| The Jonathan Larson Project Announces Complete Casting; Previews February 14 | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 09:55 am EST 01/11/25 | |
|
|
|
| THE JONATHAN LARSON PROJECT ANNOUNCES COMPLETE CASTING ADAM CHANLER-BERAT, TAYLOR IMAN JONES, LAUREN MARCUS, ANDY MIENTUS, JASON TAM TO LEAD WORLD PREMIERE MUSICAL PREVIEWS BEGIN FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14 AT THE ORPHEUM THEATRE TICKETS ON SALE TODAY AT 10:00 AM EST Richard Frankel, Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, and Marc Routh proudly announce complete casting for the world premiere of The Jonathan Larson Project, a new musical that celebrates the dozens of unheard songs, unfinished and unproduced musicals, and pop songs found in files and boxes when the visionary writer of RENT died suddenly at the age of 35 in 1996. The five-person cast will feature Broadway stars Adam Chanler-Berat, Taylor Iman Jones, Lauren Marcus, Andy Mientus, and Jason Tam. Conceived by Jennifer Ashley Tepper and directed by John Simpkins, The Jonathan Larson Project features more than 20 undiscovered songs by the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning writer. The new musical will begin previews on Friday, February 14 with an official opening on Monday, March 10 at the Orpheum Theatre, located at 126 2nd Avenue, for a 16 week limited engagement. Tickets go on sale on Thursday, January 9 at 10:00 AM. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit www.thejonathanlarsonproject.com. “The intention throughout our process has been to assemble a cast who in some way share similar experiences and passions around art, love, activism, and humanity to the ones Jonathan was articulating in his work,” said Director John Simpkins. “I am excited and confident that these five bold and powerful artists will provide a window into the piece that both honors and enhances Larson’s legacy and also reflects a contemporary perspective on the material that can be in dialogue with our modern lives.” When Jonathan Larson died unexpectedly at the age of 35, it was hours before his musical RENT took the world by storm. Larson was hailed posthumously as the voice of a generation, winning Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize, and achieving his life-long dream of changing Broadway forever... although he tragically wasn’t there to see it. In his apartment, he left behind hundreds of cassette tapes, scripts, music files, journals – boxes of his writing from shows that were never produced and projects that were never seen… until now. The Jonathan Larson Project brings to the stage the extraordinary unheard songs of the writer who revolutionized Broadway. This powerful new musical asks how we can make a difference in the world today, with Larson’s voice reaching through time to inspire audiences. From presidential elections to environmental activism to creating and connecting despite every obstacle, Larson’s songs speak to our present time with stunning resonance. At the same time, The Jonathan Larson Project reflects the journey of an unknown young artist, struggling against rejection, making ends meet as a waiter in a diner, and finding his voice... which he has no idea will someday lead to triumph and enduring fame. The show includes cut songs from RENT and tick, tick… BOOM! as well as songs that have never been performed in a theater before. Fortunately for the world of musical theatre, Larson gave us more to see—and that work has finally hit the stage. The Jonathan Larson Project is a world premiere musical that is also an undiscovered treasure trove of songs you will never forget. It was originally presented as a concert at 54 Below in Fall 2018 and was released as an album on Ghostlight Records in 2019. With Music Supervision and Orchestrations by Charlie Rosen and Co-Arrangements by Charlie Rosen and Natalie Tenenbaum, The Jonathan Larson Project also features Choreography by Byron Easley and Music Direction by Cynthia Meng. Casting is by The Telsey Office/Rachel Hoffman with General Management by Evan Bernardin