Up next for The New Group is the new musical The Kid, beginning performances on Friday, April 16. Official Opening Night is set for Monday, May 10. This marks the final production in The New Group's current 2009-2010 season, which featured Kenneth Lonergan's The Starry Messenger and most recently, the hit revival of Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind, directed by Ethan Hawke. The Kid plays a limited Off-Broadway engagement through May 29 at The New Group @ Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street).
The Kid is based on the true story of what happens when sex columnist Dan Savage and his boyfriend decide to start a family. Created by Andy Monroe (music), Michael Zam (book) and Jack Lechner (lyrics), it was the winner of the 2009 BMI Foundation Jerry Bock Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre.
Dan Savage, author of The Kid: What Happened after My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant, is widely recognized for his internationally syndicated relationship and sex column "Savage Love" and the weekly podcast "Savage Lovecast." He is editorial director of the Seattle weekly The Stranger, where he was formerly Editor-in-Chief. He is a regular contributor to PRI's "This American Life" and the opinion pages of The New York Times. He has been featured as a "Real Time Reporter" on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC and "The Colbert Report." Other published works include a memoir entitled The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage and My Family, and contributions to the collected work Things I've Learned From Women Who've Dumped Me, among others. The Kid was represented to The New Group by Amy Schiffman of the Intellectual Property Group (IPG); Elizabeth Wales of Wales Literary Agency placed the title with Penguin USA, Carole DeSanti acquiring and Brian Tart editing for Dutton, which published the memoir in 1999. The memoir The Kid... won a PEN USA West Award for Creative Nonfiction.
Directed by Scott Elliott, the cast of The Kid features Christopher Sieber (Broadway: Shrek - Tony® Award nomination, Monty Python's Spamalot - Tony nom.; TV: "Pushing Daisies") in the role of Dan Savage, and Lucas Steele (B'way: The Threepenny Opera, Off-B'way: Oliver Twist-TFANA, Corpus Christie-Bouwerie Lane Theater, Wickets-3LD) as Dan's boyfriend Terry. The company also features Kevin Anthony (B'way: Grease!), Susan Blackwell ([title of show]), Jill Eikenberry (B'way: All Over Town, Moonchildren; Film: Arthur; Television: "L.A. Law") as Dan's Mom, Jeannine Frumess as Melissa, Ann Harada (Avenue Q), Tyler Maynard (B'way: The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, Mamma Mia!; Off-B'way: Altar Boyz - Theatre World Award, Drama Desk nominee 2005), Brooke Sunny Moriber (B'way: The Wild Party, James Joyce's The Dead, The Threepenny Opera; Off-B'way at The New Group: Aunt Dan and Lemon, Hazelwood Jr. High), Justin Patterson (B'way: 9 to 5, Young Frankenstein, All Shook Up) and Michael Wartella as Bacchus.
Set Design is by Derek McLane (B'way: Miracle Worker, Ragtime, Grease, I Am My Own Wife; Off-B'way at The New Group: A Lie of the Mind, The Starry Messenger, Groundswell, Rafta, Rafta..., Aunt Dan and Lemon, numerous others), Costume Design is by Jeff Mahshie (B'way: Next to Normal, The Little Dog Laughed; Off-B'way: Hurlyburly at The New Group), Lighting Design is by Howell Binkley (B'way: All About Me, Memphis, In the Heights, West Side Story, Avenue Q) and Sound Design is by Ken Travis (B'way: Memphis, The Threepenny Opera, Barefoot in the Park, Steel Magnolias). Music Supervision/Arrangements/Orchestrations are by Dominick Amendum (B'way: Wicked, Music Director/Conductor; Tours: Wicked, Oliver!, Cabaret). Musical Direction is by Boko Suzuki (B'way: RENT, Nat'l Tours: Wicked, Swing!, Mamma Mia!). Musical Staging is by Josh Prince (B'way: Shrek The Musical; Other: The Bridge Project at BAM, Jerry Springer: The Opera at Carnegie Hall). Animation is by Jeffrey Scher, whose work appears in the Permanent Collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Academy Film Archives, Hirshhorn Museum, Pompidou Centre, Musee d'Art Moderne, Vienna Kunsthalle and Austrian National Archive, and others.
The Kid features Boko Suzuki on piano, Ed Levy on guitar, Steve Gilewsji on bass and Kevin Rice on drums.
