TUTS Presents VOTE! A New Musical 9/16-17

Theatre Under The Stars' (TUTS) Humphreys School of Musical Theatre (HSMT) will develop and present the Southwest regional premiere of VOTE! A New Musical, a high-energy musical that takes a look at the good, the bad, and the funny of high school student council elections. The election polls will rock on September 16 - 17, 2011 at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts with an all-teen cast made entirely of students from the award-winning Humphreys School. VOTE! A New Musical is a collaboration between Rice University alumni Ryann Ferguson (book and lyrics) and Steven Jamail (music and lyrics) about coming into your own in an effort to be your true self - even if, at times, you fail.

The race is on for student council president at Green Valley High School, and the political hijinks between the three leading candidates have begun! Valedictorian Muffin Pasquinelli secretly dreams of leaving her high-pressured life behind to become a flight attendant. At the risk of letting her friends, family and school down, Muffin succumbs to their demands and agrees to join the political race. Standing in the way of her presidential victory is overachiever Mark Boyd, and nerdy do-gooder Nikki Murphy. As the election unravels, alliances change, and all three candidates are eventually forced to define themselves in order to define their campaigns.

After an overwhelming turnout at auditions, the cast is set for VOTE! A New Musical with 35 Houston-area high school students. Starring as Muffin Pasquinelli, the popular cheerleader and front-runner in the presidential race, is Carley Nunn. The Seven Lakes High School senior was last seen as "Adelaide" in Guys and Dolls; a role that won her the 2011 Tommy Tune Award for Best Supporting Actress. Nunn has also appeared in The Who's Tommy, The Wizard of Oz (Dorothy) and Seussical the Musical (Gertrude). Muffin's longtime rival and fellow candidate, is the ruthless Mark Boyd played by Grant Brown. A senior at Whitehouse High School, Brown was recently nominated for a 2011 Tommy Tune Award as Best Actor in his role as "Bobby Child" in Pasadena Memorial High School's production of Crazy For You. Kristen DelBosque appears as Nikki Murphy, the third presidential candidate who is constantly working to help those less fortunate. Recently seen in Hairspray as "Tracy Turnblad", the Klein High School senior also participated in her school's production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

The three student council presidential candidates are supported by friends and fellow students of Green Valley High School. Trish Yoder, Muffin's worrisome campaign manager, is played by Melissa Beaird. A Klein High School senior and winner of the 2011 Tommy Tune Award for Best Featured Performer, Beaird was last seen in Disney's Camp Rock: The Musical (Mitchie), The Who's Tommy and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Rona Peretti). Drew Jones stars as Mark Boyd's lackey friend, Nathan. Jones is a senior at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and recently appeared in Disney's Camp Rock: The Musical as "Brown Cesario". Brody Cox, played by Clear Springs High School senior Max Bailey, is Green Valley's current school president and football captain. Bailey's last stage productions include: Guys and Dolls (Benny Southstreet), Seussical the Musical (Horton) and Pirates of Penzance (Major General). Ryan Kennedy appears as Trish Yoder's snowboarding boyfriend, Mike Downing. Last seen at TUTS in The Who's Tommy (Captain Walker) and The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley, Jr. (Stanley Lambchop), Kennedy is also a professional pianist whose original musical, LOVE the Musical, was staged for the first time this summer. Ms. Verona Fowler, played by TUTS' faculty member, Lisa E. Harris, is the voice of authority and reason as the school's government teacher. Harris' acting credits with TUTS include Little Shop of Horrors at Miller Outdoor Theatre and The Sound of Music.

Rounding out the cast are Austin Arizpe, Maci Bass, Meredith Bechtel, Monica Brown, Drew Carr, Rebecca Eckert, Natalie Flores, Mia Gerachis (Tommy Tune Award winner for Best Actress), Roderick Green, Sean Hardin, Matt Hawes, Haylee Hoelscher, Brooke Humphrey, Keenan Hurley, Liam Johnson, Connor Jones, Megan McGuff, McCall Montz, Madie Plum, Ragan Richardson, Lindsay Sloan, Mason Smajstrla, Matthew Smith, Corwin Stoddard, Robert Terry, Sandy Valles, Christian Warner and Andrew Wesley.

