York Theatre Company's 'Tune In Time' Continues Tonight

The York Theatre Company, dedicated to the development of new musicals and preserving musical gems from the past, partners with producers Amy Engelhardt and Heather Shields to present the fourth installment in the Fall 2014 series of the acclaimed new game show for musical theater lovers called Tune in Time. Hosted by Emily McNamara, with music direction by Nate Buccieri, and Sheila Head as the annoyingly insistent timekeeper, the next performance in the series is set for TONIGHT, December 2 at 7:30 p.m. at The York Theatre Company's home at Saint Peters (Citicorp Building, entrance on East 54th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue).

Due to popular demand, a special performance has been added on Tuesday, December 16 at 7:30 p.m. The acclaimed new musical game show series is set to return to The York in 2015. Dates to be announced shortly.

Songwriters confirmed for the fourth installment in the game show series include Kate O'Boyle Anderson, Britt Bonney, Drew Gasparini, Tom Gualtieri, Erik Przytulski and David Sisco. Celebrity judges will include Ryan Bogner (RKO), and Erica Rotstein (Broadway Across America).

In this "musical theater Olympics," Tune in Time brings together three teams of composers and lyricists who have never worked together - who must now collaborate to beat the clock! Their task is to write a song for a new Broadway musical, the title of which is picked from a hatful of audience suggestions, in a style determined by a spin of the dreaded "Genre Wheel" - all within 20 minutes. Tune in Time is an evening of edge-of-your-seat suspense, brain-frying bravery, and Broadway trivia. Each edition features a different roster of musical theater composers and lyricists as well as a panel of celebrity judges who award points based on specific criteria (use of title, adherence to genre and whether they actually wrote a tune in time). Trivia questions also give the contestants an opportunity to earn more points. The final overall score determines the winner.

Songwriting winners for the performance held on November 11 were Ben Wexler (Dramatist Guild Fellow) and Dan McKenzie, who were paired together to write the title character's self-explanatory song from the faux Disney musical, The Stick Snake."

Songwriting winners from October 28 were (two-time champ) Erik Jareth Ransom and Clay Zambo who won for their song from the (faux) historical epic musical, The Hairy Ebola that narrowly edged out David Ingber and Blake Pfeil's 50's/60's throwback tune from the (faux) musical, Phantasmagorical Subway. Honorable mention went to Lauren Kleinbaum and Adam Spiegel's song, "Lumbering Hippopotamus" in the style of Broadway composer Jason Robert Brown that rocked the house.

Past songwriters who participated in the first installment on October 14 included James Ballard, Zoe Sarnak, Benny Gammerman, James Harvey, Robbie Torres and Avi Amon. The winning team was Mr. Amon and Mr. Torres for their original song written for the (faux) Disney musical, The Lovely Piano.

"A triumph! A rollicking celebration of words and music that skips briskly along the path that wends from the hilarious to the sublime." - Big Yellow Taxi

General Admission tickets are priced at $20 and can be purchased online at www.yorktheatre.com, or by visiting the York Theatre Company Box Office (Citicorp Building, entrance on East 54th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue), or by calling the Box Office at (212) 935-5820 during regular business hours (Monday through Friday, 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.).

For additional information, please visit the website at www.yorktheatre.org.

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