SILENCE! to Add Sunday Performances Beginning March 17

SILENCE! The Musical is adding Sunday performances beginning this weekend, kicking off its new Spring schedule. Following the announcement that SILENCE! would be ending its long run at the end of 2012, ticket sales unexpectedly soared, shattering all previous box office records held by the show. Subsequently, the producers determined that the production would reopen on January 19th. After opening initially at Theatre 80 on July 9, 2011 to unanimous rave reviews, SILENCE! was extended numerous times by popular demand and transferred theatres twice, ultimately landing at the new Elektra Theatre which was constructed especially for the show.

Winner of the 2012 Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Musical, Silence! The Musical 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 Tony Award winner Christopher Gattelli. The show was selected by Time Magazine as one of 2011's Top 5 Musicals (on or Off-Broadway).

Winner of five Oscars including Best Picture, the classic film The Silence of the Lambs follows rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling as she 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 raunchy 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, plus-sized Catherine Martin. Even Dr. Lecter, creepy as ever, sings about the life he'd like to lead someday outside the prison walls.

With Sean McDermott (star of Broadway's Miss Saigon, Grease, Starlight Express, and Falsettos) as Hannibal Lecter, the cast of Silence! The Musical also features David Ayers, Pamela Bob, Ashlee Dupré, Stephen Hanna, Howard Kaye, Jeffrey Kuhn, Topher Nuccio, Ronica V. Reddick, Kimberly Stern, Natalie Joy Johnson, and Chuck Ragsdale.

Created by Jon and Al Kaplan in 2002, Silence! The Musical 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. Fueled by a rabid cult following, SILENCE! shattered every box office record at the 2005 FringeNYC Festival, winning the award for Best Musical. SILENCE! met with further success in London and Los Angeles.

SILENCE! The Musical has hosted an unusually large number of celebrity attendees including Jodie Foster, Matt Bomer (twice), Joan Rivers, Kelly Ripa, Jonathan Demme, James Earl Jones, Josh Groban, Perez Hilton, Rachel Dratch, Justin Kirk, T.R. Knight, Jonathan Groff, Ben Schwartz, Lisa Lampanelli, Andy Dick, Neil Simon, Corbin Bleu, Richard Kind, Willie Garson, Steven Pasquale, Mario Cantone, Lindsey Shaw, Erin Cummings, Jeremy Jordan, Linus Roache, David LaChapelle, Stephen Schwartz, Alec Mapa, Christine Lakin, Chad Allen, Heather Matarazzo, James Lapine, John Kander, Chita Rivera, Danny Burstein, Vicki Lewis, John Billingsley, Georgia Engel, Christian Campbell, Will Swenson, Barrett Foa, Tovah Feldshuh, Randy Harrison, Stephen Flaherty, Julie Brown, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Barbara Feldon, Cady Huffman, Audrey Wasilewski, Shuler Hensley, Michelle Clunie, Reed Birney, Anthony Heald, Donna McKechnie, Telly Leung, and James Barbour.

Produced by Theater Mogul, Silence! The Musical runs 90 minutes with no intermission. This weekend's playing schedule will be Saturday at 2 & 7 PM and Sunday at 3 PM at the Elektra Theatre, 669 Eighth Avenue (at 42nd St.) Tickets are available by calling 212-352-3101 or through www.SilenceTheMusical.com.