Productions. CAST BIOS: ADAM CHANLER-BERAT originated roles on Broadway in Next to Normal, Peter and the Starcatcher, and Amelie, as well as starring in the 2018 Broadway revival of Shaw’s Saint Joan. Off-Broadway credits include Assassins, Fortress of Solitude (Lortel Nom.), Rent, Fly by Night, How to Load a Musket, Nantucket Sleigh Ride, Zorba, and Titanic. Regional credits include Sunday in the Park with George (Huntington) and The Year to Come (La Jolla Playhouse.) He starred alongside Vince Vaughn in the Dreamworks film Delivery Man and has appeared on television in HBOmax’s “Gossip Girl,” “Veep," “Elementary," "The Good Wife," “Doubt," "The Code," “NCIS: Nola,” and “Soundtrack." As a writer, Adam’s work has been developed by Barrington Stage Company, the Civilians, New York Stage and Film, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, Ars Nova, and Classic Stage Company. Adam is a proud founding member of the social justice-minded theater collective The Commissary. TAYLOR IMAN JONES has been seen on Broadway as Katherine Parr in SIX, and the original casts of Head over Heels and Groundhog Day. Before that, she was a part of the national tours of Hamilton and American Idiot. She’s also appeared Off-Broadway in MCC’s The Lonely Few, Roundabout’s Scotland, PA, and The Kennedy Center’s The Who’s Tommy. Taylor is so honored to be bringing new life to these songs with this incredible cast and creative team. LAUREN MARCUS. Her Broadway credits include Be More Chill (Original Cast). Select credits: White Girl in Danger (Second Stage/The Vineyard), Sarah Silverman’s The Bedwetter (The Atlantic), Fiddler On The Roof (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Little Shop of Horrors (Pittsburgh Public), The Humans (St. Louis Rep), Company (Barrington Stage), The...Hunter S. Thompson Musical (La Jolla Playhouse). Film/TV: tick, tick…BOOM!, Law and Order: SVU. As a writer, Lauren is a 2021 and 2023 finalist for the Jonathan Larson Grant, a 2022 semifinalist for the O’Neill and Relentless Award, and developed her original television pilot, Honest Living, at New York Stage and Film. She is currently finishing up her first full-length retro-pop album, as well as co-writing the book for a new musical adaptation of Girls Just Want to Have Fun (based on the 1985 Sarah Jessica Parker film) for Lively McCabe Entertainment. ANDY MIENTUS. His Broadway credits include Les Miserables, Spring Awakening. Other theater includes: Wicked (National Tour), Tommy (Denver Center), Bent (MarkTaper Forum), Carrie (MCC), The View Upstairs at London’s Soho Theatre and recently Jim Henson’s musical Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas in Chicago. Television credits include the series “Grendel” and Dolly Parton’s “Heartstrings” both for Netflix, the Pied Piper in CW’s “The Flash”, the NBC musical drama “Smash”, and “Gone” (NBC/Universal). Andy wrote the book and lyrics to the musical Burn All Night at ART, the middle grade fiction series The Backstagers, and recently his debut YA novel Fraternity, from Amulet/Abrams Books. IG:@AndyMientus JASON TAM starred in the hit NBC Live “Jesus Christ Superstar,” with John Legend and Sara Bareilles, as Peter. He was seen in the Off-Broadway shows, The White Chip (MCC), The Ghost of John McCain (Soho Playhouse), and KPOP (Lortel Award) - a collaboration between Woodshed Collective, Ars Nova, and Ma-Yi Theatre Company. Jason’s Broadway credits include Be More Chill (and Off-Bway), IF/THEN, Lysistrata Jones, and the original Paul in the revival of A Chorus Line. He has also performed at numerous regional theaters including The Hollywood Bowl, The Guthrie, and Broadway Sacramento. Jason’s TV credits include “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” “FBI: Most Wanted,” “The Blacklist,” “Do No Harm,” “Hawaii 5-0,” “One Life to Live” and “Beyond the Break,” and he was seen in the documentary Every Little Step. Jason holds a BFA from NYU Tisch, and serves on the Board of Directors at Keen Company. BIOS: JENNIFER ASHLEY TEPPER (Conceiver) is an acclaimed theatre historian, author, and