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MNM Theatre Company to present Maltby & Shire’s CLOSER THAN EVER on Demand!

13 Tuesday Oct 2020

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MNM Theatre Company will present

Maltby & Shire’s
Closer Than Ever
Correctly Socially Distanced!
Available for Streaming on Demand
November 27 – December 31

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

October 13, 2020

BOCA RATON, FL:  MNM Theatre Company, like almost every theatre company around the world, has been drastically affected by COVID-19. All scheduled productions have either been cancelled or postponed indefinitely, with no re-start date in sight.  However, the company’s Producing Artistic Director and CEO Marcie Gorman and Director Jonathan Van Dyke have come up with an innovative way to provide audiences with theatre, and the company’s first production Maltby and Shire’s Closer Than Ever will debut on November 27th and be available for On Demand streaming through December 31st.

“Since we haven’t been together for a long time, we knew it was time to be Closer Than Ever,” Gorman says. “Just the name of this show seemed to be a perfect fit for these times – so many of us are still so far apart and yet in many ways, Closer Than Ever. 

“And Jonathan has developed a safe and incredibly creative way to present it to audiences”, she continues.  “I’m excited about this on so many levels, not the least of which is to provide work for our actors and technical people, most of whom haven’t worked for months, and are so looking forward to once again ‘making theatre’”.  

Closer Than Ever will be filmed at MNM’s Boca Raton warehouse/studio, which will be cleaned and sanitized regularly. Maximum safety precautions will be observed from the start of rehearsals through the final performance: Individual show segments will be filmed separately; actors and tech crew have been asked to observe COVID protocols and remain as isolated as possible unless rehearsing or performing. They will be COVID tested frequently; their temperatures will be taken each time they enter the building; and they will be required to hand sanitize multiple times every day.  They will maintain at minimum a 6-foot social distance whether on stage or off; and masks will be worn at all times unless the actor is on stage or being filmed.  A very small invited audience will be present at one taping – but everyone will have his or her temperature taken, audience members will also be properly socially distanced, and each audience member must be part of the show’s participants’ ‘bubble’.

Closer Than Ever is a nonstop exploration of everyday struggles in the “modern world”. Topics ranging from unrequited adoration… to aging… to Muzak are tackled with resounding sincerity and precisely placed hilarity. Each song is a unique story told by a new character, taking audiences into the minds of the individuals facing these completely relatable challenges. Lyricists Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire based many of the songs on real-life experiences of their friends, or stories told to them.  The show won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical.

“Knowing what we are facing in live performance logistically and what would resonate artistically, for me the choice was Maltby & Shire’s Closer Than Ever,” says Jonathan Van Dyke who will direct and stage the production.   “The title alone says so much of where we are. While unable to be close physically, in our hearts and minds we are Closer Than Ever.

“Working with MNM and our integrated video concept, we hope to have found a way to navigate safety measures and still execute some intimate moments in an artistic way,” he continues.  “The humanity and honesty of the songs delivers such a layered theatrical experience. Maltby and Shire have created over a dozen Broadway shows, film and television scores, and are the recipients of Grammy, Tony and Academy Awards.  I’m so looking forward to working on this material with this team.”

Closer Than Ever will star Johnbarry Green, Aaron Bower, and Carbonell Award-winners Shelley Keelor, and Elijah Word, all of whom have worked with MNM Theatre Company in the past.   The technical crew, also all MNM alumni, includes Eric Alsford as the production’s Musical Director, and Emily Tarallo as the Choreographer, as well as Lighting Designer Clifford Michael Spulock, Sound Designer by Mike Kelly, Scenic Artist Cindi Taylor, and Scenic Designer Jordon Armstrong.  Johnbarry Green will serve as Technical Director, Cliff Burgess as Videographer, Michael Joseph as Assistant Videographer, wigs by Tease & Floof Custom Wig Boutique, and Amber Mandic and Andrea Guardo will be the production’s co-Stage Managers and co-Props Mistresses.

The award-winning duo, lyricist Richard Maltby, Jr. (Miss Saigon, Fosse, Ring of Fire) and composer David Shire (film scores include The Conversation, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, All The President’s Men, and parts of Saturday Night Fever), began working together as students at Yale University. Their first Broadway credit as a team was in 1968, when their song “The Girl of the Minute” was used in the revue New Faces of 1968. Their shared credits include Baby (1983), Big (1996) and Take Flight (2007).  Richard Maltby conceived and directed the only two musical revues to win the Tony Award for Best Musical:  Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1978) and Fosse (1999). David Shire won the Oscar for the theme song to Norma Rae “It Goes Like It Goes”; as a pianist Shire played for the original productions of both The Fantasticks and Funny Girl.

