Barry Manilow to Sit Out of HARMONY Opening Night Due to Positive Covid-19 Test

Barry Manilow has released a statement, sharing that due to testing positive for COVID-19, he will be unable to attend the opening night performance of his musical HARMONY.

Read the statement below:

"I am heartbroken to say that I have just tested positive for COVID-19 and won't be able to attend tonight's opening night performance of my new musical, HARMONY. This just might be the cruelest thing that has ever happened to me: 25 years waiting for this show to premiere in New York and I can't attend. Even in the face of this pandemic, we New Yorkers remain the toughest, staunchest people on the planet - so, put on a mask and go see a show!"

Harmony: A New Musical, starring musical theatre icons Chip Zien (Into the Woods, Caroline, Or Change) and Sierra Boggess (The Little Mermaid, The Phantom of the Opera), opens this Wednesday night to a sold-out crowd at National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. This strictly limited engagement ends May 8.

Presented by National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) for only four more weeks, Harmony was written by the legendary Barry Manilow and his longtime collaborator Bruce Sussman and is directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Warren Carlyle.

Harmony tells the true story of the Comedian Harmonists, an ensemble of six talented young men in 1920s Germany who took the world by storm with their signature blend of sophisticated close harmonies and uproarious stage antics, until their inclusion of Jewish singers put them on a collision course with history.

Fresh from the stellar success of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, which won multiple honors including a 2019 Drama Desk Award, NYTF presents Harmony in English. Previews begin this Wednesday, and the production opens on April 13 and runs through May 8, 2022, in the newly renovated Edmond J. Safra Hall theatre at the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, Edmond J. Safra Plaza, 36 Battery Place in Battery Park City, Manhattan.

Playing the six Comedian Harmonists are Sean Bell (National Tour: A Bronx Tale: The Musical), Danny Kornfeld (National Tour: Rent), Zal Owen (Broadway: The Band's Visit), Eric Peters (National Tour: Motown: The Musical), Blake Roman (Regional: Newsies), and Steven Telsey (National Tour: The Book of Mormon). Jessie Davidson (Regional: The Mystery of Edwin Drood) plays Ruth, with Ana Hoffman (National Tour: Dreamgirls) set to portray Josephine Baker - a major celebrity whom the Harmonists encountered on their way to the top. Kenny Morris (Broadway: Hairspray) will be the standby for Zien's Rabbi.

The ensemble includes Elise Frances Daniells, Zak Edwards, Abby Goldfarb, Eddie Grey, Shayne Kennon, Kolby Kindle, Benjamin H. Moore, Matthew Mucha, Tori Palin, Barrett Riggins, Kayleen Seidl, Andrew O'Shanick, Dan Teixeira, Nancy Ticotin, and Kate Wesler.

Directing and choreographing Harmony will be Tony Award winner and Emmy-nominated Warren Carlyle. Carlyle won a 2014 Tony Award for his choreography for After Midnight, for which he was also Tony Award-nominated as Best Director. Carlyle was again nominated for a 2019 Tony Award for his choreography for the critically acclaimed revival of Kiss Me Kate. Other Broadway credits include Hello, Dolly!, She Loves Me, On the Twentieth Century, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, A Christmas Story, and Chaplin. He directed and choreographed Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway, as well as Hugh Jackman's 2019 World Tour. He also choreographed the current Broadway revival of The Music Man starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster.

The NYTF production of Harmony is co-produced by Ken Davenport and Sandi Moran with Garry Kief, Amuse, Inc., Patty Baker, Tom and Michael D'Angora, Susan DuBow, Michelle Kaplan, Mapleseed Productions, Harold Matzner, and Neil Gooding Productions in association with Wilfried Rimensberger and Stiletto Entertainment. Miranda Gohh is associate producer. Davenport most recently won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical for Once on This Island and the Tony Award for Best Musical for Kinky Boots, and received Tony Award nominations for Spring Awakening (Revival of a musical), The Visit (Musical), and You're Welcome America (Special Theatrical Event).

