Mint Theater Announces New York Premiere Of GARSIDE'S CAREER

Mint Theater Company has announced the New York Premiere of Garside's Career by Harold Brighouse (Hobson's Choice), directed by Matt Dickson, beginning performances February 1st for a limited engagement. Daniel Marconi (Tobias in the recent revival of Sweeney Todd) will essay the title role of Peter Garside.  Additional cast and design team will be announced shortly.

Mint's production will be the New York Premiere. The play had an extended run in Boston in 1919 (“admirable in construction, realistic in characterization, bright in wit and keen in satire”) and a New York production was announced, but never happened. Even in the U.K. this bright, witty, political satire seems to have completely disappeared. This Off-Broadway engagement at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street) will begin February 1st for a limited run through March 15th. Opening Night is set for Thursday February 20th. Tickets from $39 are now on sale at minttheater.org.

Artistic Director Jonathan Bank says, “One of the reasons I was drawn to producing older plays in the first place is they can show how today's alarming issues have usually been around for ages.  Working on them (or seeing them) helps put things in perspective. ‘If there's one thing you learn by going regularly to the Mint,' a critic* once wrote, ‘it's that the world has changed less than you think.' Garside's Career is especially deft at making that point, using a good deal of humor and a little sex too. Written 110 years ago, it's a story about the intoxicating feeling that candidate Peter Garside has when commanding a crowd from the top of a soapbox, “the glorious sensation of holding a crowd in the hollow of your hand,” and the problems this creates for his fiancé, his family and his constituents.”
(*Jason Zinoman, The New York Times, 1/30/2011, writing about Mint's production of What the Public Wants by Arnold Bennett)  

Garside's Career tells the story of Peter Garside's soaring flight from working engineer to member of Parliament, propelled by a ‘silver tongue' and an insatiable fascination with his power to persuade: “You don't know the glorious sensation of holding a crowd in the hollow of your hand, mastering it, doing what you like with it.” Peter's fiancé knows the danger of Peter's fascination, “The itch to speak is like the itch to drink, except that it's cheaper to talk yourself tipsy.” 

Daniel Marconi's Broadway credits include Tobias in Sweeney Todd opposite Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford, Michael Banks in Mary Poppins. Off-Broadway: The Mountains Look Different (Mint Theater), The Butcher Boy (Irish Rep). Select Regional: The Outsiders (world premiere at La Jolla), Tick, Tick… Boom! (George Street), Newsies (Stages St. Louis). Numerous TV and film credits including “Bull,” “The Blacklist,” “Boardwalk Empire,” and “Law and Order.”

Tickets for Garside's Career, which are on sale now, start at $39 and may be purchased online at minttheater.org, by phone by calling 212/714-2442, ext. 45 (Tuesday - Sunday from 12 noon to 5PM), or in person at Theatre Row Box Office (located at 410 West 42nd Street). Service fees will apply for online or phone orders.

Performances will be Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday evenings at 7pm with matinees Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2pm. Added performances Wednesday evenings 2/19 & 3/12 at 7pm. No performance on 2/21.  Theatre Row, located at 410 West 42nd Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues), is a fully accessible venue: all bathrooms are accessible; there is an elevator to all floors; the bar and lounge are fully accessible; assisted listening devices are available.

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