CITY STORIES Set for Brits Off Broadway at 59E59 Theaters

59E59 Theaters will host the US premiere of CITY STORIES: Tales of Love and Magic in London, written and directed by James Phillips, with original music composed and performed by Rosabella Gregory, at the 2016 Brits Off Broadway festival. Produced by The City Stories Company, in association with Goodge and Mortimer Productions and Oxford Playhouse, CITY STORIES: Tales of Love and Magic in London begins performances on Tuesday, May 10 for a limited engagement through Sunday, May 29. Press opening is Sunday, May 15 at 3:15 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7:15 PM; Friday at 8:15 PM; Saturday at 2:15 PM & 8:15 PM; and Sunday at 3:15 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets are $35 ($24.50 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or visit www.59e59.org.

CITY STORIES interweaves tales of love, hope and happiness from the British capital. What happens when someone tells you that you're the answer to the riddle of life? What happens when a stranger in Starbucks gives you something that will change your world forever? What happens as the world starts to fall asleep, hour-by-hour?

Featuring a ravishing set of new plays by playwright James Phillips (writer of McQueen: or Lee and Beauty, which was called "sharp, funny, volatile, vulnerable" by the Financial Times) mixed with live music composed and performed by Rosabella Gregory (winner of New York Songwriter's Circle Song Contest), CITY STORIES is a sequence of interwoven love stories that take audiences on a magical journey through a magical city. Called "sublime, atmospheric and enchanting" by LondonTheatre.com, CITY STORIES, which broke box office records at the St. James Theatre, is a finely crafted love letter to London.

The cast features Daphne Alexander (Hidden in the Sand at Trafalgar Studios); Louisa Clein (Trevor Nunn's Lady from the Sea at the Almeida); Alan Cox (Cornelius at Brits Off Broadway, Translations on Broadway); Matthew Flynn (War Horse at the National Theatre/West End); Tom Gordon (Long Story Short at Charing Cross Theatre and Pleasance Theatre); Phoebe Sparrow (Fathers and Sons at The Donmar Warehouse); and Sarah Quintrell (Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion at the York Theatre Royal).

The production designer is David Farley. The production stage manager is Sofia Montgomery.

James Phillips' (playwright/director) plays include: McQueen: or Lee and Beauty (St. James Theatre); The White Whale (Slung Low/Leeds); The Rubenstein Kiss (Hampstead, winner of the John Whiting Award and the TMA Award for Best Play); City Stories (St. James); Hidden in the Sand (Trafalgar Studios); The Wind in the Willows (Latitude/Theatre503); Time and the City (Slung Low/Hull); Bobby and the Chimps (Florida); The Little Fir Tree (Sheffield Theatres). His directing credits include: The Rubenstein Kiss, Hidden in the Sand, City Stories, Frankie and Johnny at the Claire de Lune (Sound Theatre); Macbeth (Sheffield Crucible); Trettondagsafton (National Academy in Stockholm); Touched (Soho Theatre). His first professional production, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme at the Pleasance, London, won an award from NESTA, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. He was an Associate Director of Sound Theatre, London. He is a selector for the National Student Drama Festival. TV credits include: "If We Dead Awaken" (Channel 4/Touchpaper). His first film script, The Watching Tree, is being produced by Blonde to Black Productions.

British singer-songwriter and Royal Academy of Music graduate Rosabella Gregory (composer/performer), is an award-winning music-fiend. She has written and produced three solo albums and three EPs. Her latest work "Ghosts Are Calling" is now available on iTunes. Gregory has performed her music in New York City, Paris, Barcelona and throughout the UK, including supporting the legendary, Jools Holland. Recent performances include St James Theatre, 606 club, The Shakespeare Globe, Pizza Express Jazz Club, The Royal Festival Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall. A live BBC Radio 2 session with "Whispering" Bob Harris remains her most treasured experience to date. 2007 saw Gregory win the International Prize in the New York Songwriter's Circle Song Contest, where Grammy award-winning producer, Russ Titelman, compared her to "a young Joni Mitchell." Collaborations include Bob James, Manolo Badrena, Circle of Sound (Soumik Datta and Bernhard Schimpelsberger), Anoushka Shankar and Nitin Sawhney. More recently, Go West front-man Peter Cox, recorded a duet with Gregory of her award-winning song "Better Love Next Time." Another string to Gregory's bow, is writing for the theatre. She is the composer and the sole musical performer of the score for City Stories written by award-winning playwright James Phillips (Mc Queen, The Play). And along with her longstanding collaborator, and twin, Dina, she has also composed the score to a new musical, commissioned by Tony Award-winning Broadway producers Corey Brunish and Brisa Trichero.

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