Closer Than Ever will begin streaming on November 27th and will be available On Demand through December 31st on Music Theatre International’s (MTI) streaming platform www.ShowTix4U.com via MNM Theatre Company’s website www.mnmtheatre.org or on the company’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/mnmtheatrecompany . Once tickets are purchased, patrons will receive a link to view the production.  The link will be active for 48 hours from the first click.  Tickets are $20.  

MNM Theatre Company is an award-winning not-for-profit 501(c)(3) theatre company whose mission is to produce high quality professional live theatre that inspires audiences and enriches the cultural life of the community while creating Florida based jobs in the Arts. 

For more information about MNM Theatre Company please visit www.mnmtheatre.org.  To speak with Marcie Gorman or Jonathan Van Dyke, please contact Carol Kassie at Carol@CarolKassie.com / 561-445-9244.

~

Closer Than Ever
November 27 – December 31
Music by David Shire
Lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr.
Conceived by Steven Scott Smith
Directed by Jonathan Van Dyke
Tickets: $20
Tickets available at https://www.mnmtheatre.org/  and/or  www.facebook.com/mnmtheatrecompany or
https://www.showtix4u.com/events/closerthanever  

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A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM Opens November 23rd in the Rinker Playhouse

11 Monday Nov 2019

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MNM Theatre Company and the Kravis Center
co-present
A Funny Thing Happened
on the Way to the Forum
Opening November 23rd in the Rinker Playhouse
“Something familiar… Something peculiar…
Something for everyone:  A comedy tonight!”

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

November 12, 2019

WEST PALM BEACH, FL:  The cast and crew of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum are deep into rehearsals and preparation for the show’s November 23rd opening.  Forum, an MNM Theatre Company co-presentation with the Kravis Center, will run in the venue’s Rinker Playhouse through December 8th.

Light, fast-paced, witty, irreverent, and completely politically incorrect, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is one of the funniest musicals ever written. Based on the works of the Roman playwright Plautus (254 – 184 BCE), whose comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety, the show focuses on Pseudolus, a crafty slave who struggles to win the hand of a beautiful but slow-witted courtesan named Philia for his young master Hero in exchange for freedom. The plot twists and turns and is filled with cases of mistaken identity, slamming doors, and a showgirl or two. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum allows MNM’s terrific ensemble of comedic actors to shine.

Jonathan Van Dyke

The production’s director, Jonathan Van Dyke is extremely enthusiastic about the show: “I am so enjoying taking this riotous trip to the Forum with MNM and I know this cast would make Titus Maccius Plautus proud!” he says.  “They’re all welcoming this material with open arms and are going to supply our audiences their denarius worth of hilarity!”

“This is the first musical for which Stephen Sondheim wrote both the music and the lyrics,” Paul Reekie, Forum’s musical director explains.  “Some people find Sondheim’s later works more difficult to enjoy because they are musically dissonant,  but Forum has traditional harmonies and many of the songs are eminently hummable! MNM is again proud to have an amazing six-piece band for the show.”

Johnbarry Green

“It’s a farce, effortlessly shifting the audience from humor to biting social commentary on a dime all while throwing lyrics and lines as speedily as it can,” says Johnbarry Green, who plays A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’s Pseudolus  “It’s the reason I love the piece and why it’s so challenging.  Every moment has to be carefully constructed to walk that delicate edge, otherwise they can fail contextually.  That’s why it’s such a crowning achievement when it works.”

Along with Green as Pseudolus, the Forum cast includes Michael Scott Ross* as Hysterium, Aaron Bower as Domina, J Savage* as Hero, Terry Hardcastle* as Marcus Lycus, Troy Stanley as Senex, Sean William Davis as Miles Gloriosus, Paul Thompson as Erronius, and Meg Frost as Philia.  Other cast members include Victoria Joleen Anderson, Lauren Cluett, Alexandra Dow, Stephen Eisenwasser, Frank Francisco, Elijah Pearson-Martinez, Meredith Pughe, Ashley Rubin, and Alexandra Van Hasselt.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum will run from November 23 – December 8. (There will be a preview performance on November 22nd.) The production will take place in the Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center.   Tickets are $39 – $55 and are on sale now.  For tickets and information call 561-832-7469; online: kravis.org or mnmtheatre.org.  For group rates and sales call 561-651-4438.

