'Like You Like It' to Open Oct. 18th at the Gallery Players

All the world's a mall in this popular musical adaptation of Shakespeare's As You Like It, Sammy Buck and Daniel S. Acquisto's 1980s-style Like You Like It. A totally awesome mix of Shakespeare and John Hughes, this romantic musical comedy enjoys its second chance at a first full New York production after being an audience favorite at NYMF in 2004. With all the excitement of High School Musical, Like You Like It is filled with memorable tunes, a hip sense of humor, pure joy and a huge heart. The show is directed by Igor Goldin, who directed a recent production of Like You Like It at Theater Under The Stars and last year's heralded production of Yank! at The Gallery Players. The cast of 18 includes Jeff Barba, Lena Moy-Bergen, Jennifer Blood, Trey Compton, Richard Connelly, Brynn Curry, Rebecca Dealy, Roy Flores, Nathan Johnson, André Jordan, Caitlyn Kent, Michael Lowney, Alison Luff (Tommy Tune Awards Winner for Best Leading Actress for Lucky Stiff, Les Miserables and Seussical at Theater Under The Stars), Clint Morris*, Elisabeth Ness, Lance Olds (Footloose/1st National Tour), Hollis Scarborough(Hairspray/Las Vegas) and Carly Vernon. Known for producing revivals, The Gallery Players is mounting this second full-scale original musical production, which runs October 18-November 2, 2008.

Theatremania's Peter Filichia stated, "Like You Like It deserves great success, too, and will wind up being produced extensively in high schools - but not for years, for a boffo Broadway run will undoubtedly come first."

Like You Like It is set in 1985, and the brand new Arden Mall is hosting a high school dance. Bookworm babe Rosalind wants to go with varsity wrestler Orlando, but she's never had the guts to talk to him. Rosalind disguises herself as a frat dude named Corey and learns Orlando's true feelings for her. But things get tricky when "Corey" complicates the lives of three other couples at Arden. Rosalind will do anything to get Orlando, even if it means showing up at the dance as both herself and Corey. With twists and turns to the very end, it all works out Like You Like It! Find us on Facebook, www.galleryplayers.com and www.likeyoulikeit.com.

Sammy Buck (bookwriter & lyricist) and DANIEL S. ACQUISTO (composer) are the 2007 winners of a Talking Broadway Summer Theatre Festival citation for Outstanding New Musical for their show The Seven-Year B*tch and the 2004 winners of The National Music Theater Network and The Theater for the American Musicals' inaugural New Voices Prize for Like You Like It. *denotes member of AEA

Like You Like It was most recently produced at Theatre Under The Stars in Houston, TX, in collaboration with Sam Houston State University. The show was also an official selection of the 2006 Cardiff International Festival of Musical Theatre and an audience favorite at the 2004 New York Musical Theatre Festival. Sammy and Daniel have developed Like You Like It at the BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop and the Dramatists Guild's Jonathan Larson Musical Theatre Fellowship Program, working under the invaluable tutelage of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, and mentors David Shire and Richard Maltby, Jr. Like You Like It has been workshopped at NYU and the McCadden Theatre in LA, and has had readings at the York Theatre, the Village Theatre's Festival of New Musicals in Issaquah, WA, and Musical Mondays at the Century Center in New York. "Bucquisto" songs have been performed at the N.E.O. Benefit at the York Theatre, Broadway Bound at Merkin Hall, NAMT/ASCAP's "In The Wings" at the NAMT Festival, and Any Minute Now's "A Beat Ahead" series. Their song "Be With Me" is featured on the N.E.O. at the York Theatre CD, performed by Matt Cavenaugh, and was recently sung by Anthony Rapp in the New Globe Theater's Variations on Shakespeare: An Evening of Songs Inspired by the Bard benefit.

Heather Siobhan Curran is Producer of Like You Like It. Director: Igor Goldin (Yank!); Musical Director: Jeffrey Campos (Wild Party at Gallery Players); Choreographer: Keith Andrews; Set Designer: Carl Tallent; Costume Designer: Hunter Kaczorowski; Lighting: Dan Jobbins; Production Stage Manager: Kayla Shriner-Cahn; Associate Producer: Marissa Rosenblum.

 Like You Like It opens Saturday, October 18 and runs through Sunday, November 2, 2008 (11 performances only). Performances take place Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8PM; Sundays at 3PM. A complete calendar of performances can be found on-line at www.galleryplayers.com/plays/lyli/. AEA approved showcase.

Tickets are $18 for Adults, $14 for Senior Citizens and children 12 and under. Tickets can be purchased 24/7 online at www.galleryplayers.com or by calling TheaterMania at (212) 352-3101 (phone hours 9-9 weekdays, 10-6 weekends).

The Gallery Players is located at 199 14th St., between 4th and 5th Aves. in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Take the F Train to 4th Ave. or the R Train to 9th Street. By car: BQE to Hamilton Avenue to 14th Street.

A New York institution since 1967, The Gallery Players has served actors and audiences alike for more than 4 decades by showcasing burgeoning new talent and offering a home base for theater professionals. Its eclectic programming of intimate revivals and ambitious new work in inventive productions has earned it the reputation of "New York's Best Kept Secret." Among its famous alumni are founding member Harvey Fierstein, Broadway regular Diedre Goodwin, New York theater personality Seth Rudetsky, and many others.

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