RED BANK, NJ- Two River Theater Company continues its season with the world premiere of In This House, a new musical by Mike Reid (composer, co-bookwriter), a Grammy Award-winning Nashville songwriter and musical theater composer, Sarah Schlesinger (lyricist, co-bookwriter), and Jonathan Bernstein (co-bookwriter).
In This House Comes To Two River
The music director is James Sampliner and the director is May Adrales.
In This House, an intimate chamber musical has been developed at Two River Theater over the past year through a workshop and writers’ retreat.
Orchestrated for piano, cello, violin, and reeds, it tells the story of two couples-one at the beginning, the other at the end of their time together-who meet accidentally and spend an evening together in a deserted house on New Year’s Eve.
The company includes Tony Award-winner Chuck Cooper (now starring at Two River as Becker in August Wilson’s Jitney, Broadway’s The Life) and Brenda Pressley (the original Broadway cast of Dreamgirls, Nicky Silver’s The Lyons) as the older couple, Henry and Luisa. Jeff Kready (Broadway’s Billy Elliott and Les Misérables) and Margo Seibert (the world premiere of Orestes: A Tragic Romp at Two River Theater, Mary Zimmerman’s production of Candide) play the younger couple, Johnny and Annie.
Says Artistic Director John Dias, “In This House includes what I think are some of the most beautiful and uniquely American songs written for the contemporary musical theater. This show is the fourth collaboration between Mike Reid and Sarah Schlesinger, two artists I have known for many years. I’m thrilled to have them, and their co-writer Jonathan Bernstein, in Red Bank to develop and premiere it. Director May Adrales has assembled an exquisite cast and a fantastic design team, who will bring our audiences inside the intimacy of this generations-spanning story.”
Mike Reid (Composer, Co-Bookwriter) and Sarah Schlesinger (Lyricist, Co-Bookwriter) wrote The Ballad of Little Jo, which was produced by Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago as its first musical and was subsequently produced at the Bridewell Theatre in London. They have written the score for Casanova Returns, a new musical based on the life of Casanova, which won the Global Search for New Musicals. The team’s opera Different Fields was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera Guild and has recently been on tour in Australia.
Reid is a Grammy Award-winning songwriter with more than 30 Top-Ten pop and country hits recorded by many artists including Bonnie Raitt (“I Can’t Make You Love Me”), Anita Baker, Bette Midler, Prince, George Michael, Nancy Wilson, Etta James, Kenny Rogers, Anne Murray, Wynonna Judd, Alabama, Joe Cocker, Tanya Tucker, Willie Nelson, and Tim McGraw. He has been the recipient of ASCAP’s “Songwriter of the Year” Award and received his Grammy for “Stranger in My House,” recorded by Ronnie Milsap. In 2005, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Reid and Schlesinger have received the Kleban Award, the Richard Rodgers Award, a Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Theater Foundation Award, the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award, and Chicago’s Jeff Award for best original musical. Schlesinger is the Chair of the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Co-bookwriter Jonathan Bernstein’s plays and musicals have been produced all over the country. He is the Artistic Director of The Performing Arts Project, a theater training intensive that works with students from all over the world.
Music Director James Sampliner has served as music director for Broadway productions including The Wedding Singer and Legally Blonde. Most recently, he has been involved in the development and first two productions of Sleeping Beauty Wakes, at McCarter Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse.
Director May Adrales has directed the world premieres of Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them at Actors Theater of Louisville; Mary at the Goodman Theatre; Our Lot by W. David Hancock and Kristin Newbom at Clubbed Thumb; and other plays. Her other recent credits include Yellowman at Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
The recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, she has served as an Artistic Associate at The Public Theater.
The creative team includes scenic designer Lee Savage, costume designer Camille Assaf, lighting designer Gina Scherr, and sound designer Nevin Steinberg. The orchestrations are by Danny Larsen, the casting is by Tara Rubin Casting, and the stage manager is Whitney McAnally.
The musicians for In This House, who will perform live and on stage,are Marisol Espada (cello), Henry Hernandez (reeds), Jens Kramer (violin), and James Sampliner (piano).
In This House performances
Performances will begin in Two River’s Marion Huber Theater, 21 Bridge Avenue, on Sunday, March 4 and continue through Sunday, April 8, which includes a two-week extension due to audience demand. The press performance is Saturday, March 17 at 8pm.
Tickets
Tickets are available from 732.345.1400 or www.trtc.org. Single ticket prices start at $45. Discounts are available for groups, seniors, students, and patrons aged 30 and under. In This House is sponsored by Rumson-Fair Haven Bank.