MNM Theatre Company attained not-for-profit 501(c)(3) status in 2018. They are an award- winning theatre company based in the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. For more information about MNM Theatre Company please visit mnmtheatre.org or contact Carol Kassie at Carol@CarolKassie.com / 561-445-9244.

*Appearing through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

~

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
November 23 – December 8
(Preview performance November 22 at 7:30)
Book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
For Tickets: mnmtheatre.org / kravis.org / 561-832-7469
Performances:
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, & Saturday at 7:30 pm (no Thanksgiving night performance)
Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday at 1:30 pm
Tickets:  $39 – $55
All performances in
Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center
701 Okeechobee Blvd.
West Palm Beach, FL 33401
Like Us on Facebook!

About the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts:        
The Kravis Center is a not-for-profit performing arts center located at 701 Okeechobee Blvd. in West Palm Beach, FL. The Center’s mission is to enhance the quality of life in Palm Beach County by presenting a diverse schedule of national and international artists and companies of the highest quality, by offering comprehensive arts education programs – serving approximately 2.5 million schoolchildren since its inception; by providing a Palm Beach County home for local and regional arts organizations to showcase their work; and by providing an economic catalyst and community leadership in West Palm Beach, supporting efforts to increase travel and tourism to Palm Beach County. To enhance and elevate the customer experience, the Center has embarked upon a $50 million capital campaign to support a campus redesign and facility expansion that will create a more accessible, comfortable and pedestrian-friendly venue for the community. Aptly named Kravis 2020: The Future is Now, this campaign is at the heart of the Kravis Center’s vision for the future. For information, please visit kravis.org or call the Box Office at 561.832.7469.

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MNM Theatre Company Announces the Cast of A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM

09 Tuesday Jul 2019

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MNM Theatre Company
Announces the Cast of
A Funny Thing Happened
on the Way to the Forum

November 22 – December 8

“This brazenly retro Broadway musical, inspired by Plautus, is
almost as timeless as comedy itself.”
Vincent Canby, The New York Times

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

July 9, 2019

WEST PALM BEACH, FL:  The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts and MNM Theatre Company are pleased to announce that casting is complete for their upcoming co-production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which will run from November 22 –  December 8 in the Kravis’ Rinker Playhouse.

“Forum is such a fun show,” MNM’s Executive Producer/Artistic Director Marcie Gorman said recently. “And we’re incredibly lucky to have found a cast who can sing and dance and deliver the comedy – and what comedy! The script is hilarious and clever, and often extremely politically incorrect… and of course the music is Sondheim’s…we can’t wait to share it all with our audiences!  Once again, our entire cast is local and we’re very proud of that.”

Dom Ruggiero, who directed I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, and My Way-A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra for MNM last season, will helm A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Ruggiero has cast Johnbarry Green as Pseudolus, Michael Scott Ross* as Hysterium, Aaron Bower as Domina, Terry Hardcastle* as Marcus Lycus, Troy Stanley as Senex, Sean William Davis as Miles Gloriosus, Paul Thompson as Erronius, and Meg Frost as Philia.  Other cast members include Victoria Joleen Anderson, Lauren Cluett, Alexandra Dow, Stephen Eisenwasser, Frank Francisco, Joshua Graham, Meredith Pughe, Ashley Rubin, and Alexandra Van Hasselt.

Paul Reekie will serve as Forum’s Musical Director, and Laura Plyler will provide additional choreography.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum will run from November 22 – December 8. The production will take place in the Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center.   Tickets are $39 – $55 and are on sale now.  For tickets and information call 561-832-7469; online: www.kravis.org or mnmtheatre.org.  For group rates and sales call 561-651-4438.

MNM Theatre Company attained not-for-profit 501(c)(3) status in 2018. They are an award- winning theatre company based in the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.

For more information about MNM Theatre Company and/or Marcie Gorman, please visit mnmtheatre.org or contact Carol Kassie at Carol@CarolKassie.com / 561-445-9244.

Photos, graphics, and additional head shots and bios available on request.

