Photo Flash: Tony Award-Winning Director John Rando Visits SILENCE! THE MUSICAL

Tony Award-winning director John Rando attended SILENCE! The Musical at P.S. 122 on April 19th, joining a long list of luminaries who have turned up in the audience at the hit show over the past few months including Jodie Foster, Neil Simon, James Earl Jones, Kelly Ripa, Josh Groban, Lisa Lampanelli, Jonathan Demme, Matt Bomer, Joan Rivers, Chita Rivera, Jeremy Jordan, Stephen Schwartz, John Kander, James Lapine, Jonathan Groff, Justin Kirk, Corbin Bleu, Mario Cantone, David LaChapelle, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, TR Knight, Willie Garson, Seth Rudetsky, Steven Pasquale, Telly Leung, Christian Campbell, John McDaniel, Eden Espinosa, Charlotte d'Amboise, Carol Woods, Anika Larsen, and Anthony Heald. See the photo below!

SILENCE! The Musical, currently nominated for Best Musical by the Lucille Lortel Committee and the Off Broadway Alliance, is the unauthorized parody of The Silence of the Lambs, with book by Hunter Bell, music & lyrics by Jon and Al Kaplan, and direction & choreography by Christopher Gattelli. The show opened July 9, 2011. It was subsequently selected by Time Magazine as one of the year's Top 5 Musicals.

In the Academy Award-winning film The Silence of the Lambs, rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling matches wits with the brilliant but insane cannibal, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, to catch the serial killer known only as Buffalo Bill. Clarice faces her own demons while racing the clock to unlock Lecter's clues before another innocent girl is killed and skinned by Buffalo Bill. The laugh-out-loud wicked satire, SILENCE! The Musical, features a singing chorus of floppy eared lambs narrating the action as Buffalo Bill gleefully dances a hoedown while kidnapping hapless Catherine Martin. Even Dr. Lecter, scary as ever, sings about the life he'd like to lead someday outside the prison walls.

David Garrison (Hannibal Lecter), Jenn Harris (Clarice Starling) and Stephen Bienskie (Buffalo Bill) head the cast of SILENCE! The Musical, which also features Callan Bergmann, Harry Bouvy, Ashlee Dupré, Annie Funke, Deidre Goodwin, Howard Kaye, Topher Nuccio, Pamela Bob, and Doug Trapp. Music Supervisor is Mark Hartman, with orchestrations by Brian J. Nash.

Created by Jon and Al Kaplan in 2002, SILENCE! began as a collection of songs on the internet which immediately attracted a staggering number of fans. The Kaplans' subsequent screenplay SILENCE! The Musical was adapted by Hunter Bell into a live stage show, which also featured newly composed songs by the brothers. SILENCE! won the award from Best Musical at the 2005F FringeNYC Festival. SILENCE! The Musical met with further success in London at the Above The Stag Theatre.

John Rando has directed numerous productions on and Off-Broadway including Urinetown (Tony Award), Neil Simon's The Dinner Party, The Toxic Avenger, Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight, The Wedding Singer, A Thousand Clowns, Dance of the Vampires, Rounding Third, Pig Farm, and the upcoming Gentlemen Prefer Blondes at Encores!

The playing schedule for SILENCE! The Musical is Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 8 PM, and Sundays at 3 & 7 PM at The 9th Space Theatre at Performance Space 122, 150 First Avenue (at 9th St.) Running time is 89 minutes with no intermission. Tickets are $25 - $79 and are available by calling 212-352-3101 or through www.SilenceTheMusical.com.

Photo credit: Ritchard Druther