TRANSPORT GROUP TO PRESENT
MARCY IN THE GALAXY
A WORLD PREMIERE MUSICAL
BEGINNING FRIDAY, MARCH 28
OPENING SUNDAY, APRIL 6
AT 220 EAST 4 STREET
BOOK, MUSIC, AND LYRICS BY NANCY SHAYNE
BASED ON A STORY BY NANCY SHAYNE AND MICHAEL PATRICK KING
COMPANY RECEIVED SPECIAL 2007 DRAMA DESK AWARD
AND 2007 OBIE AWARD
Transport Group, the winner of a special 2007 Drama Desk Award and a 2007 Obie Award, will present Marcy in the Galaxy, a world premiere musical, with book, music, and lyrics by Nancy Shayne, based on a story by Ms. Shayne and Michael Patrick King, and directed by artistic director Jack Cummings III (a Drama Desk nominee for Transport Group’s The Audience) beginning performances Friday, March 28, at 220 East 4 Street, between Avenues A and B. The opening has been scheduled for Sunday, April 6, at 3pm.
Marcy in the Galaxyis a humorous and poignant musical glimpse at what happens when dreams of being a New York artist take longer to come true than planned. At mid-life, Marcy finds herself alone in the Galaxy Diner—out of money and almost out of hope—in this darkly comic romp through dreams, disappointment, family, first love, and absolutely delicious diner desserts.
The cast of Marcy in the Galaxy is Donna Lynne Champlin (who plays the musical’s title character, is an Obie winner for TG's The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, Broadway's Sweeney Todd and Hollywood Arms); Teri Ralston (original Broadway casts of Stephen Sondheim's Company and A Little Night Music); Janet Carroll (Broadway's Little Women, TV's Murphy Brown); Mary-Pat Green (original Broadway cast of Sweeney Todd); Jenny Fellner (TG's Crossing Brooklyn and Broadway's Mamma Mia); and Jonathan Hammond (TG's The Audience and the national tour of The Light in the Piazza).
Nancy Shayne’s credits include: The Audience (Transport Group, contributed story, music and lyrics); Two Bitter Women in A Coffee Shop (Book, music & lyrics, HBO Comedy Festival, directed by Michael Patrick King); “Roseanne’s Saturday Night Special” (Fox TV, writer, music &lyrics); “Sex and The City”(seasons five and six, incidental music, lyrics); music for Jerry Stiller’s Grammy-nominated audio book Married to Laughter (Random House Audio) and Henriette Mantel’s “Midge and Buck” (Icebox Productions, theme song “Do you Dream in Cat”). In a former life Ms. Shayne wrote for Standup-Standup hosted by Laura Kightlinger and appeared in short films by Louie C.K. Upcoming work includes Sex and The City: The Movie in which she plays an animal activist. She most recently worked as editor for Jerry Stiller on his new, untitled book. Ms. Shayne is a founder, along with Lavinia Moyer and Divina Cook, of the Attic Theatre in Detroit, and served as musical director of the Touring Company of Chicago’s Second City. She is a former stand-up comedienne who once won New York’s Charlie Awardfor most promising comedienne (which somewhere is framed). Her books include Through Heaven’s Eyes (based on the DreamWorks animated feature Prince of Egypt)and Mr. Potato Head across America.
The set design for Marcy in the Galaxy is by Sandra Goldmark; the costume design is by Kathryn Rohe; the lighting design is by R. Lee Kennedy (Drama Desk nominee for The Audience); the sound design is by Michael Rasbury; musical direction, arrangements, and orchestrations are by Mark Berman (Broadway's The Boy From Oz); casting is by Nora Brennan Casting; dramaturgy is by Adam R. Perlman; production stage manager is Wendy Patten.
Founded in 2001, Transport Group, under the leadership of Jack Cummings III, artistic director, and Lori Fineman, executive director, is a not-for-profit theatre company that develops and produces work by American playwrights and composers with the aim of exploring the American consciousness in the 20th and 21st centuries. Transport Group presented its premiere production in 2002: Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, which featured older actors in the roles of Emily and George and a twelve-year-old girl as the Stage Manager. Its second production, Requiem for William, an evening of seven seldom produced plays by William Inge, that featured a cast of 26 as well as original songs, premiered in 2003. In 2004 the company presented the first New York revival of Michael John LaChiusa’s First Lady Suite, which received rave reviews, played to sold-out houses, and earned two Drama Desk Award nominations including outstanding revival of a musical. Recent productions include the world premiere of the musical The Audience, which featured a cast of 46 actors and earned three Drama Desk Award nominations, including outstanding musical; Normal, a new musical about a mother’s battle to save her daughter from anorexia; cul-de-sac, a new play by Tony Award nominee John Cariani; the first New York revival of Tad Mosel’s Pulitzer Prize play, All the Way Home; the 50th anniversary, Obie-winning production of William Inge’s The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, and the world premiere musical Crossing Brooklyn. Transport Group is the winner of a special 2007 Drama Desk Award for its “breadth of vision and its presentation of challenging productions.”
Marcy in the Galaxy plays Thursday through Saturday and Monday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm, and Sunday at 3pm through Sunday, April 20, at 220 East 4 Street, between Avenues A & B (6 to Astor Place, W/N to 8th Street or F/V to Second Avenue). There is only one performance on Saturday, March 29. The evening performance on Saturday, April 5 is at 7pm. There are added performances on Sunday, March 30, at 7pm and Wednesday, April 2, at 8pm. Tickets are $38 and are available at www.transportgroup.org or by phoning TheaterMania at (212) 352-3101; $10 rush tickets are available to students one hour prior to curtain. For more information about Transport Group and Marcy in the Galaxy, visit www.transportgroup.org.