Photos: First Look at TheatreWorksUSA's CAT KID COMIC CLUB: THE MUSICAL at the Lortel Theatre

TheaterWorksUSA's world premiere of the musical adaptation of #1 bestselling Cat Kid Comic Club series by Dav Pilkey opens today, Sunday, July 30, at 3 PM. The limited run is written by the award-winning team of Kevin Del Aguila (book and lyrics) and Brad Alexander(music), with direction and choreography by Marlo Hunter and musical direction by Paul Staroba. The production will run through August 27, 2023, at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street).

Check out photos from the production below!

The cast includes L.R. Davidson (TWUSA’s Dog Man. Regional: Follies), Jamie LaVerdiere (Broadway:  Motown The Musical, TWUSA’s Dog Man), Brian Owen (TWUSA’s Dog Man. Mint Theater’s Chains), Sonia Roman (NY: More Than This: A New Musical), Dan Rosales (TWUSA’s Dog Man. Off-Broadway: Trevor), Markia Nicole Smith (Regional: School Girls; Or The African Mean Girls Play, TWUSA’s Dog Man), with understudies Jeremy Fuentes (Regional: Xanadu)  and Malynne Smith (TWUSA’s Rosie Revere Engineer and Friends), 

The creative team includes Set Design by Cameron Anderson,Lighting Design by David Lander, Costume Design by Jen Caprio, Co-Sound Designers Scott Stauffer & Jesse Desrosiers, Puppet Design by AchesonWalsh Studios/ Fergus Walsh, Matt Acheson

A supa awesome laugh-out-loud family adventure! Cat Kid and Molly Pollywog have started an epic club to teach 21 rambunctious baby frogs how to make their own comics! Their fishy father, Flippy, is overjoyed that his kids will learn to unleash their creativity. Still, when the frogs’ constant bickering and outrageous imaginations send their comics comically off the rails, Flippy flips out! Will the club survive? Will the frogs ever get along? And will creativity finally save the day? All will be answered in this madcap musical based on Dav Pilkey’s irreverently hilarious spin-off series Cat Kid Comic Club, adapted by Kevin Del Aguila and Brad Alexander, the team that brought you Dog Man: The Musical.

“We are thrilled to be working with this extraordinary cast and creative team on the World Premiere of the musical adaptation of Dav Pilkey’s Cat Kid Comic Club this summer, and happy to be back at the iconic Lucille Lortel Theatre sharing the joy of live theater with families.” TWUSA Artistic Director, Barbara Pasternack

The newest book in Dav Pilkey’s Cat Kid Comic Club series, Cat Kid Comic Club: Influencers, will be published by Scholastic on November 28, 2023, simultaneously in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, and New Zealand.

TheaterWorksUSA is one of the leading creators of theater for family audiences, with a

 repertoire that includes musical theater adaptations of popular children’s and young adult literature, such as Dog Man, The Lightning Thief, The Magic School Bus, Junie B. Jones, The Pout-Pout Fish, Pete the Cat, and The Dot.

Learn how to join TWUSA’s Family Fan Club and become eligible for an exclusive discount to a world premiere performance by visiting CatKidMusical.com.

Creative Team

THEATERWORKSUSA (Barbara Pasternack, Artistic Director; Michael Harrington, Executive Director) has led the Theater for Young and Family Audiences movement in New York City and North America for over half a century. At TWUSA, we believe that access to art—and theater, in particular—is vital for our youth. Since 1961, the 501(c)3 not-for-profit has captured the imaginations of 100 million new and veteran theatergoers with an award-winning repertoire of over 140 original plays and musicals. Acclaimed alumni include Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (Disney’s Frozen), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Rent), Jerry Zaks (The Music Man), Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen), Miguel Cervantes (Hamilton), Kathleen Chalfant (Angels in America), and Chuck Cooper (Tony award-winning actor, The Life). TWUSA.ORG

