Casting Announced for MAD ABOUT THE BOY

Casting has been announced for ASCAP Award-winning writer/director Chip Deffaa's next musical production, "Mad About the Boy," which is set to open April 12th at the 13th Street Repertory Theater, 50 W. 13th Street. With a cast of 18, "Mad About the Boy" is the biggest, most-ambitious production scheduled to play the theater this year.

Joris DeGraaf and Michael Czyz, who starred in Deffaa's "Theater Boys," and Maite Uzal, who starred in Deffaa's "The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue," will be returning for this show, along with an array of new faces: Cody Jordan, John Brady, Jarrett Reiche, Luka Fric, Gregory Rittiner, Benjamin Grier, Toby Medlyn, Zia, Shinice Hemmings, Michael Knowles, Michael J.C. Anderson, Katherine Paulsen, Amanda Andrews, Al Roths, Luke Schaffer, Hawkins Gardow, Danny Coelho.

Richard Danley is music director; Peter Charney and Dennis Gleason are assistant directors; Tyler DuBoys and Rayna Hirt are co-choreographers; Kate Solomon-Tilley and Megan Ulan are stage managers; Matt Nardozzi is technical advisor.

Ken Adams, who has understudied roles in four of Deffaa's shows, will serve as general understudy/swing for all roles-both male and female-in the production, as well as playing the role of New York Post theater-writer Michael Riedel. Deffaa notes: "Adams requested that I write in the role of Michael Riedel for him, insisting that he bears an uncanny physical resemblance to Riedel. Frankly, I think he looks no more like Riedel than Michael Czyz does. But if he's understudying more than a dozen roles in this show, and he's a past winner of the theater's Brandon Pollinger Award-I really love actors with strong work-ethics-so we want to keep him happy."

It's an international cast: De Graaf is from the Netherlands; Uzal is from Spain; Czyz is Canadian; Adams has both Polish and Canadian citizenship; and Fric is from Slovenia. Internationally famous cartoonist Howard Cruse-author of the graphic novel "Stuck Rubber Baby" and other acclaimed works-has designed the graphics and logo for "Mad About the Boy."

"I'm very grateful that Howard Cruse-my favorite cartoonist-has worked on this," Deffaa says.

The author of 16 published plays and eight published books, and the producer of nine cast albums, Deffaa has emerged as the 13th Street Rep's defacto playwright-in-residence.

"Mad About the Boy," according to the theater, is a playful, high-spirited, full-length musical production, about actors preparing to put on a gay musical. For Edith O'Hara, the legendary 98-year-old theatrical producer who's long run the 13th Street Rep, presenting a gay musical is hardly something new. It was O'Hara who, 40 years ago, produced at the Rep, New York's first big hit gay musical, "Boy Meets Boy." It opened in 1974 at the Rep; O'Hara transferred it the next year to the Actors Playhouse, where it racked up a 463-performance run, before moving on the LA and other cities. And Deffaa's "Theater Boys" broke box-office records at the 13th Street Theater in 2014.

Is O'Hara hoping history will repeat itself? She's not saying. But Deffaa-who's conceived and directed the new show-is grateful for O'Hara's strong support. "Edith founded this theater more than 40 years ago with a goal of nurturing playwrights and actors, and she's sure succeeded. I've mounted show after show here; I'd finish one show and she'd simply say, 'What would you like to do next?' She's long given me carte blanche; it's wonderful to have that freedom. We've released albums in connection with the last four shows of mine presented at this theater, and we hope to release an album of this show's songs as well."

Deffaa, who has been developing "Mad About the Boy" for several years, considers it a work-in-progress. "I presented a very early prototype of this show at my own theater festival, "Deffaa recalls. Nine-time tony Award-winner Tommy Tune came to see the show and encouraged Deffaa to stick with it, suggesting it should have a proper run. "But the show has evolved so much since that first tryout, this will really be a new production. We'll hopefully continue working on it throughout our run here this Spring. It's always fun to try out new shows at the Rep."

For more info on "Mad About the Boy," go to: www.13thstreetrep.org.

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