*Appearing through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

~

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
November 22 – December 8
Book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Performances:
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, & Saturday at 7:30 pm (no Thanksgiving night performance)
Saturday & Sunday at 1:30 pm
Tickets:  $39 – $55
All performances in
Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center
701 Okeechobee Blvd.
West Palm Beach, FL 33401
mnmtheatre.org
Like Us on Facebook!
~

Johnbarry Green (Pseudolus) appeared as King Arthur in MNM’s production of Monty Python’s Spamalot.  Other credits include Rock of Ages with Slow Burn Theatre Company as Dennis, Spitfire Grille at Palm Beach Dramaworks as Caleb, and West Side Story at Maltz Jupiter Theatre as Officer Krupke.  Occasionally you’ll find him hamming it up on the streets at various ren faires or giving walking tours in Massachusetts when he isn’t in a show.

Michael Scott Ross* (Hysterium) has appeared in several previous MNM productions including Monty Python’s Spamalot, The World Goes ‘Round, Avenue Q, and I Love You, You’r perfect, Now Change.  He has also performed throughout South Florida at Zoetic Stage, The Adrienne Arsht Center, The Wick Theatre, Palm Beach Dramaworks, Island City Stage, The Alhamba Theatre and Dining, The Winter Park Playhouse, TheatreZone, and most recently the Gulf Coast Symphony.  Michael can be seen portraying Dick Van Dyke in The Music of Julie Andrews, as well as in his cabaret show My Broadway: The Roles I Could Play.  Proud member of AEA, Wagner College Alum, and native New Yorker!

Aaron Bower (Domina) was recently seen as Irene in Crazy for You and Grace in
Annie at the Wick Theatre.  She received a 2018 Carbonell nomination for her portrayal of Murial in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at Stage door Theatre.  Other credits in Florida include Frau Kost in Cabaret at Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Dorothy Brock in 42nd Street at The Wick, Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls at The Wick, and Tess in Crazy for You at the Maltz.  She has traveled the world in three national tours and one European Tour.

Terry Hardcastle* (Marcus Lycus) is a three-time Carbonell Award-winner. His regional theatre credits include Actors’ Playhouse: Beauty and the Beast, Doubt: A Parable.  Zoetic Stage: Sweeney Todd.  Palm Beach Dramaworks: Side by Side by Sondheim, Sweeney Todd.  Florida Stage: End Days, Sisters of Swing. Mosaic Theatre: In a Dark, Dark House, True West.  Cumberland Theatre: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.  As a Professor of Theatre, he’s taught Acting and Public Speaking at Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Pittsburgh, New World School of the Arts, and Broward College.

Troy Stanley (Senex) played Eduoard Dindon in MNM’s production of La Cage aux Folles.  Other credits include West Side Story (Doc) and Disney’s Newsies (Mr. Jacobi/Mayor) at Maltz Jupiter Theatre, 1776 (McKean/Hewes) at Palm Beach Dramaworks, Big River (Pap Finn) and Titanic (Isador Straus) for Slow Burn Theatre Company, Who Killed Joan Crawford? (Harvey) and Perfect Arrangement (Theodore Sunderson) for Island City Stage, Victor/Victoria (Squash) and The Rothschilds (William/Metternich) for Broward Stage Door, and eleven shows at the Wick Theatre including Funny Girl (Tom Keeney/Mr. Rinaldi), Annie with Sally Struthers (Drake), Brigadoon (Andrew MacLaren), Beauty and the Beast (Maurice), Oklahoma (Andrew Carnes) and Man of La Mancha (The Governor) among others.

MNM Theatre Company Announces the Cast of MAN OF LA MANCHA – Tickets on Sale June 21st

13 Thursday Jun 2019

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MNM Theatre Company
Announces the Cast of
Man of La Mancha
Tickets on Sale June 21st

 

For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carol Kassie
carol@carolkassie.com / 561-445-9244

June 13, 2019

WEST PALM BEACH, FL:  MNM Theatre Company is pleased to announce that casting has been completed for their upcoming production of the award-winning musical Man of La Mancha, which will run from September 13 – September 29 in the Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.

“We are absolutely thrilled with this cast, and this crew,” MNM’s Executive Producer/Artistic Director Marcie Gorman said recently. “We at MNM are committed to hiring locally – there is such a depth of talent and ability in South Florida – and our La Mancha actors, musicians, and entire creative team are proof of that.”

Bruce Linser, winner of the 2018 Carbonell Award for Best Direction of a Musical for his work on Woody Guthrie’s American Song, will direct Man of La Mancha:
“As an actor myself, I love working with actors during the audition and rehearsal process,” Linser says.  “They’re so hungry to get inside these characters and this story, and it’s exciting to help them personalize their work, and to watch them come alive within it.   I always look for an essence of the character within the actor at auditions, and I think this is going to be a particularly powerful retelling of this beautiful story with this particular cast of actors.”

