Cast and Creative Announced for ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN THE THEATER: THE MUSICAL WORLD OF MAURY YESTON

The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director; Evans Haile, Executive Director), dedicated to the development of new musicals and rediscovery of musical gems from the past, announces the cast and creative team for the Off-Broadway premiere production of the new musical revue Anything Can Happen in the Theater: The Musical World of Maury Yeston with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston. Performances begin Tuesday, November 26, 2019 for a limited engagement through Sunday, December 29, 2019 at The York Theatre Company at Saint Peter's (entrance on East 54th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue). Opening Night is Thursday, December 5 at 6:45 p.m.

Directed and conceived by Tony Award winner Gerard Alessandrini, the famed creator of Forbidden Broadway (the longest-running revue in Off-Broadway history) and the smash spoof Spamilton, the production will have choreography by Gerry McIntyre (York's Hallelujah, Baby!) and music direction by Greg Jarrett (Pacific Overtures).The five-member cast will feature Benjamin Eakeley (She Loves Me), Jovan E'Sean (The Secret Life of Bees), Alex Getlin (Slay It With Music), Justin Keyes (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), and Mamie Parris (School of Rock).

Join The York for the Off-Broadway premiere of Anything Can Happen in the Theater: The Musical World of Maury Yeston, an unforgettable evening in the theater featuring a collection of songs from the two-time Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist. The genius of Yeston's songs-intricate yet emotional, cerebral yet romantic, clever yet unendingly melodic-is coupled with an outstanding cast for a memorable evening showcasing the myriad sides of the writer's repertoire. Showstoppers from Nine, Grand Hotel, Titanic, Phantom, and Death Takes a Holiday intertwine with premieres of new songs from the Yeston songbook to show off his immense breadth of style-from the hilarious to the deeply moving.

The creative team includes Set Design by James Morgan, Costume Design by Melinda Hare, Lighting Design by Jacob Zedek, Sound Design by Julian Evans, and Production Manager George Xenos. The Production Stage Manager is Chris Steckel with Assistant Stage Manager Kirsten Leigh Williams. Casting Director is Michael Cassara, CSA.

Anything Can Happen in the Theater: The Musical World of Maury Yeston will play the following performance schedule: Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., Thursday at 2:30 p.m., Friday at 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:30 p.m. & 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. PLEASE NOTE: There are no Thursday evening performances. In addition, there are no performances on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, or Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25.

SPECIAL HOLIDAY PERFORMANCES:

Friday afternoon, November 29 at 2:30 p.m., Christmas Eve Tuesday, December 24, 2019 at 4:00 p.m., and Friday afternoon, December 27 at 2:30 p.m.

NOW ON SALE: Tickets for Anything Can Happen in the Theater: The Musical World of Maury Yeston are priced at $67.50 - $72.50. Tickets may be purchased by calling (212) 935-5820, online atwww.yorktheatre.org, or in person at the box office at the York Theatre at Saint Peter's (Citicorp Building, entrance on East 54th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue), Monday through Friday (12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.). Senior Rush tickets are available in-person beginning one hour prior to performances for $20 cash only. Student tickets can be purchased anytime in advance at the box office during regular box office business hours. Limit one ticket per valid student ID and tickets are subject to availability. Student Rush tickets are $20.00 cash or credit. The York Theatre also offers $25 tickets for guests aged 35 years and under. Groups of 10 or more, contact Great White Way at 212-757-9117, or GreatWhiteWay.com. (*York Members receive Priority Seating and Discounted Tickets.)

ABOUT THE CAST

Benjamin Eakeley (Performer) Broadway: She Loves Me, Cabaret, On a Clear Day, Sweeney Todd. National Tours: Cabaret (Clifford Bradshaw), Sweeney Todd (The Beadle). Regional: Classic Stage Company, Goodspeed, Cincinnati Playhouse, Pioneer, and five seasons at The Shakespeare Theatre of NJ. Film/TV: The Good Shepherd, "Orange Is the New Black," "The Blacklist," "The Good Wife." Awards: NY Drama Critics' Special Citation (Sweeney Todd), Astaire Award Nomination (She Loves Me). National Finalist, Lotte Lenya Competition for Singers. Graduate of Yale.

Jovan E'Sean (Performer). Off-Broadway: The Secret Life of Bees (Atlantic Theatre Company). Regional: Hairspray (The Laguna Playhouse) Television: "The 71st Annual Tony Awards." Jovan is a recent graduate from Pace University's BFA Musical Theatre Program. He gives all his love and gratitude to God, his mother and family, and CLA for believing in him. @jovanesean

Alex Getlin (Performer) recently made her Carnegie Hall debut as a featured soloist with Michael Feinstein and has performed in concerts across the country, including at the Pasadena Pops with Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli. Regional credits include Shrek the Musical (Fiona), The Music Man (Alma Hix, u/s Marian) at Berkshire Theatre Group. A recent graduate of Northwestern University, she performed at Town Hall as a 2016 Broadway Rising Star. "Alex is transfixing," said Maury Yeston in an interview with Cabaret Scenes. "She has a professional gravitas and a complete command of the stage...a unique and mesmerizing voice."

