Paul Stancato to direct World Premier of THE COBALTEANS Set for NYMF

One year after their friend Gabriel’s death, four young men return to the lake house they grew up in. Gabriel’s family has put the house up for sale and the boys have come to say goodbye. The tranquility of November on the Lake Erie coastline does not linger for long as fingers are pointed about the night of Gabriel’s death and moments of silence are broken as the minds of the young men explode into song.

Composer, lyricist and librettist Yianni Papadimos is a Greek-American actor and writer working in theatre, film, and television. He has written and performed in much of his own work. Credits include The NYU Reality Show (Theatre at Madison Square Garden), Yianni Papadimos & Friends (54 Below), MARIE(Dixon Place) and Theistic Therapy (The Ohio State Thespian Conference). He holds a BFA in Drama and English Literature from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Composer Ben Chavez is an actor and composer born and raised in New Jersey. As a performer, he has appeared at venues such as Radio City, NJPAC, Lincoln Center, The Paper Mill Playhouse, Madison Square Garden, and North Shore Music Theatre. He recently performed in the Broadway concert performance ofBombshell from the NBC series “Smash.” He holds a BFA from the NYU Tisch New Studio on Broadway, where he began composing new musical theatre works with Papadimos. Together they have written two musicals and numerous individual songs. Chavez is a music faculty member at CAP21 and the Joffrey Ballet School. Andrew Bridges is a New York City based actor working in theatre, film, and television. THE COBALTEANS marks his first musical theatre composition credit.

THE COBALTEANS will be directed by Paul Stancato, whose directing credits include the national tours of The Wedding Singer, Jekyll and Hyde and The Lion King (resident director). Stancato was also the assistant choreographer of Broadway’s The Wedding Singer. Internationally, he has worked in China, Belgium and London as the Artistic Director for The House of Dancing Water. Recent directing and choreographing credits include Momma Rose (LaMama), Powerhouse (New Ohio Theater), Trav’lin the Musical, Greenwood (NYMF) and Divided (Red Fern Theater). He is a member of Lincoln Center’s Director’s Lab and Horse Trade Theatre Group and has developed new work with The Drama League.

THE COBALTEANS was developed at Dixon Place’s Works-In-Progress Series in 2014. Songs from the show were also presented in concert at 54 Below. THE COBALTEANS was then chosen as a Next Link Official Selection of the 2015 New York Musical Theatre Festival.

THE COBALTEANS will be performed on Wednesday, July 8 at 8pm; Friday, July 10 at 1pm; Saturday, July 11 at 5pm; Monday, July 13 at 1pm; and Wednesday, July 15 at 9pm.

Tickets ($27.50) and NYMF Passes are available by visiting www.nymf.org/cobalteans. 

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