producer. She has been the Creative and Programming Director at 54 Below for the past decade. She has curated or produced over 7000 shows in this position. Her leadership at the beloved venue has gained praise from publications including The Huffington Post, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, Playbill, Newsday, The New York Post, and more. Tepper's four volumes of The Untold Stories of Broadway book series have been called an "inspiring Must- Read" by NBC New York and occupied the #1 spot on Amazon.com's Best Sellers List in Broadway & Musicals. Her new book, Women Writing Musicals: The Legacy that the History Books Left Out was published in November 2024. Women Writing Musicals is the first-ever book about female musical theatre writers. Tepper is the producer of the musicals Be More Chill, Broadway Bounty Hunter, and Love In Hate Nation, projects that are part of a decade-long collaboration with the group known as Joe Iconis & Family. On Broadway, Tepper has also worked on [title of show], The Performers, Godspell, Macbeth, and The Parisian Woman. She is the conceiver of The Jonathan Larson Project, historian consultant on the tick, tick... BOOM! movie (directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda for Netflix) and co-creator of the Bistro Award- winning concert series, If It Only Even Runs A Minute. Her work as a theatre historian also encompasses celebrated live talks and events, including at TEDxBroadway, BroadwayCon, The Museum of Broadway, Thespian Festivals, and more. Tepper received a 2020 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award. She was named one of the 10 professionals on Backstage Magazine's "1st Annual Broadway Future Power List", which stated: "Proving herself both a zeitgeist predictor and theatrical historian with her eclectic programming, Tepper is leading the conversation on contemporary musical theatre.” JOHN SIMPKINS (Director) has directed New York productions of the three-time Drama Desk nominated Bloodsong of Love (Joe Iconis) at Ars Nova; Things to Ruin (which he co-conceived and directed) at Second Stage, Zipper Factory, Ars Nova; The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks at the Lortel Theatre; The Black Suits at SPF/ Public Theatre; The Bus (James Lantz) at 59E59; and ReWrite at Urban Stages. Additional World Premieres include Joe Iconis’ Love in Hate Nation (Two River Theater) and The Black Suits (Center Theatre Group/ Kirk Douglas Theatre), Jacques Lamarre’s Raging Skillet (Theaterworks Hartford), and Andrea Daly/ Jeff Bienstock’s Legendale (Fredericia Teater in Denmark). John’s regional directing includes Weston Playhouse, Goodspeed Opera House, Barrington Stage, Lyric Theatre Oklahoma, Sacramento Music Circus, Engeman Theatre, and North Carolina Theatre. He also directed the new musical Tyrants (Alexander Sage Oyen/ Nora Brigid Monahan) at the National Archives in Washington, DC. In addition to his directing, John is Head of Musical Theatre at Penn State University, where he created and curates a New Musicals Initiative and has commissioned musicals from writers that include Joe Iconis, Mike Reid/ Sarah Schlesinger, Kirsten Childs, Sam Salmond, Matthew McCollum/ Sofya Levitsky-Weitz, Alexander Sage Oyen/ Lauren Marcus/ James Presson, Gilbert Bailey, Maria Wirries/ Christian Thompson, Joshua Salzman/ Ryan Cunningham, and Deborah Abramson/ David Kirshenbaum. CHARLIE ROSEN (Music Supervision, Orchestrations, Co-Arranger) is a 2x Grammy Award and 2x Tony Award winning composer and orchestrator whose music has been heard worldwide across many stages and screens around the world. Some recent credits include: Broadway: Some Like it Hot (Orchestrations), A Strange Loop (Orchestrations), Be More Chill (Music Sup/Orchestrations), Moulin Rouge (Orchestrations), Prince of Broadway (Orchestrations), American Psycho (Assoc MD/Keys), The Visit (Guitar/Zither), Honeymoon in Vegas (Orchestrations), Cyrano de Bergerac (Composer), One Man, Two Guv’nors (Music Director, Bass), 13 The Musical (Guitars, Bass, Keys), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Assoc. MD, Bass, addl. Orch). Off Broadway/Regional: Guys and Dolls (Orchestrations) - The Bridge Theater London, Love in Hate Nation (Orchestrator) - Two River Theater, Broadway Bounty Hunter (Orchestrations) - Greenwich House Theater, A Legendary Romance (MD/Orch.) - Williamstown Theater Festival, Miss You Like Hell (Orchestrations), The Public Theater. In addition to his theater credits, Charlie is the bandleader for the Grammy award winning Video Game Music Jazz orchestra “The 8-Bit Big Band.” NATALIE TENENBAUM (Co-Arranger) is a critically acclaimed composer, producer, and pianist. