JOE STEIN'S THE BODY BEAUTIFUL OCT 12-14TH!

YORK THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES CASTING:

THE BODY BEAUTIFUL

THIRD SHOW IN FALL 2007 JOSEPH STEIN MUSICALS IN MUFTI SERIES; CAST INCLUDES:

DICK LATESSA, CADY HUFFMAN, CAPATHIA JENKINS,

MEGAN LAWRENCE, BRAD OSCAR, AND MORE;

DAVID GLENN ARMSTRONG DIRECTS

OCTOBER 12-14

The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director) announces casting for The Body Beautiful, the third of the four shows in the Fall 2007 Musicals in Mufti Series -- the York’s acclaimed series of musical theatre gems in staged concert performances. This Series celebrates the work of playwright Joseph Stein. The Body Beautiful will play October 12, 13, and 14 at the Theatre at Saint Peters (54th Street, Just East of Lexington Ave). Tickets are $35. For more information or to purchase tickets to any of the Mufti shows, visit www.yorktheatre.org or call York’s Box Office at 212-935-5820.



The Body Beautiful will feature: Tony Award winners Dick Latessa (Hairspray) and Cady Huffman (The Producers), Tony Award nominees Megan Lawrence (The Pajama Game) and Brad Oscar (The Producers) and Drama Desk nominee Capathia Jenkins (Martin Short: Fames Becomes Me). The cast also includes: Angie Schworer (The Producers), Ryan Duncan (Altar Boyz), Stephen Bienskie (Cats) and Jim Sorensen (York’s Plain and Fancy ). More cast members will be announced soon. The show will be directed by David Glenn Armstrong (The Day Before Spring, (Mis)Understanding Mammy: The Hattie McDaniel Story, Plain and Fancy). John Bell (Plane Crazy, Meet Me in St. Louis, Plain and Fancy) is the Music Director.



The Body Beautiful has a book by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and music by Jerry Bock. The Body Beautiful was the first collaboration between Harnick, Bock, and Stein, who went on to write Fiddler on the Roof a few years later. The show is about a wealthy Dartmouth College graduate who wishes to be a prize-winning boxer and the girl he loves who disapproves of his ambitions. His fight manager must deal with uninspired fighters, two ex-wives and a new girlfriend.



Directed by George Schaefer and choreographed by Herbert Ross, the show opened at The Broadway Theatre on January 23, 1958 and featured Mindy Carson, Steve Forrest, Jack Warden, Barbara McNair, William Hickey and Brock Peters.



The Body Beautiful follows the York’s productions of Zorba and Enter Laughing: The Musical and will be followed by The Baker’s Wife, which will run October 26-28 and will be directed by Gordon Greenberg with Mark Hartman as Music Director. All shows play five performances: Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 2:30 pm & 8 pm, and Sunday at 2:30 pm & 7:30 pm. Audience discussions follow both matinees. Tickets are $35 and are now on sale. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.yorktheatre.org or call York’s Box Office at 212-935-5820. The box office is open Monday-Friday, 10-6.



York previously celebrated Joseph Stein in the Musicals in Mufti Fall 2006 Series (Take Me Along, Carmelina, Plain and Fancy). Stein won the Tony Award and Drama Critics Circle Award for Fiddler on the Roof. His other musicals include: Zorba (Tony nom., Drama Critics Circle Award), Rags (Tony nom.), The Baker's Wife (Laurence Olivier Award, London), Juno, Take Me Along, Irene; The King of Hearts and So Long, 174th Street. He also co-authored, with Alan Jay Lerner, the musical Carmelina and, with Will Glickman, Mr. Wonderful (starring Sammy Davis, Jr.) and Plain and Fancy. His plays include Enter Laughing, Before the Dawn and Mrs. Gibbons' Boys. He began his career in TV and radio, writing for "Sid Caesar Show," "Your Show of Shows," "The Henry Morgan Show" and many others including Tallulah Bankhead, Phil Silvers, Jackie Gleason and Zero Mostel. He wrote the screenplays of Enter Laughing and Fiddler on the Roof, for which he won the Screen Writers Guild Award. He is currently working on All About Us, the musical version of The Skin of Our Teeth with a score by John Kander and Fred Ebb, and another musical, yet to be announced. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council and is married to Elisa Stein, a psychotherapist.



The York Theatre Company will honor playwright Joseph Stein with the 2007 Oscar Hammerstein Award on Monday, November 12, 2007 at Saint Peter’s Church. The award culminates York’s yearlong celebration of Stein with the Fall 2006 and Fall 2007 Musicals in Mufti Series. The concert celebration of Stein’s career will be presented at Saint Peter’s Church, which is upstairs from the York Theatre space. For more info: www.yorktheatre.org or call 212-935-5820.



‘Mufti’ (pronounced MUFF’ tee) means “in street clothes; without the usual trappings” and shows are presented script-in-hand, with minimal staging. The Musical in Mufti Series has celebrated such writers as Richard Rodgers, George Abbott and Joseph Stein. York has presented over 60 concert revivals of musical theatre gems from the past – more than any other such series in the world. Notable shows include: It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman, I and Albert, The Day Before Spring, Take Me Along, Plain and Fancy, Beggar's Holiday, The Grass Harp, Wish You Were Here, Carmelina, Fanny, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Lucky Stiff, Darling of the Day, Mata Hari, The Girl Who Came to Supper, Carmen Jones, Weird Romance, Johnny Johnson, Rex, Billion Dollar Baby, Mirette and 70, Girls, 70. TIME Magazine listed York's Mufti version of Darling of the Day as one of the Top Ten Theatrical Events of 2005.



For ticket information visit www.yorktheatre.org or call 212-935-5820.

THE YORK THEATRE COMPANY in Saint Peter’s Theatre,

54th Street Just East of Lexington;

E train to Lexington Avenue or 6 train to 51st.