The York Theatre Company has announced an all-star cast for its upcoming virtual benefit presentation of The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!). The event will raise funds to help the York recover and rebuild after devastating damage from a water main break on January 4. The performance will premiere on Sunday, April 18, at 7pm and will be available to stream on demand here through April 21.
This all-star event will feature appearances by Betty Buckley, Matthew Broderick, André De Shields, Jane Krakowski, Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Donna Murphy, Mandy Patinkin, Chita Rivera, Lillias White, Mercedes Rueh, Lewis Black, Richard Kind, Jose Llana, Isaac Mizrahi, Lesli Margherita, Debra Messing, Andrea McArdle, Brad Oscar, Ethan Slater, Giancarlo Esposito, Martha Plimpton, Randy Rainbow, Soara-Joye Ross, Christy Altomare, Colleen Ballinger, Kevin Smith Kirkwood, Kelvin Moon Loh, Telly Leung, Christine Pedi, Jelani Remy, Jackie Sanders, Michael West, and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!) features music by Eric Rockwell, lyrics by Joanne Bogart, and book by Eric Rockwell and Joanne Bogart. This special presentation will be directed by Tom D’Angora and Michael D’Angora, with music direction and arrangements by Deniz Cordell and original director Pamela Hunt serving as artistic supervisor.
Bogart and Rockwell’s offering is structured in five acts, each of which is a mini-musical parodying (and paying homage to) the style of a legendary musical theater writers: Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Kander & Ebb. Each act is based on the same classic melodrama plot: “I can’t pay the rent … You must pay the rent … I can’t pay the rent … Then I’LL pay the rent!” The Musical of Musicals, which The York helped develop and create, received its off-Broadway premiere there in 2003 with an extended run. It was transferred by Melanie Herman and The York to New World Stages in 2005 for a 500-performance commercial run. The original cast album is on JAY Records.
Donations to the York Theatre Company can be made here.