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Tenenbaum has appeared as a soloist and with orchestras in Europe, Asia, and the US, performing in venues including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Shanghai’s Majestic Theater, Jerusalem Music Center, Konzerthaus Berlin, Madison Square Garden and Apollo Theater. Tenenbaum premiered her original compositions at Carnegie Hall, Harvard University, Merkin Hall, The National Arts Club in New York, Lincoln Center, Blue Note, Thelonious Monk Jazz Club in Seoul, and more. Notably, she created original arrangements and orchestrations for Lang Lang’s recent album release with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Universal Music Group / Deutsche Grammophon / Disney) and created an original arrangement for the Pentatonix. On Broadway, Tenenbaum worked on David Byrne’s American Utopia (2021–2022). Her latest album, Standard Repertoire, Vol. 1 (Platoon), which features reimaginings of standard classical piano repertoire interlaced with original compositions, was released in June. BYRON EASLEY (Choreographer). Choreography credits include Broadway productions of Camelot (Lincoln Center Theater) and Slave Play [ Antonyo Award nomination]. Other New York projects include – Dorothy Dandridge The Musical for the 2023 New York Theater Festival - Fall/Winter season [Best Choreography Award]; the Public Theater’s Richard III; the Atlantic Theater’s production of Bed Wetter; New York Theater Workshop’s Slave Play; X: Or Betty Shabazz V. The Nation [Lucille Lortel Award nomination]; Harlem Classical Theater’s production of Twelfth Night, [Audelco nomination]; The Bubbly Black Girl for City Center Encores; Langston in Harlem [SDC’s Joe A. Callaway Award and an Audelco Award]. Regionally he has choreographed at the La Jolla Playhouse: Ballad of Johnny & June; Steppenwolf: Choir Boy; Olney Theatre: Matilda [Helen Hayes nomination]; Signature Theatre: Gun & Powder; Yale Repertory Theatre: Twelfth Night; TUTS: The Wiz; Oregon Shakespeare Festival: The Three Musketeers, Unison, The Wiz and A Comedy of Errors; Arena Stage: Five Guys Named Moe [Helen Hayes Nomination]; Alliance Theatre: Jelly’s Last Jam [Suzi Bass Award], Sophisticated Ladies [Suzi Bass Award]. CYNTHIA MENG (Music Direction). Cynthia is a New York-based music director and pianist. Film/TV: Associate Vocal Supervisor on Only Murders in the Building (Hulu) and Spirited (Apple TV+). Broadway: The Outsiders, Lempicka, Back to the Future, Company (2020 revival), Hadestown, Funny Girl, Kimberly Akimbo. Other recent favorites: Ragtime (NY City Center, 2024), Safety Not Guaranteed (BAM), Only Gold (MCC World Premiere), Suffs (Public Theater), The Last Five Years(Out of the Box Theatrics), Radio City Christmas Spectacular, In The Green (Lincoln Center Theatre), Witness Uganda (Wallis Annenberg Center). JONATHAN LARSON was awarded the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his groundbreaking musical RENT. He also won the Tony Award for Best Musical, received The Gilman & Gonzales-Falla Theatre Foundation's Commendation Award twice, and additionally, in 1994 won the Richard Rodgers Award for RENT. RENT has been produced worldwide in numerous languages and was adapted into a feature film in 2005, directed by Chris Columbus. In 2019, Marc Platt produced a live television adaptation of RENT for FOX. In 1989, Larson was honored with the Stephen Sondheim Award by the American Music Theatre Festival, where he contributed