BRAD ALEXANDER (Music) TV credits include Lead Composer for “Clifford The Big Red Dog” (Scholastic/Amazon/PBS Kids), five episodes of PBS’s Emmy Award-winning “Peg + Cat,” and VH1’s “Celebreality” campaign. Theater: See Rock City & Other Destinations(Richard Rodgers, Jerry Bock, Drama Desk Awards), TheaterWorksUSA’s Click Clack Moo (Drama Desk, Lortel nom), Just So Stories and Martha Speaks; contributing composer for Duck For President, Fly Guy and We The People (Lortel nom). Current projects: Misty Makes It Better (lyrics by Jill Abramovitz, book by Erik Forrest Jackson) and Bread And Roses (lyrics by Jill Abramovitz, book by Jill Abramovitz and Melissa Crespo, based on the film by Ken Loach and Paul Laverty). Brad is a member of NAMT, The Dramatists Guild, SAG-AFTRA, and BMI Workshop. bradalexander.com

KEVIN DEL AGUILA (Book & Lyrics) is an Emmy-winning writer and acclaimed performer, currently playing Osgood in Some Like It Hot (Drama Desk Award, Tony, and Outer Critic Nomination) on Broadway. He is the book writer of the off-Broadway comedy Altar Boyz (NY Outer Critics Award) and lyricist of Click Clack Moo (Lortel and Drama Desk noms). Other writings include musical stage adaptations of the DreamWorks film Madagascar and the wildly popular book series Diary Of A Wimpy Kid. He’s written for numerous children’s television shows, including “Peg + Cat” (PBS), “Waffles + Mochi’s Restaurant” (Netflix and the Obamas’ Higher Ground), and was head writer of “Blue’s Clues & You” (NickJr) and “Clifford The Big Red Dog” (Amazon/PBS). His lyrics can be heard in songs featured in the Disney animated movie Strange World. Children everywhere have heard Kevin’s voice as a Troll in the Disney movie Frozen.

MARLO HUNTER (Director/Choreographer) is a theater & film director and a “2022 Woman to Watch on Broadway”.  She made her feature film directorial debut with American Reject in 2022 (Amazon and Apple+).  She’s currently helming the Ever After musical with music by Zina Goldrich, lyrics by Marcy Heisler, and book by Heisler & Kate Wetherhead, produced by Kevin McCollum (Discovering Broadway Residency, NYC industry reading). Marlo recently directed two short films for Disney TV/ABC’s Discovers: Talent Showcase. She is in development as director and co-creator of the TV series, “Dedication,” with writer Nicola Kraus (“The Nanny Diaries” novel).  Marlo has directed, choreographed, and developed new work at Second Stage, Long Wharf, Williamstown, Roundabout, Playwrights Horizons, EST, Pittsburgh CLO, and Bay Street, among others. She is an alumna of the Sundance Theatre Lab and winner of the Callaway Award for Unlock’d, which she directed & choreographed Off-Broadway. BA in English/Dramatic Literature - Princeton.  www.MarloHunter.com

DAV PILKEY began his career in 1987 as a picture book author and illustrator. He was awarded a Caldecott Honor in 1997 for his picture book The Paperboy. His many acclaimed picture books include God Bless the Gargoyles, T’was the Night Before Thanksgiving, The Hallo-Wiener, Dog Breath, and One Today written by presidential inaugural poet Richard Blanco. When Dav Pilkey was a kid, he was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. He was so disruptive in class that his teachers made him sit out in the hallway everyday. He loved to draw and make up stories and spent his time in the hallway creating his own original comic books—the very first adventures of Dog Man and Captain Underpants. Pilkey’s Dog Man series, launched in 2016, has more than 60 million copies in print and translated in 45 languages. A feature film adaptation of Dog Man is in the works from DreamWorks. His Captain Underpants series, launched more than twenty five years ago, has more than 90 million copies in print, translated into 44 languages, and released as a feature film by DreamWorks, as well as an original series on Netflix.

Cat Kid Comic Club The Musical is adapted from the books CAT KID COMIC CLUB © 2020 by Dav Pilkey, CAT KID COMIC CLUB: PERSPECTIVES © 2021 by Dav Pilkey, and CAT KID COMIC CLUB: ON PURPOSE © 2022 by Dav Pilkey. Published by Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc. 

For more information about TheaterWorksUSA, please visit www.TWUSA.org

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