Cast And Creatives Announced for LIFE AFTER At The Old Globe

The Old Globe today announced the cast and creative team for the American premiere of Life After, a rapturously beautiful and stirring new musical with book, music, and lyrics by Britta Johnson. The Globe's own Barry Edelstein directs, with choreography by Ann Yee. Life After will run March 22 - April 28, 2019 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run March 22-28.

Opening night is Friday, March 29 at 8:00 p.m. Life After is produced by special arrangement with Yonge Street Theatricals, Linda Barnett, and Natalie Bartello. Single tickets start at $32.00 and are now on sale. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

Grieving the recent loss of her famous father, 16-year-old Alice begins to question the events surrounding his death and sets out to uncover what really happened on the night that changed her family forever. Britta Johnson's Life After is a bittersweet, witty, and life-affirming new musical that explores the mess and beauty of loss and love. Through the vivid imagination of a young woman looking for the facts, we find a more complicated truth instead. The Old Globe's Barry Edelstein directs the American premiere of this rapturously beautiful and stirring new musical from a composer the Toronto Star calls "a startlingly talented emerging voice." BroadwayWorld dubs Life After "musical theatre perfection...exquisite from start to finish." Johnson and Life After received a total of six coveted Dora Mavor Moore Awards for the Toronto world premiere in September of 2017, including Outstanding New Musical and Outstanding Production in the 2017-2018 season.

The cast includes Bradley Dean (Broadway's Dear Evan Hansen, A Little Night Music, The Last Ship) as Frank Carter, Sophie Hearn (Nickel Mines, Facebook Me, Richard II) as Alice Carter, Charlotte Maltby (Starting Here, Starting Now; Have You Met Miss Jones) as Kate Carter, Livvy Marcus (Hair, Lizzie, The Theory of Relativity) as Hannah, Mamie Parris (Broadway's Cats, School of Rock - The Musical, Wicked) as Beth Carter, and Dan'yelle Williamson (Broadway's Memphis, Scandalous, Rocky) as Ms. Hopkins; Ensemble members Ximone Rose (Broadway's Once on This Island, Beautiful national tour), Mackenzie Warren (Broadway's Cats; Anything Goes, Pippin national tours), and Carmel Valley native Charlotte Mary Wen (the Globe's Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, One Day the Musical Off Broadway); Lance Arthur Smith (the Globe's October Sky) as Frank Carter Understudy; and Encinitas native Emma Stratton (Broadway's Prince of Broadway; Bullets Over Broadway national tour) as Swing.

The multiple Tony Award-nominated creative team includes Ann Yee (Choreography; London's Caroline, or Change; Oklahoma! at Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Neil Patel (Scenic Design; Broadway's Time and the Conways; India Pale Ale, An Ordinary Muslim; The Lion national tour), Linda Cho (Costume Design; 15 Globe shows include A Thousand Splendid Suns, October Sky, The Comedy of Errors; Broadway's Anastasia, Tony Award-winning A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder), Japhy Weideman (Lighting Design; the Globe's October Sky, Bright Star, Bethany, August: Osage County; Broadway's Lobby Hero, Dear Evan Hansen), Ken Travis (Sound Design; the Globe's American Mariachi, Rain, The Last Goodbye; Broadway's In Transit, Aladdin), internationally acclaimed Sven Ortel (Projection Design; Broadway's The Little Mermaid, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Wonderland), Lynne Shankel (Music Supervision, Arrangements, and Orchestrations; Cry-Baby, Altar Boyz), Chris Kong (Music Director), Tara Rubin Casting/Merri Sugarman, CSA (Casting), and Anjee Nero (Production Stage Manager).

"From the first instant I heard the score of Life After, I was swept away," said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. "Britta Johnson is a major new talent in the contemporary musical theatre, and she's fashioned a story that is so many things: warm, humane, truthful, and about important things like family and loss and grief and healing. Its characters and their experiences are as moving and meaningful as its glorious, shimmering music. It gives me great joy to direct such a rich and winning work, and to work with a team of collaborators both onstage and off who are the absolute eminences in our field. And it is a distinct pleasure to bring Britta's unique and thrilling voice to the United States for the first time, and to the Globe's wonderful audience. This is a special show, and I cannot wait to share it with San Diego."

Britta Johnson (Book, Music, and Lyrics) is a writer, composer, and lyricist based in Toronto who is thrilled to be making her American debut at The Old Globe. Life After premiered in Canada in 2017 (co-produced by Canadian Stage, The Musical Stage Company, and Yonge Street Theatricals) and went on to win six Dora Mavor Moore Awards, including Outstanding New Musical and Outstanding Production. Her other writing credits include, with her sister Anika Johnson, Dr. Silver: A Celebration of Life, Brantwood, Jacob Two-Two, and Trap Door; with Sara Farb, Kelly v. Kelly and Reframed; and with Katherine Cullen, Stupidhead! Ms. Johnson was the librettist for choreographer Robert Binet's adaptation of The Kreutzer Sonata with Ballet Moscow. She is the inaugural Crescendo Series Artist with The Musical Stage Company in Toronto, which includes a commitment to produce three of her shows in three years.

