Jason Gotay, Manna Nichols & Nicholas Rodriguez to Star in Prospect Theater's DEATH FOR FIVE VOICES

Prospect Theater Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Cara Reichel and Managing Director Melissa Huber, has announced principal casting for the premiere of Death for Five Voices, inspired by the life of Renaissance composer and murderer Carlo Gesualdo, from March 24 - April 17, at The Sheen Center, 18 Bleecker Street, NYC.

The production features Jason Gotay (Paper Mill Playhouse's A Bronx Tale, Spider-Man, Bring It On!) as Carlo Gesualdo, Manna Nichols (Allegiance, Goodspeed's Guys and Dolls) as Maria D'Avalos, and Helen Hayes Award-winner Nicholas Rodriguez (Arena Stage Oklahoma!, Tarzan) as Fabrizio Carafa. The company also includes Meghan McGeary (The Blue Flower) as Girolama Gesualdo and Jeff Williams (The Pirate Queen, The Music Man) as Alfonso Gesualdo, with Ryan Bauer-Walsh as Pietro Marziale, and L.R. Davidson as Sylvia Albana.

Death for Five Voices features music and lyrics by Kleban and Ebb Award-winning composer / lyricist Peter Mills, and will be directed by Cara Reichel, with book by Mills and Reichel.

This new musical drama explores the early life of Carlo Gesualdo, a groundbreaking composer of the late Renaissance, who also committed the vicious double murder of his wife and her lover. Through a score which incorporates themes from Gesualdo's sacred music, this original story investigates how the composer's creative life may have been related to his brutal actions. Death for Five Voices blends period musical style with contemporary theater storytelling to create a compelling portrait of a troubled artist, living at a moment in history when complex political and religious forces collided and changed our perceptions of the possibility of art.

The creative team also includes music director Max Mamon, fight choreographer Jacob Grigolia-Rosenbaum, scenic designer Ann Bartek, costume designer Sidney Shannon, lighting designer Susan M. Nicholson, and sound designer Janie Bullard. Paul Vella is production stage manager.

Prospect's NYC Premiere of Death For Five Voices is a recipient of a 2016 Edith Lutyens and Norman Bel Geddes Fund Design Enhancement Grant from A.R.T. / New York.

Mills and Reichel's prior collaborations include Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge, Illyria, The Rockae, The Flood, Honor, and The Pursuit of Persephone, among other works. Mills has been honored for his work with the prestigious Cole Porter Award (2011), Kleban Prize for Lyrics (2010), and the Fred Ebb Award (2007). He is the lyricist for the upcoming Broadway musical The Honeymooners.Initially developed through a workshop staging by Prospect in 2013, in 2014 Mills and Reichel honed the show at the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, and in Spring 2015 they received a prestigious Bogliasco Fellowship to further explore Death for Five Voices through a month-long research and writing residency near Genoa, Italy at the Bogliasco Foundation.

In November 2015, Prospect Theater made its international debut while developing Death for Five Voices in the town of Gesualdo, Italy. This residency and its culminating performance at the Castello di Gesualdo was as part of "Invito a Corte - An International Cultural Window to the Castle of Prince Carlo Gesualdo," an initiative celebrating the re-opening of the historic residence of the composer, who spent the second half of his life and wrote much of his music there, until his death in 1613.

Additional information may be found on the project website: www.DeathForFiveVoices.com.Tickets are $50 ($25 for members) and $65 ($32.50 for members) premium seating locations. Tickets and memberships are available at www.ProspectTheater.org or by calling 212-352-3101.

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