Directing the TUTS' production of VOTE! A New Musical is Illich Guardiola, a renowned actor and director within the Houston community. Last spring he made his directorial debut with the Humphreys School's production of The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley, Jr. As an actor, he appeared on stage in the TUTS holiday classic, The Sound of Music. Creating the upbeat and lively choreography with her unmistakable dance steps is Shay Rodgers, a native Houstonian who is currently in her 24th year with Theatre Under The Stars. Through her time at TUTS, Rodgers has held various roles, as a student, performer, teacher, production assistant, choreographer, stage manager and now Manager of Education. Rodgers has choreographed several HSMT productions including The Who's Tommy, 13, The Stephen Schwartz Project, Aladdin Jr. and The World Goes 'Round, Disney's Camp Rock: The Musical, Schoolhouse Rock Live and Disney's When You Wish. John Cornelius serves as Music Director and has been the music director/arranger/composer for a number of theatres including The Great Caruso, The Ensemble Theatre, Main Street Theatre and Theatre Under The Stars. He has worked with the Humphreys School as Music Director on the productions of The Who's Tommy, 13 and as Co-Creator/Musical and Vocal Arranger for The Stephen Schwartz Project.

VOTE! A New Musical was created by Ryann Ferguson (book and lyrics) and Steven Jamail (music and lyrics); both Rice University alumni. Ferguson is a Harper's Guild award-winning lyricist and writer/producer of theatre and film. Her Broadway production credits include Sweeney Todd, Company, Grey Gardens, The Drowsy Chaperone, Spring Awakening, and 13 among others. She holds a degree in English Literature from Rice University and is working towards a PhD in creative writing at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Jamail is a native Texan who attended Friendswood High School and earned his degree in music composition from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. Also a Harper's Guild award-winning composer, Jamail's musical My Life Today was commissioned by Rosie O'Donnell's charity, Rosie's Theatre Kids, and was featured in the 2010 New York Musical Theatre Festival.

Tickets for VOTE! A New Musical are available on-line at www.tuts.com, by phone at (713) 558-8887, outside the Houston area at (888) 558-3882, or in person at the Theatre Under The Stars Box Office, (800 Bagby at Walker, Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat-Sun 11am-4pm). A student matinee performance for school and home-schooled groups is available and may be purchased by calling TUTS' Group Sales at (713) 558-8888 or via email at groupsales@tuts.com. Tickets are available for September 16 at 7:30 p.m. and September 17 at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Founded in 1968, Theatre Under The Stars is Houston's acclaimed non-profit musical theatre company under the direction of President and CEO John C. Breckenridge. TUTS was the first theatrical organization in Houston to perform free to the public in 1968 at Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park, and is the only Houston arts organization that has performed there free to the public every year since the building opened. Since its founding by Frank M. Young, TUTS has produced more than 300 musicals including many local, national and world premieres such as Kopit and Yeston's Phantom, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Jekyll & Hyde, and Irving Berlin's White Christmas as well as critically acclaimed re-inventions of classics Cabaret and Les Miserables. Through its membership in the Independent Presenters Network, TUTS has helped bring Bombay Dreams, 9 to 5, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Spamalot, Legally Blonde, Ragtime, Curtains and The Color Purple to Broadway.

As a way to continue the tradition of musical theatre, TUTS Education provides instruction and stage experience for more than 21,000 students annually, allowing students to flourish in a year-round schedule of classes. With a common goal - to expand arts access to children of all abilities - The River Performing and Visual Arts Center (The River) merged with Theatre Under The Stars in 2010, creating a unique, barrier free, arts education model for non-profit musical theatre performing arts organizations. With the merger, TUTS Education now provides extended on-site programming as well as off-site programming for children in schools, hospitals and other community-based sites. Housed in the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, TUTS also annually presents the Tommy Tune Awards, honoring the best and brightest in Houston's high school musical theatre programs.

To post a comment, you must register and login.