Justin Keyes (Performer). Broadway: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The Apple Tree, Mary Poppins. Off-Broadway: The New Group, Classic Stage Company. National Tour: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Regional: Alliance Theatre, Sacramento Music Circus, Resident Ensemble Players, The Guthrie, Two River Theatre Company, San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Theatre Center, Kansas City Starlight, Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Pittsburgh CLO. Television: "Get Christie Love (pilot)," "Power," "I Love You, But I Lied," "Gossip Girl." Education: University of Michigan. www.justinarthurkeyes.com

Mamie Parris (Performer). York Theatre Company debut! Broadway: Cats (Grizabella), School of Rock (Rosalie, Patty), On the 20th Century, Ragtime, The Drowsy Chaperone, 110 in the Shade. National Tours: Wicked (Elphaba), 9 to 5 (Judy), Legally Blonde. Off-Broadway: Pump Boys & Dinettes (Prudie, Encores Off-Center), See Rock City (Dodi, Transport Group). Regionally: the new musicals Dave (Ellen) at Arena Stage and Life After (Beth) at The Old Globe, roles at Goodspeed, Pittsburgh CLO, and The MUNY. Film & Television: A Standup Guy, "The Blacklist," "State of Affairs." For Mom & Dad. On Instagram, twitter, and mamieparris.com

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

Maury Yeston (Music and Lyrics) is a composer, lyricist, author, and teacher, and moves easily between the worlds of theater, film, and academia, writing concert music, Broadway shows, and holding teaching posts as a musicologist and music theorist. In addition to winning his second Tony Award for Best Score for Broadway's Titanic (which won five Tonys including Best Musical), Yeston won a Tony Award and two Drama Desk Awards for his music and lyrics to Broadway's Nine (based on Fellini's 8½). That production won four additional Tonys, including Best Musical. The Broadway revival of Nine, starring Antonio Banderas, won the Tony Award for Best Musical Revival. Yeston's contribution to the score for Broadway's Grand Hotel was nominated for a Tony and two Drama Desk Awards, and The Donmar Warehouse London production of this show won the Olivier Award. His score for Phantom has received national and international acclaim and is currently in production across America and Europe and Japan. The film adaptation of Nine, directed by Rob Marshall, features Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Dame Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Fergie, and Sophia Loren, with a screenplay by Anthony Minghella and Michael Tolkin, and was nominated for five Golden Globes and four Academy Awards. Yeston was nominated for a Critics Choice and Golden Globe for Best Original Song ("Cinema Italiano") and an Academy Award for Best Original Song ("Take It All").

Gerard Alessandrini (Director/Conceiver) is the recipient of the 2001 Drama Desk Award for Best Musical Revue for Forbidden Broadway. He is best known for writing and directing all the editions of Forbidden Broadway and Forbidden Hollywood, in New York, Los Angeles, and London and around the world. Gerard was also a member of the original cast of Forbidden Broadway. Gerard is from Needham, Massachusetts and the Boston area, where he graduated from the Boston Conservatory of Music. In 1982, he created and wrote Forbidden Broadway, which has spawned 15 editions, seven cast albums, and a 25-year-and-counting run in New York. Television credits include writing comedy specials for Bob Hope and Angela Lansbury on NBC, Carol Burnett on CBS, and "Masterpiece Tonight" on PBS, a satirical revue saluting Masterpiece Theater's 20th Anniversary. As a performer, he can be heard on four of the seven Forbidden Broadway cast albums and on the soundtracks of Disney's animated classics Aladdin and Pocahontas. Directing credits include many industrials for Canada Dry, Mobil, and Miramax, etc. In 1998 he directed a production of Maury Yeston's musical In the Beginning. In the summer of 2001 he co-directed a revival of Irving Berlin's last musical Mr. President, which Gerard also updated and "politically corrected." Gerard is the recipient of an Obie Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, two Lucille Lortel Awards, and four Drama Desk Awards for Forbidden Broadway, and a lifetime achievement award from The Drama League.

Gerry McIntyre (Choreographer). Off-Broadway: Spamilton, Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation, Hallelujah, Baby! (York Theatre), Soon of a Mornin' (NYMF). Regional: Once on This Island (Virginia Stage Co., Actors' Theatre of Louisville, La Mirada Theatre; Robby Award for Best Director, Ovation nomination for Best Choreography and Best Musical); Kinky Boots (Hangar Theatre), Ain't Misbehavin' (Actors' Theatre of Louisville), Chicago and Jersey Boys (Ogunquit Playhouse), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat starring Diana DeGarmo and Anthony Federov (Lyric Theatre), Dreamgirls (National Tour), The Wiz (Broadway Sacramento), Side by Side, Tommy, and My Fair Lady (Berkshire Theatre Festival), A Saint She Ain't (Westport Country Playhouse), Laura Comstock's Bag Punching Dog (LA weekly nomination, Best Choreographer). Film: After the Storm.

Greg Jarrett (Music Director)). Broadway: Gigi, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Dames at Sea, Side Show, Fun Home, The Nance. Off-Broadway: Pacific Overtures, The Cradle Will Rock, The Beast in the Jungle, Passion, Red Eye of Love, Death Takes a Holiday, and Timon of Athens at TFANA (coming in Januar). Encores! Off-Center: Promenade, Gone Missing, Assassins, Runaways, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, The Cradle Will Rock, I'm Getting My Act Together... Regional: August Rush in Chicago. Cast Albums: The Beast in the Jungle, Gigi, Red Eye of Love, Side Show, Side Show: Added Attractions_. Education: The University of Michigan.

Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter-Keddy