Barry Edelstein (Director) is a stage director, producer, author, and educator. He has directed nearly half of the Bard's plays. His Globe directing credits include The Winter's Tale, Othello, The Twenty-seventh Man, the world premiere of Rain, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Hamlet, and the world premiere of The Wanderers. He also directed All's Well That Ends Well as the inaugural production of the Globe for All community tour. In January he oversaw the Globe's inaugural Classical Directing Fellowship program. He most recently directed The Tempest with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall. As Director of the Shakespeare Initiative at The Public Theater (2008-2012), Mr. Edelstein oversaw all of the company's Shakespearean productions as well as its educational, community outreach, and artist-training programs. At The Public, he staged the world premiere of The Twenty-seventh Man, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, Timon of Athens, and Steve Martin's WASP and Other Plays. He was also Associate Producer of The Public's Broadway production of The Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino. From 1998 to 2003 he was Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company. His book Thinking Shakespeare, which was rereleased in a second edition in June, is the standard text on American Shakespearean acting. He is also the author of Bardisms: Shakespeare for All Occasions. He is a graduate of Tufts University and the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.

Ann Yee (Choreography) trained at Boston Conservatory of Music, Harvard Summer Dance Center, and The Ohio State University. Her theatre work includes Sunday in the Park with George (The Hudson Theatre), Oklahoma! (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), The Taming of the Shrew (The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park), Shakespeare Trilogy (Donmar Warehouse, King's Cross Theatre, St. Ann's Warehouse), and Woyzeck (St. Ann's Warehouse, Gate Theatre). Her international work includes The American Clock and The Duchess of Malfi (The Old Vic), Julie, She Stoops to Conquer, and The Comedy of Errors (National Theatre), Blurred Lines (The Shed at National Theatre), Caroline, or Change (West End, Hampstead Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre), War Requiem and Wozzeck (English National Opera), The Threepenny Opera (Salzburg Festival), Urinetown (St. James Theatre, Apollo Theatre), Mr. Burns, a post-electric play (Almeida Theatre), How to Hold Your Breath and Birdland and Oxford Street (Royal Court Theatre), The Commitments (Palace Theatre), The Color Purple (European premiere), Macbeth and Bent (Trafalgar Studios), Philadelphia, Here I Come! and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Donmar Warehouse), Angels in America (Lyric Hammersmith, U.K. tour), and Hair (Gate Theatre).

Life After at The Old Globe is supported in part through a gift from Production Sponsors Karen and Donald Cohn, Jean and Gary Shekhter, Karen and Stuart Tanz, The Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Fund, and Vicki and Carl Zeiger. The Artist Sponsors for director Barry Edelstein are Sandy and Arthur Levinson. Financial support is provided by The City of San Diego.

Additional events taking place during the run of Life After include:

VICKI AND CARL ZEIGER INSIGHTS SEMINAR: Tuesday, March 26, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. This series provides an opportunity to closely connect with productions both onstage and backstage. A panel selected from the artistic company of each show (playwrights, actors, directors, designers, and/or technicians) engages patrons in an informal and illuminating presentation of ideas and insights to enhance the theatregoing experience. Reception at 5:00 p.m. FREE; no reservations necessary.

POST-SHOW FORUMS: Tuesdays, April 2 and 9, and Wednesday, April 17, 2019. Join us after the show for an informal and enlightening question-and-answer session with cast, crew, and/or Globe staff members. Get the inside story on creating a character and putting together a professional production. FREE for ticketholders of that evening's performance.

SUBJECT MATTERS: Saturday, March 30, 2019 following the matinee performance. Explore the ideas and issues raised by a production through brief, illuminating post-show discussions with local experts, such as scientists, artists, historians and scholars. Subject Matters will ignite discussion, bring the play's concerns into sharp focus, and encourage you to think beyond the stage! FREE; no reservations necessary.

Single tickets start at $32.00 and are now on sale. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE [234-5623], or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 29 years of age and under, seniors, military members, and groups of 10 or more.

Performances begin on March 22 and continue through April 28, 2019 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Preview performances run March 22-28. Opening night is Friday, March 29 at 8:00 p.m. Regular performances: Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m., Thursday and Friday evenings at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. There will be an additional matinee performance on Wednesday, April 17 and no matinee performance on closing day, Sunday, April 28.

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