Next to Normal opens at Hangar Theatre on 8/16

Continuing a season of bold and dynamic productions, theBroadway luminaries Andréa Burns (In the Heights, Hangar’s Ever So Humble) and Chris Hoch (La Cage Aux Folles, Shrek the Musical, Spamalot), directed by Tracy Brigden. Next to Normal runs Thursday, August 16th through Saturday, September 1st.A highly acclaimed, edgy rock-musical, Next to Normal has been heralded as “a brave, breathtaking musical” by The New York Times.This powerhouse show presents an intimate portrait of a family trying to take care of themselves and each other in the face of a mother’s deteriorating mental state. With a pulsing, exhilarating, and contemporary rock score, Rolling Stone calledNext to Normal, “the best musical of the season by a mile.””Next to Normal is such a powerful and deeply moving show. We knew immediately that it was something we wanted to bring to the Hangar stage. With a stellar cast, an endlessly compelling rock score and a heartbreakingly beautiful story, Next to Normal is destined to be a true Hangar classic,” states Peter Flynn, the Hangar’s Artistic Director.Winner of three 2009 Tony awards – including Best Score, by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, Next to Normal also won the 2010 Pulitzer prize for Drama. The Hangar production will be directed by Tracy Brigden (who is also providing the musical staging), with musical direction by Douglas Levine. Next to Normal’s cast includes Adam Fontana, Nehal Joshi, Alison McCartan, and Noah Plomgren.Regular tickets range from $18 t0 $45. Tickets can be purchased at: www.hangartheatre.org or by phone at 607.273.4497. The recently renovated theatre is located at 801 Taughannock Blvd. Ithaca, NY 14850. The Hangar business office is 171 East State Street, Suite 230 in Center Ithaca. Ithaca, NY 14851.The Hangar Theatre’s commitment to making theatre accessible for the entire community is represented though our Pay What You Can (PWYC) program. Patrons may pay what they can afford to see a show. The first Saturday matinee performance of each Mainstage production and the Saturday noon performances of KIDDSTUFF have a limited number of tickets available for PWYC thanks to the generosity of our Mainstage PWYC sponsor Schlather, Stumbar, Parks & Salk, LLP and our KIDDSTUFF PWYC sponor GreenStar Cooperative Market. A limited number of tickets are available. Tickets may be purchased at the Hangar Theatre box office one hour before curtain. The recently renovated theatre is located at 801 Taughannock Blvd. Ithaca, NY 14850. The Hangar business office is located at 171 East State Street, Suite 230 in Center Ithaca. Ithaca, NY 14851.The Hangar Theatre is committed to providing exceptional theatre experiences of high professional quality to enrich, enlighten, educate, and entertain the diverse audience in the Finger Lakes region and beyond. Strong education and training programs are central parts of our commitment to the local and national artistic communities. The Hangar gratefully acknowledges Next to Normal Corporate Sponsors Cayuga Medical Center and Cayuga Radio Group. Visit our website at www.hangartheatre.org BIOGRAPHIESTOM KITT received 2009 Tony Awards for Best Score and Best Orchestrations for Next to Normal, which had successful productions at both Second Stage (Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New Score; Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Drama League nominations) and Arena Stage (nominated for five 2009 Helen Hayes Awards including Best Musical). He composed the music for High Fidelity (Broadway) and From Up Here (MTC), and his original songs have been featured in film and TV. He recently created new orchestrations for the CTG/DeafWest production of Pippin. As a musical director, conductor and arranger (Broadway and Off-Broadway), shows include 13, Hair, Laugh Whore, Urban Cowboy and Debbie Does Dallas. Tom was also the musical supervisor/arranger/orchestrator for Everyday Rapture at Second Stage, and his string arrangements will appear on the new Green Day album 21st Century Breakdown. He is the proud leader of The Tom Kitt Band.BRIAN YORKEY received a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical for Next to Normal. Theatre credits include Making Tracks, which has played Off-Broadway and regionally; the musical adaptation of Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet; and the new country musical