to the musical Sitting on the Edge of the Future. The following year, he received the Richard Rodgers Development Grant for his rock musical Superbia, which was staged at Playwrights Horizons. Larson also composed the score for the 1995 musical J.P. Morgan Saves the Nation, presented by En Garde Arts. Larson’s rock monologue tick, tick... BOOM! was performed at Second Stage Theatre, The Village Gate, and New York Theatre Workshop. The piece went on to be produced off-Broadway in a three-person adaptation by David Auburn, in London, Los Angeles, and other cities globally. tick, tick... BOOM! was later adapted into a feature film for Netflix, produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Julie Oh through Imagine Entertainment, and was directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda in his feature film debut. In addition to his work for the stage and screen, Larson composed music for Sesame Street and contributed to various children's book-cassettes, including scores for Steven Spielberg's An American Tail and The Land Before Time. He also worked on film scores for Rolling Stone magazine publisher Jann Wenner and conceived, directed, and wrote original songs for the children’s musical video Away We Go!. RENT, Larson’s iconic rock opera based on La Bohème, premiered on February 13, 1996, at New York Theatre Workshop and subsequently ran on Broadway for 12 years. Tragically, Jonathan Larson passed away unexpectedly from an aortic aneurysm on January 25, 1996, just ten days before his 36th birthday. Despite his untimely death, Larson’s legacy endures through his influential works, and the work of the Jonathan Larson Grant Program (administered by the American Theatre Wing). The Grant Program supports the work of emerging musical theatre artists and has helped foster the careers of many of todays established Broadway creators. RICHARD FRANKEL, TOM VIERTEL, STEVEN BARUCH, MARC ROUTH (Producers) have produced and general managed a wide range of productions for the past 40 years including, among others, the original Broadway productions of The Producers; Hairspray; Young Frankenstein; Smokey Joe’s Café; Angels in America; Penn & Teller; Swing!; The Weir; The Encounter; and The Parisian Woman. Most recently they produced Back to the Future and The Roommate on Broadway. Their notable revivals on Broadway include Gypsy with Patti LuPone and Laura Benanti, the Old Vic production of The Norman Conquests, A Little Night Music directed by Trevor Nunn with Catherine Zeta Jones and Angela Lansbury and later Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch, John Doyle’s groundbreaking productions of Sweeney Todd with Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris and Company with Raul Esparza, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Nathan Lane and later Whoopi Goldberg, Damn Yankees and the first-ever Broadway revivals of The Sound of Music and Little Shop of Horrors. Notable Off-Broadway premieres include Driving Miss Daisy; Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune; The Cocktail Hour; Love Letters; Oleanna; Jeffrey; Marvin’s Room; and Stomp. They’ve mounted many national tours and productions in London, Australia, Canada, Europe and throughout Asia. Their productions have received dozens of awards including two Pulitzer Prizes, four Grammy Awards and two Olivier Awards for Best Musical. Their nine Tony Awards include all four Best categories: Play, Musical, Revival of a Play and Revival of a Musical. They created and continue to operate the acclaimed not for profit cabaret 54 Below, which presents over 700 performances each year and is the recipient of a 2022 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre. For more information and latest updates on THE JONATHAN LARSON PROJECT, please visit www.thejonathanlarsonproject.com. |
|
| reply | |
|
|
|
| Previous: | MARILYN MAYE RETURNS TO 54 BELOW FOR HER ANNUAL BIRTHDAY BASH - Official_Press_Release 09:55 am EST 01/11/25 |
| Next: | look it up! - sc2 08:54 am EST 01/11/25 |
| Thread: | |
Time to render: 0.011793 seconds.