MUSICAL OF MUSICALS (THE MUSICAL!) Returns To MetroStage 8/27-10/18

Producing Artistic Director Carolyn Griffin is pleased to announce that the 2007 smash hit Musical of Musicals (The Musical!) is returning to MetroStage August 27 through October 18, 2009. Musical of Musicals (The Musical!) is a hilariously funny parody of five Broadway composers, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Kander and Ebb, Jerry Herman and Andrew Lloyd Webber, with the music by Eric Rockwell, lyrics by Joanne Bogart, and book by Rockwell and Bogart. Both Rockwell and Bogart performed in the original New York production which began at The York Theatre Company before moving Off Broadway to Dodger Stages. It has been successfully presented on many stages across the country and in London and has a national website (www.musicalofmusicals.com).

The 2007 MetroStage production received Helen Hayes Award nominations for Outstanding Musical Direction, Outstanding Lead Actress (Donna Migliaccio) and Outstanding Lead Actor (Bobby Smith). It also received the DC Audience Choice Awards sponsored by DC Theatre Scene for Best Musical, Best Actress (Migliaccio) and Best Actor (Smith) in 2007.

Returning director Larry Kaye has directed musicals in Philadelphia, DC and Europe for the past three decades. Since the last production of Musical of Musicals (The Musical!) he has written the book and lyrics for a new musical, The Tapioca Miracle, which recently had its first New York reading, with John Rando directing and featuring Karen Ziemba. Original choreographer Nancy Harry will return. Music director and accompanist Douglas Lawler has performed at Toby's Dinner Theatre since 1991, and was most recently at the Kennedy Center where he performed in Ragtime and was guest artist in The Color Purple. The returning cast is comprised of award-winning musical theatre actress Donna Migliaccio, who was most recently seen at the Kennedy Center as Emma Goldman in Ragtime, the remarkably versatile Bobby Smith, with recent credits ranging from Frog and Toad at Round House, to Caroline or Change and Grey Gardens at Studio, See What I Wanna See at Signature and Girl in the Goldfish Bowl here at MetroStage, and Janine Gulisano-Sunday, who was most recently see in Jerry Springer The Opera at Studio and was featured in MetroStage's production of Closer Than Ever. Joining the cast is Matthew Anderson who was most recently seen in The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall at Theatre J and Please Listen a Musical Chaos at this summer's Capital Fringe Festival.

Heather Mayes will understudy the role of Ms. Migliaccio and take over for her beginning Sept. 17 when Migliaccio heads for New York to be in the Broadway production of Ragtime. Ms. Mayes has performed for Tokyo Disney, in Cabaret at The Duplex in NYC, and, most recently, at the Bay Street Theatre in

I Do! I Do!.
Designers include original set designer, Allison Campbell; original light designer, Terry Smith; and original costume designer, Erin Nugent and associate costume designer Janine Gulisano-Sunday.

Performances are August 27-October 18, Thursdays and Fridays at 8, Saturdays at 5 and 8:30, Sundays at 3 and 7. Tickets are $45-50. Call 800-494-8497 or go online to wwwboxofficetickets.com. For group sales call 703-548-9044.

Pay What You Can is Thursday August 27.