Play It By Heart. Film and TV include the features Time After Time, in development at Universal with Marc Platt, and Sluts for Lionsgate and Furst Films; he is currently writing Love Undercover for Pandemonium Films and Overture, and Chase for Anonymous Content and Rosenzweig Films. He also co-created “Bears,” a new series for the Logo network. He has directed Off-Broadway and regionally, and for seven years was associate artistic director at Village Theatre in Washington state, one of the nation’s leading producers of new musicals. He’s a graduate of Columbia University, where he was artistic director of the Varsity Show, an alum of the BMI/Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and the WGA.TRACY BRIGDEN (Director/Musical Staging) is in her twelfth season as City Theatre’s Artistic Director. Most recently at City Theatre, she directed The Monster in the Hall, the world premiere of Louder Faster, and productions of Time Stands Still, Precious Little, The 39 Steps, Shooting Star, The Clockmaker, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Other City Theatre directing credits include the world premieres of Long Story Short, The Missionary Position, Hearts Are Wild, Gompers, Lovely Day, and Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge by Christopher Durang; as well as productions of Human Error, The Seafarer, A Marriage Minuet, Mother Teresa is Dead, The Vagina Monologues, The Muckle Man, The Good Body, Talking Heads, Outlying Islands, Fiction, The Underpants, Topdog/Underdog, The Clearing, The Credeaux Canvas, Blackbird, and Fair Game. Prior to coming to Pittsburgh, Tracy was Associate Artistic Director of Hartford Stage in Connecticut and Artistic Associate for Manhattan Theatre Club. Other directing credits include productions at both regional and New York theatres, including the recent production of The Price at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, The Atlantic Theater Company, Theatreworks Palo Alto, and The Westport Playhouse. Awards and honors include Pittsburgh Magazine’s “40 Under 40” and the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Best Production and Best Director.DOUGLAS LEVINE is a pianist, composer, arranger and music director based in his hometown of Pittsburgh. His original scores for theater and dance include: Eastburn Avenue, Mother Courage and Peer Gynt (Playhouse REP,) Stuff (Fuzzy Boundary Productions,) Deadend (Attack Theatre,) Mimoun (Pennsylvania Dance Theatre,) Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice and The Shaughraun (Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre,) and Colorfast (Pittsburgh International Children’s Theater Festival.) He has written music or arrangements for companies including the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, City Theatre, Dreams of Hope, Renaissance City Women’s Choir, Pittsburgh Musical Theater and Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh. www.levinemusic.com ANDREA BURNS began her career touring the opera houses of Europe as Maria in West Side Story when she was 18 years old. She has appeared on Broadway as Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, as Vicki Nichols in The Full Monty, and has sung concerts at Carnegie Hall and other symphonic halls around the country. But theatre audiences will know her best for her performances in the original company of Jason Robert Brown’s critically acclaimed Songs for A New World and in Broadway’s In the Heights, where she played the saucy hairdresser, Daniela. Andréa portrayed Lucille Frank in the national tour of Parade, directed by Harold Prince, for which she received a National Broadway Award nomination for Best Actress. She also created the role of Celeste in Stephen Sondheim’s Saturday Night at Second Stage. Regionally, Andréa was nominated for the prestigious Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Dot in Sunday in the Park with George at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.A versatile actress, Andréa has played a variety of roles across this country ranging from Eva Peron in Evita to Laurey in Oklahoma! Other regional credits include Tim Pinckney’s world premiere of Ever So Humble at the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, NY (Daisy), Bye Bye Birdie (Rose Alvarez), Guys and Dolls (Adelaide), Company (Marta) and Jesus Christ Superstar (Mary). Television credits include Law & Order: SVU as