A Seductive Story of Crime, Passion and Redemption
Set in the Notorious Red-Light District of New Orleans
WHERE ALL THE RIVERS GO TO SLEEP
Featuring a 12-Piece Orchestra Playing Operetta, Ragtime, Tango and Blues in a Brothel at the Dawn of Jazz
PTC Performance Space, 555 West 42nd Street.
July 18-19, 2015
Book and Lyrics by Kate Manning
Story and Music by Jesse Gelber
Directed by Tony Award Nominee Randal Myler
A Special Concert Presentation in The New York Musical Theatre Festival
NEW YORK, NY, June 25, 2015 — WHERE ALL THE RIVERS GO TO SLEEP, a new musical featuring book and lyrics by Kate Manning and story and music by Jesse Gelber, will be presented in the 2015 New York Musical Theatre Festival.
WHERE ALL THE RIVERS GO TO SLEEP is a seductive story of crime, passion and redemption set in the fabled red-light district of New Orleans. Cora Covington, a young prostitute, falls in love with Apolline Albert, a beautiful Creole woman. Cora draws Apolline into a life of prostitution at one of the district’s most extravagant brothels run by the notoriously cold voodoo priestess Marie Snow. When Apolline’s husband returns from up North, a desperate Cora will do anything to keep Apolline from leaving.
This special concert event will feature a 12-piece orchestra playing a score reflective of American music as operetta, ragtime, tango, and blues meet in a brothel at the dawn of jazz.
The cast of WHERE ALL THE RIVERS GO TO SLEEP will feature Carole J. Bufford (Broadway By The Year, speak easy, Body and Soul) as Cora and Ann McCormack (West Side Story 50th Anniversary World Tour) as Apolline, with Jacqueline Antaramian (Dr. Zhivago, Coram Boy, Julius Caesar), Kenny Brawner(Kenny Brawner is Ray Charles), Damian Norfleet (Show Boat, Ragtime), Brynn Williams (In My Life, 13),Amanda Castaños (Spring Awakening), Mariah MacFarlane (Nice Work If You Can Get It, American Idiot), Ryan Clardy, David Lajoie, Michael Lanning and Erika Peterson.
Jesse Gelber won the ASCAP Foundation’s Morton Gould Young Composer Award for his opera Broad Stripes and Bright Stars, which was showcased at La MaMa. He has arranged music for PBS, Itzhak Perlman and Springfield Symphony, and was the musical director for the 50th Anniversary of Israel Concert at Boston’s Symphony Hall. He also has an active performance career as a stride pianist. Kate Manning has performed in A Year with Frog and Toad on Broadway and in the national tours of Evita andThe Wizard of Oz. She received the Best Actress award at the 2010 New York Television Festival for her performance in the web series Gintown.
WHERE ALL THE RIVERS GO TO SLEEP will be directed Randal Myler, who received two Tony Award nominations (Best Musical/Best Book of a Musical) for It Ain’t Nothin’ But The Blues. Mr. Myler’s musical biography of Janis Joplin, Love, Janis, reached 700 performances at The Village Theater, where he also staged Dream A Little Dream: The Mamas And The Papas Musical. Lost Highway received its premiere at the Denver Center Theatre Company and then moved to the Mark Taper Forum, the Old Globe and the Ryman Auditorium. Regional directorial credits include The Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, New Victory, B.B. King’s in NYC, Geffen Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse, Royal George, Virginia Stage, Missouri Rep, Meadow Brook and Bay Street. A 17-season veteran of the Denver Center, Mr. Myler’s recent projects include Touch The Names: Letters To The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, John Fante’s 1933, the musical version of The Immigrant and the critically acclaimed Cuban-American play Union City, New Jersey, Where Are You?,starring Rosie Perez. His latest work (co-authored with Dan Wheetman) is Fire On The Mountain: The Music Of The Coal Mines. He recently directed Betty Buckley in the new musical Diner Stories at the Denver Center.
Music direction is by Dan Lipton, who conducted The Last Ship by Sting on Broadway. He has arranged music and led bands for Kelli O’Hara, Brian d’Arcy James, Judy Kuhn, B.D. Wong, Martha Plimpton, Jack O’Brien and Audra McDonald, performing at the White House, Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Opera House, Kennedy Center and on Late Show with David Letterman, Great Performances, Live with Kelly and Michael, Today and Studio 360. He is a pianist on Grammy-nominated albums The Sunny Side of the Street by John Lithgow, The Full Monty and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and co-creator and music director of the comedy variety show Don’t Quit Your Night Job.
Dan Whitten is the general manager. He is the president of TIGER Theatricals. Broadway credits includeJay Johnson: The Two and Only (Tony Award) and Jersey Boys (Tony Award). London credits include Jay Johnson: The Two and Only and Carousel. Off-Broadway credits include Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (Drama League, Drama Desk nominations) and Jacques Brel Returns, currently at The Triad Theatre NYC.
Lighting design is by Travis Seminara. Casting is by Michael Cassara Casting. Jana Llynn is the production stage manager.
WHERE ALL THE RIVERS GO TO SLEEP will be performed at PTC Performance Space on Saturday, July 18 at 8pm and Sunday, July 19 at 12pm.
Tickets ($27.50) and NYMF Passes are available by visiting www.nymf.org/rivers.
PTC Performance Space is located at 555 West 42nd Street in New York City.
About Gelber & Manning
Gelber & Manning are a Brooklyn-based musical duo specializing in early jazz styles and original music who regularly perform at popular vintage events (The Jazz Age Lawn Party, The Liberty Belle Extravaganza) and some of New York’s most well-known clubs including Iridium, 54 Below, Webster Hall and Edison Ballroom. Music from their first album, Gelber & Manning Goes Public, is featured in the Alvin Ailey ballet Uptown. They co-produced and wrote the music for the musical event Vaudeville at the Gin Mill and for the web series Gintown, which was featured at The New York Television Festival, The Hollywood Film Festival, and The Coney Island Film Festival. Visit www.GelberandManning.com
“A knockout and a joy” – Rob Lester, Talkin’ Broadway
“Energetic, often riotous! So versatile and so musical that the presentation was over too soon.” – Michael Steinman, Jazz Lives
About The New York Musical Theatre Festival
The New York Musical Theatre Festival nurtures the creation, production, and public presentation of stylistically, thematically, and culturally diverse new musicals to ensure the future vitality of musical theatre.
Now in its twelfth year, the Festival is the premier musical theatre event in the world. The preeminent site for launching new musicals and discovering new talent, the Festival provides an affordable platform for artists to mount professional productions that reach their peers, industry leaders, and musical theatre fans. More than 90 Festival shows have gone on to productions on and Off-Broadway, in regional theaters in all 50 states, and in more than 20 countries worldwide. Festival alumni have received a wide array of awards including the Tony Award® and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2013, NYMF received a special Drama Desk Award in recognition of its work “creating and nurturing new musical theatre, ensuring the future of this essential art form.”
NYMF is the flagship program of National Music Theater Network, Inc., a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization. NYMF 2015 is sponsored by Fuzzrocket, PRG, TheaterMania, Clear Channel Spectacolor, and The Village Voice, and is supported, in part, 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.
The NYMF PASS is a great way to experience The New York Musical Theatre Festival. With a NYMF PASS, you can get into the theater before individual ticket holders. Passes also offer the exclusive ability to book tickets before they go on sale to the public. NYMF Passholder ticket booking begins June 1. Individual tickets go on sale June 15.
The 2015 New York Musical Theatre Festival will take place July 7-27. For more information, please visit:www.nymf.org
