'Sophia's Fall' To Have Premiere At NYMF

SOPHIA'S FALL, a musical by Benjamin Birney and Rob Seitelman, will perform at The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) as part of their new Dance Series. Jason Summers (Growing Up 70's) will choreograph and direct. Performances will begin on Thursday, September 18th, continuing through Saturday, September 20th.

SOPHIA'S FALL is an intense musical journey chronicling the final acts of creation through the eyes of Sophia, the mother angel who saved Adam and Eve from Lucifer and his fallen demons.  An epic love story, SOPHIA'S FALL is about the triumph of love over justice and the battle that rages inside each of us.  A four-piece rock band and fluid, modern dance choreography round out a dark, tuneful score.  SOPHIA'S FALL is an official selection of the 2008 New York Musical Theatre Festival.

Benjamin Birney (Lyrics and Music) is a graduate of Williams College with degrees in Music and Computer Science. While in college he wrote and produced a full-length fantasy musical entitled Villains!, and received numerous performances of other composition works. Since college he has composed a complete score for a computer game, a series of motets for church choirs, and many drafts of a musical-theatre adaptation of John Milton's Paradise Lost. Paradise Lost was performed in New York's Theatre District in February and March of 2006. Ben lives with his wife Hop in a cottage in Maine, where he works as a technology consultant in the Other Portland. In his spare time he raises chickens, enjoys Scrabble and sings in the choir at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church.

Rob Seitelman (Lyrics and Book) has worked professionally in theater for over 15 years. He received a BA in theatre arts from Williams College in 2001 and an MFA in acting from American Conservatory Theater in 2004. As an actor, he has worked at Lost Nation Theater in Vermont, American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, Bank Street Theater in New York, The Gallery Players in Brooklyn, and many more. Rob has directed many musical, classical, and modern plays including Into The Woods, Waiting for Godot, Les Miserables (Student Edition), West Side Story, Merrily We Roll Along, Goodnight Desdemona (Goodmorning Juliet), Fiddler on the Roof, and Children's Crusade among others. Most recently, Rob directed the off-off-Broadway premier of Paradise Lost at The Producer's Club in New York and Only a Lad, featuring the music of Oingo Boingo, for the New York International Fringe Festival. Writing credits include Paradise Lost (Book and Lyrics), aMUSEing, and The Freedom Roast/Political Idol.  Rob Seitelman currently resides in Northern California with his wife Abby.  He is the chair of the theatre department at the new Delta Academy of the Performing Arts in Antioch, California.

Jason Summers (Director and Choreographer) has worked extensively as a director, choreographer, teacher, and performer regionally and throughout New York. He received his BFA in Drama at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he graduated with honors and was presented with two outstanding achievement awards, one from the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, and the other, the Seidman Award, for his work as a performer and a scholar. As a director and choreographer, his work has been seen off-Broadway in New York (most recently as writer and director of the new musical Growing Up 70's, starring TV's "Greg Brady," Barry Williams) and in countless regional and college theaters throughout the country.

Mary Ann Ivan (Musical Director) has over 20 years of experience as a musical director and pianist in musical theatre. With a degree in Music Therapy from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA, Mary Ann moved to NYC in 1993 where she received her MA in Music Composition from NYU. Studying composition privately with Joseph Church, musical director of Disney's The Lion King and The Who's Tommy, she began her Broadway career as a keyboardist and rehearsal pianist. She has played such shows as Tommy, The King and I, Jekyll & Hyde and toured with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, My Fair Lady, and is currently with Jersey Boys. Becoming interested in composing at age 15, she now has over 600 songs, orchestral pieces, ensemble works, 4 Film credits, and 11 musicals. In addition to being a composer and theatre musical director, Mary Ann was a piano and music theatre instructor at Concordia College in Bronxville, NY and also a professor of Music Theory and Sight-Singing at Circle in the Square Broadway Theatre School in New York City.
Design duties for SOPHIA'S FALL will be handled by Lisa Weinshrott (Lighting Design) and Hop Nguyen (Costume Design).

An earlier version of SOPHIA'S FALL was performed in New York in 2006 under the title of Paradise Lost.  The reviews were very encouraging, prompting the creators to revise the script and lyrics, hire a new director and choreographer, and to include more dance elements.  Backstage praised the "Passionate, muscular entertainment," OffOffOnline.com wrote that the show was "Ambitious and passionate... the songs range from pleasantly engaging to downright stirring," and the New York Times said that this was "A musical where Satan steals the show."  Anyone who saw the earlier incarnation is sure to enjoy this new musical experience.

Hailed as "the Sundance of Musical Theatre," The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) exists to revitalize one of America's greatest art forms by discovering, supporting and promoting new musical theater artists, producers, and projects, and by introducing a diverse audience to the vibrancy of contemporary musical theater. Since its inception in 2004, the three-week annual festival has premiered more than 130 new musicals – many of which have gone on to award-winning productions in New York, in regional theaters and on tour in 38 states, and nine countries worldwide.  NYMF 2004 hit Altar Boyz has played well over 1,000 performances off-Broadway and is now in its fourth year at New World Stages; fellow NYMF alum [title of show] recently began performances at the Lyceum Theatre on Broadway.

Widely regarded as the essential source for new material and talent discovery, NYMF is the flagship program of The National Music Theater Network, a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization, and is presented in association with BroadwayWorld.com and TheaterMania.com, and is supported by amNewYork, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, BroadwayBox.com, BroadwayInsider.com, King Displays, Panasonic Astrovision, and TheMENEvent. NYMF is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

Festival memberships are on sale now and can be purchased online at www.nymf.org or by calling (212) 352-3101; single tickets go on sale on September 1. For more information, visit www.nymf.org.

Tickets and Schedule:

SOPHIA'S FALL will begin performances on Thursday, September 18th and will continue Saturday, September 20th. The schedule will be as follows:

Thursday 9/18 at 8pm
Friday 9/19 at 1pm & 4:30pm
Saturday 9/20 at 9pm
To purchase tickets, please visit www.nymf.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.