Troy Hauschild (Videographer), Michael Donovan (Casting)

REUNION, A MUSICAL COMEDY opens at 8pm tonight, November 7th (with reception to follow) and runs at 8pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and at 3pm on Sundays through December 13, 2015. NoHo Arts Center is located at 11136 Magnolia Blvd. N. Hollywood (Ample Street Parking). Tickets are $34.99. Reservations: (323) 960-7773 or at Plays411.com/REUNION Twitter @ReunionLaLaLa FB: https://www.facebook.com/reunionthemusical

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