well as the animated series Wonderpets. Andréa’s debut solo album: Andréa Burns- A Deeper Shade of Red is available at Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and www.psclassics.com. Andréa can also be heard on the original cast recordings of Songs for A New World, Saturday Night, Shine, Broadway Bound, The Broadway Musicals of 1953, and It’s Only Life. Andréa has recently diversified her talents by breaking into the dance music scene as a songwriter and vocalist. She can be heard on Femme Fatale: Divas of Dance Music as well as on her own dance single she co-wrote with her brother, Mike: 100 Stories.CHRIS HOCH Broadway: La Cage Aux Folles (2010 revival), Shrek, Spamalot, Dracula, Beauty and the Beast. Off-Broadway: Rated P For Parenthood (Westside); Play It Cool (Acorn); Die, Mommie, Die! (New World Stages); Face the Music (Encores!). National Tour: Beauty and the Beast. Regional: Dracula, Zhivago, Palm Beach, Private Fittings (La Jolla Playhouse); Candide (Prince Music Theatre); Picasso at The Lapin Agile (City Theatre); Amazing Grace, Caraboo (Goodspeed); Far From Heaven (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Television: Gossip Girl, The Good Wife, 30 Rock, Third Watch, Guiding Light, All My Children, One Life To Live. ADAM FONTANA recently graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a B.A. in musical theatre. His regional work includes Forever Plaid (Jinx), Dames at Sea (Dick), La Cage Aux Folles (Jean-Michel), The Shape of Things (Adam).NEHAL JOSHI Broadway: Les Miserables (Original Revival Cast), ThreePenny Opera (Roundabout). Off-Broadway: Falling for Eve (York), Regional credits include: The Music Man (Arena Stage), Oklahoma! (Arena Stage), Working (2008 revisioned version/Old Globe, Asolo Rep), Mister Roberts (Kennedy Center), Arsenic and Old Lace (Dallas Theatre Center), Recent Tragic Events (Woolly Mammoth), Mother Teresa is Dead (City Theatre Company), Boys from Syracuse (The Shakespeare Theatre), The 25th & 26th Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays (Actors Theatre of Louisville). His Film/TV credits include HBO’s The Wire, Blackout. www.nehaljoshi.comALISON MCCARTAN is delighted to make her Hangar Theatre Mainstage debut! Regional: SpeakEasy Stage Company, Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, Minneapolis Children’s Theatre Company. BFA: The Boston Conservatory.NOAH PLOMGREN is absolutely thrilled to be working at the Hangar this summer. Recent roles include Zack in Tigers Be Still at City Theatre, Pirelli in Sweeney Todd, and Sonny Malone in Xanadu. Noah is a proud graduate of the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.PETER FLYNN (Hangar Artistic Director) Peter is currently the Artistic Director of the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, New York, where he directed 2012’s Lend Me a Tenor starring Michael McCormick, Janet Decal and Emily Skinner, and Full Gallop with 3 time Tony nominee Dee Hoty. Last season Peter directed the world premiere of Tim Pinckney’s play Ever So Humble starring Andréa Burns. Other Hangar credits include directing Tony nominee Emily Skinner in Dirty Blonde, Natascia Diaz as Aldonza in Man of LaMancha, and Wally Dunn in David Mamet’s November. Broadway credits: Actors’ Fund concerts of On the 20th Century with Douglas Sills & Marin Mazzie, Chess with Josh Groban & Adam Pascal, and Funny Girl with Whoopi Goldberg, Andrea Martin, & Jane Krakowski. Off-Broadway credits: Lee Blessing’s Two Rooms – Lion Theatre, Henry & Mudge, & Junie B. Jones (nominated for two Lucille Lortel Awards including Best Musical), and Rhapsody in Seth – Actors’ Playhouse starring Seth Rudetsky. Regional credits: 1776 at the Ford’s Theatre starring Brooks Ashmanskas, Barrio Grrrl! – Kennedy Center, Sleuth & Man of LaMancha (Carbonell Award, Best Director) – Maltz-Jupiter Theatre, Guys and Dolls – Engeman Theater, Gypsy – St. Louis MUNY (starring Karen Mason), The Piano Lesson and The Crucible – Tampa Performing Arts Center, A Child’s Christmas in Wales – National Theatre of the Deaf. As a writer, Peter is the author of Lily, a musical adaptation of Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth written with writing partner, composer/lyricist Brooks Ashmanskas. They are currently under commission at the Huntington Theatre writing the musical adaptation of For Love of the Game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University.