Linser has cast Michael McKenzie* as Don Quixote, 2018 Carbonell Award-winner Anna Lise Jensen* as Aldonza, and Mark Kirschenbaum* as Sancho. (Brief biographies can be found below) Other cast members include Matthew Korinko, Johnbarry Green, Gaby Tortoledo, Ellie Pattison, Rebecca Diaz, Joey Swift, Manny Zaldivar, Jonathan Eisele, Frank Francisco, Joshua Graham, Milton Mendez, Shanna Woods, Rio Peterson, and Ben Prayz.

Paul Reekie will serve as Man of La Mancha’s Musical Director, and Christine Kellogg will choreograph the production.

Man of La Mancha will run from September 13 – September 29. The production will take place in the Raymond Kravis Center for the Performing Arts’ Rinker Playhouse.   Tickets are $65 and will be on sale on June 21st.  For tickets and information 561-832-7469; on line: www.kravis.org or mnmtheatre.org.  For group rates and sales call 561-651-4438.

MNM Theatre Company attained not-for-profit 501(c)(3) status in 2018. They are an award- winning theatre company based in the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. Donations can be sent to MNM Theatre Company, 318 S. Lake Drive, Lantana, FL 3362.  For more information, please visit mnmtheatre.org.

For more information about MNM Theatre Company and/or Marcie Gorman, please visit mnmtheatre.org or contact Carol Kassie at Carol@CarolKassie.com / 561-445-9244.

*Appearing through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

~

Man of La Mancha
September 13 – 29
Written by Dale Wasserman
Music by Mitch Leigh
Lyrics by Joe Darion
For tickets: www.kravis.org / 561-832-7469
Tickets:  $65
Performances:
Thursday, Friday, & Saturday at 7:30 pm
Saturday & Sunday at 1:30 pm
All performances at
The Rinker Playhouse at
The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts
701 Okeechobee Blvd.
West Palm Beach, FL 33401
mnmtheatre.org
Like us on Facebook!

Michael McKenzie (Cervantes/Don Quixote) lives in both NYC and Boynton Beach and has appeared locally in Sweeney Todd (Palm Beach Dramaworks), We Will Not Be Silent (Theatre Lab at FAU), Dangerous, Déjà Vu (Caldwell Theatre), and Dinner With Friends (Cuillo Centre). On Broadway he appeared in Waiting in the Wings, The Man Who Came to Dinner, and Eastern Standard. His Off-Broadway credits include Kari Floren’s If Wishes Were Horses, A Late Supper, and Voices of Swords. Michael has toured nationally in Much Ado about Nothing, As You Like It, Orchards (John Houseman’s The Acting Company), and regionally (Baltimore Center Stage, Denver Center, Pittsburgh Public, Pioneer Theatre, Triad Stage, Capital Rep, Arkansas Rep, and many others). Some of his television and film credits include House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Younger, Blacklist, Law & Order, All My Children, and many episodes of Babylon 5.

Anna Lise Jensen (Aldonza) received a Silver Palm Award for her performance in MNM Theatre Company’s 2018 production of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. She received both a Silver Palm Award and a ‘Best Actress in a Musical’ Carbonell Award for her performance in Slow Burn Theatre Company’s The Bridges of Madison County. Anna Lise has also received Silver Palm Awards for her work as Reza in Once (Actors’ Playhouse) and Alison in Fun Home (Zoetic Stage). Other South Florida theatre credits include Indecent (Palm Beach Dramaworks), Finding Mona Lisa, (Actors’ Playhouse), Sunday in the Park With George, and Passion (Zoetic Stage). Next season she will appear in the Florida premiere of Villainous Company (Primal Forces) and as Mother in Ragtime (Slow Burn Theatre Company).

Mark Kirschenbaum (Manservant/Sancho) is making his MNM Theatre Company debut with Man of La Mancha. He has been seen all over the world as an actor, educator, and director.  Some of Mark’s recent credits include Sam Posner in Crossing Delancey, Mal Beineke in Addams Family: The Musical, Peter in Company, Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol, and Man 1 in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.  He had the opportunity to join the Brooklyn cast of Man of La Mancha in 2007, where his portrayal of the Padre received critical acclaim from the New York Times.

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