The creative team includes: Beowulf Boritt, scenic designer; Linda Cho & Ricky Lurie, costume designers; Jules Fisher & Peggy Eisenhauer, lighting designers; Dan Moses Schreier, sound designer; batwin + robin productions, inc., video design; Jamibeth Margolis, CSA, casting director; Sara Edwards, associate director/choreographer; Roy Gabay/Jumpstart Entertainment, general manager; Tom Watson, wig and hair designer; and John O'Neill, music director and additional vocal and music arranger. Harmony is based in part on The Comedian Harmonist Archive as curated by the late Dr. Peter Czada.

Rush tickets will become available in the TodayTix app at 9am every performance day and if available are purchased on a first-come, first-served basis by the ticket buyers who have "unlocked" the Rush feature.

Ticket buyers are asked to "unlock" Rush access by sharing on their Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Once unlocked, ticket buyers can make their purchase on a first-come, first-served basis.

Now celebrating its 107th season, Tony Award-nominated and Drama Desk Award-winning National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) is the longest consecutively producing theatre in the US and the world's oldest continuously operating Yiddish theatre company. NYTF is in residence at the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Zalmen Mlotek and Executive Director Dominick Balletta, NYTF is dedicated to creating a living legacy through the arts, connecting generations and bridging communities. NYTF aims to bring history to life by reviving and restoring lost and forgotten work, commissioning new work, and adapting pre-existing work for the 21st Century. Serving a diverse audience comprised of performing arts patrons, cultural enthusiasts, Yiddish-language aficionados and the general public, the company presents plays, musicals, concerts, lectures, interactive educational workshops and community-building activities in English and Yiddish, with English and Russian supertitles accompanying performances. NYTF provides access to a century-old cultural legacy and inspires the imaginations of the next generation to contribute to this valuable body of work.

NYTF's production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish sold out for six months before moving uptown to Off-Broadway's Stage 42. It won a Drama Desk Award (outstanding revival of a musical), an Outer Critics Circle Award (outstanding revival of a musical), a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award special citation, a Lucille Lortel Award (outstanding lead actor, Steven Skybell); and an Off-Broadway Alliance award (best musical revival). It was nominated for additional Drama Desk Awards (outstanding director of a musical, Joel Grey; outstanding actor in a musical, Steven Skybell; outstanding orchestrations, Larry Blank); Lucille Lortel Awards (outstanding revival; outstanding director, Joel Grey; outstanding featured actress in a musical, Jackie Hoffman); Drama League Awards (outstanding revival of a musical; distinguished performance award, Steven Skybell); Outer Critics Circle Awards (outstanding director of a musical, Joel Grey; outstanding actor in a musical, Steven Skybell); and a Chita Rivera Award (outstanding ensemble).

About The Museum Of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust

The Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is New York's contribution to the global responsibility to never forget. The Museum is committed to the crucial mission of educating diverse visitors about Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust. The third-largest Holocaust museum in the world and the second-largest in North America, the Museum of Jewish Heritage anchors the southernmost tip of Manhattan, completing the cultural and educational landscape it shares with the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage maintains a collection of almost 40,000 artifacts, photographs, documentary films, and survivor testimonies and contains classrooms, a 375-seat theater (Edmond J. Safra Hall), special exhibition galleries, a resource center for educators, and a memorial art installation, Garden of Stones, designed by internationally acclaimed sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. The Museum is the home of National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and JewishGen.

The Museum's current offerings include Boris Lurie: Nothing To Do But To Try, a first of its kind exhibition on the 20th century artist and Holocaust survivor on view through November 6, 2022. The Holocaust: What Hate Can Do, will open in the Museum's core galleries on June 30, 2022.

In addition, the Museum offers free, pre-recorded virtual lessons for students, taught by a Museum educator, using its Holocaust Curriculum lesson plans. Designed for middle and high school, the lessons, available on demand, allow for student interaction via chat and polls, offer certificates of completion, and resources for additional research. For more information: https://mjhnyc.org/education/virtual-lessons/

The Museum receives general operating support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts.

For more information, visit mjhnyc.org.

Photo Credit: Julieta Cervantes

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