The Ordway to Present PAINT YOUR WAGON, 8/9-21

The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts opens its 2016-17 season with an exciting new 'revisal' of Lerner & Loewe's Paint Your Wagon, Aug. 9-21. Featuring an all new book by Pulitzer Prize nominated playwright Jon Marans, the show opened at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre in June 2016. Twin Cities audiences will be among the first in the world to experience this updated sweeping saga of the mythic West and the pursuit of the American Dream. Tickets for Lerner & Loewe's Paint Your Wagon start at $37 and can be purchased online at www.ordway.org, by phone at 651-224-4222 or in person at the Ordway ticket office.

Paint Your Wagon tells the inspiring story of the rise and fall of a remote mining town during the height of the California Gold Rush. Audiences will follow the intrepid men and women from around the world who take an incredible leap of faith and cross continents and oceans in search of the American dream, only to find themselves swept up in a clash of cultures, passion, greed and romance. The score, which has been reorchestrated by Tony nominee August Eriksmoen, includes such unforgettable songs as "They Call the Wind Maria," "I Talk to the Trees" and "I Was Born Under a Wand'rin Star."

The cast features Tony nominated Robert Cuccioli (originator of the title roles in Broadway's Jekyll and Hyde) as Ben Rumson and Justin Gregory Lopez (Off-Broadway's bare and The Hamilton Mixtape) as Armando. They are joined by Eric Ankrim, Kyle RoBert Carter, Kirsten Delohr Helland, Steven Eng, Allen Fitzpatrick, Rhett George, Mikko Juan, Eli Lotz and others.

Joining the original cast for the St. Paul run of the show will be two local Twin Cities actors: Ann Michels and Dieter Bierbrauer. Michels will take over the role of Cayla Woodling, which was originally played by Kendra Kassebaum (Broadway's Wicked). Bierbrauer will join the cast as Angus.

Paint Your Wagon began its 'revisal' journey at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre in 2011 after the company received permission from the Lerner and Loewe estates to revise the book. The show underwent a series of readings and development sessions as part of the 5th Avenue's New Works Program, before being featured as the centerpiece of the company's inaugural NextFest: A Festival of New Musicals in a four-week developmental lab in July 2015. Maran's new book aims to tell a more complete story of the real people who travelled west.

"Even though it happened 160 years ago, the California Gold Rush had a profound effect on American history and especially the West," said David Armstrong, 5th Avenue Theatre's executive producer and director of Paint Your Wagon. "The themes of immigration, multiculturalism and who gets to sit at the table and achieve the American Dream are all inherent in the real stories of the period and we have incorporated them into this new book."

Paint Your Wagon is sponsored by Travelers. The show is part of the Ordway's 2016-17 Musical Theater Series, sponsored by Bremer Bank. For tickets and more information, visit www.ordway.org.

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