Vital Theatre Company Announces A (TOOTH) FAIRY TALE, Beginning 3/16

Vital Theatre Company is pleased to announce the return of past Vital favorite A (Tooth) Fairy Tale, opening March 16, 2013 at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre at 2162 Broadway at W 76th St. With a book by author Ben Winters (Uncle Pirate [musical]; The Last Policeman; Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters [novels]), music and lyrics by Rick Hip-Flores (My New York), and direction by Linda Ames Key.

Performances run March 16 - April 28 on Saturdays and Sundays at 11 am and 1 pm, with special school holiday performances on March 25 - 28 and April 1 - 2 and 10 at 11 am and 1 pm. Tickets begin at $25. Premium seats are available for $30. For reservations, visit www.vitaltheatre.org, call (212) 579-0528, or visit the McGinn/Cazale box office. Vital Theatre Company is located at 2162 Broadway at West 76th Street on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Collecting teeth and delivering quarters is tiring work, and The Tooth Fairy is ready for a vacation! Luckily, she meets a young boy named Samuel who is sick and tired of being a kid, and all the rules that go with it. But when Samuel and the Tooth Fairy arrange to switch places, nothing goes exactly as planned as adventures ensue across the Upper West Side of Manhattan and throughout New York City. A (Tooth) Fairy Tale is a wild, silly adventure filled with shiny quarters, sugary candy and learning who you're really meant to be.

The cast of A (Tooth) Fairy Tale includes Jamie C. Anderson, Cory Lawson, Emily Maixner, Katrina Michaels, Jen Morris, Joel Stigliano, and Andreas Wyder. The crew includes Director Linda Ames Key, Set Designer Kyle Dixon, Costume Designer Sarah Riffle, Lighting Designer Josh Bradford, Musical Director Mike Pettry, Choreographer Tim Connell, and Production Stage Manager Kelly Burns.

A (Tooth) Fairy Tale concludes the 2012-2013 Vital season of family programming. Featuring four musicals for children and families, this year's Vital season included two world premieres - Fancy Nancy The Musical and Show Way - and the return of Vital favorites Angelina Ballerina The Very Merry Holiday Musical and A (Tooth) Fairy Tale. This lineup continues Vital's mission to produce entertaining and educational live theatre for families and young audiences.

Rick Hip-Flores (music and lyrics) was the Musical Supervisor and Arranger for the Gershwin musical, 'Swonderful (Pittsburgh CLO), and Heatwave: The Jack Cole Project (Queens Theatre in the Park). As pianist he has recently played in the Broadway/New York orchestras of Billy Elliot, Into the Woods, Spelling Bee, Wonderland, and The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Other musical director credits include: High School Musical (MUNY), Singin in the Rain (North Shore Music Theatre), Jacques Brel (Zipper Theatre), Breaking Up is Hard to Do (Actors' Playhouse), Shakespeare on Broadway (Symphony Space), 8 by Tenn (Hartford Stage), Henry and Mudge, A Christmas Carol (TheatreworksUSA), and numerous productions for Musicals Tonight. As composer and lyricist, Rick has written songs for Neon Mirage (Humana Festival, 2006), My New York (Vital Theater), Dido and Aeneas (Prospect Theater), Tartuffe, As You Like It (Worth Street Players), and the Columbia University Varsity Show.

Ben H. Winters (book writer) is the author of six novels, including the New York Times bestseller Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and the middle-grade novel The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman, an Edgar Award nominee and a Bank Street College Best Children's Book of 2011. Winters' other books include the science-fiction Tolstoy parody Android Karenina, the Finkleman sequel The Mystery of the Missing Everything, and the supernatural thriller Bedbugs, which has been optioned for the screen by Warner Brothers. Winters also wrote the book and lyrics for three musicals for young audiences: The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, A (Tooth) Fairy Tale, and Uncle Pirate, based on the award-winning children's book by Douglas Rees. Ben's new novel, The Last Policeman, was released from Quirk Books in July of 2012; he is at work on a book of scary poems for kids, to be published by Price Stern Sloan in spring, 2013.

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