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LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE ANNOUNCES CAST FOR U.S. PREMIERE OF THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, MUSIC BY ALAN MENKEN, LYRICS BY STEPHEN SCHWARTZ, BOOK BY PETER PARNELL, DIRECTED BY SCOTT SCHWARTZ MICHAEL ARDEN, PATRICK PAGE, ANDREW SAMONSKY AND ERIK LIBERMAN MAKE TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO SAN DIEGO; RISING STAR CIARA RENÉE ROUNDS OUT TOP-NOTCH CAST OF BROADWAY VETERANS AND LOCAL TALENT La Jolla, CA — La Jolla Playhouse announces the cast for its upcoming U.S. premiere musical, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, featuring a score by the multiple Academy®, Grammy® and Tony® Award-winning team of composer Alan Menken (Newsies, Little Shop of Horrors) and lyricist Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin), book by Peter Parnell (The West Wing, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever) and direction by Scott Schwartz (Playhouse’s Jane Eyre, Broadway’s Golda’s Balcony). Produced in association with Paper Mill Playhouse, by special arrangement with Disney Theatrical Productions, The Hunchback of Notre Dame will run October 26 – December 7, 2014 in the Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Theatre. "We are excited to welcome this knock-out company of local and national talent to the Playhouse – many of whom have delighted San Diego audiences for years,” said Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley. “They will give full-throated life to Victor Hugo’s classic story of love, obsession and heroism as reimagined by this truly powerhouse creative team." The cast features Michael Arden (Broadway’s The Times They Are A-Changin’, Big River) as “Quasimodo,” Patrick Page (Broadway’s Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, The Lion King, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!) as “Frollo,” Ciara Renée (Broadway’s Pippin, Big Fish) as “Esmeralda,” Andrew Samonsky (Playhouse’s Little Miss Sunshine, Broadway’s The Mystery of Edwin Drood) as “Phoebus” and Erik Liberman (Broadway’s Lovemusik) as “Clopin.” Five San Diego-based actors will be part of the ensemble: Lucas Coleman, Mary Joe Duggan and Anise Ritchie, along with UC San Diego M.F.A. students Brian Smolin and William Thomas Hodgson. Additional ensemble members include Julian Decker, Ian Patrick Gibb, Beth Kirkpatrick, Samantha Massell, Neal Mayer, Nora Menken, William Michals, Vincent Rodriguez and Richard Ruiz. As previously announced, the acclaimed local choir SACRA/PROFANA will serve as the show’s on-stage chorus. The creative team also includes Chase Brock (Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark), choreographer; Michael Kosarin (Newsies), music supervisor and arranger; Brent-Alan Huffman, music director; Michael Starobin (Tangled), orchestrator; Alexander Dodge (Playhouse’s Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin), scenic designer; Alejo Vietti (Beautiful), costume designer; Howell Binkley (Memphis, Jersey Boys), lighting designer; Gareth Owen (A Little Night Music), sound designer and M. William Shiner, production stage manager. -- more -- Based on the Victor Hugo novel and featuring the Oscar®-nominated score from the 1996 Disney animated classic, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is the only stage collaboration from two masters of the American musical theatre, composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz. Celebrated for such beloved and award-winning works as Menken’s Newsies, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin and Schwartz’s Godspell, Pippin and Wicked, their artistry reaches its zenith in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Featuring a lush, emotionally rich score, this brandnew production from acclaimed director Scott Schwartz highlights the music's orchestral power and choral beauty in an intimate retelling of the famous love story. Librettist Peter Parnell crafts a bold, highly-theatrical take on the moving tale of the scorned bell-ringer Quasimodo, the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda and the dashing Captain Phoebus in 15th century Paris. Casting for the Paper Mill Playhouse engagement of The Hunchback of Notre Dame will be announced at a later date. Tickets for The Hunchback of Notre Dame are currently available at LaJollaPlayhouse.org or by calling (858) 550-1010. Biographies Michael Arden (“Quasimodo”) made his Broadway debut in Deaf West and the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Big River. Other theatre credits include The Times They Are A-Changin’, Ragtime (Avery Fisher), It’s Only Life, Swimming in the Shallows, Ace, Juno, As You Like It, The Winter’s Tale, The Secret Garden, Pippin (Mark Taper Forum) and Aspects of Love, directed by Sir Trevor Nunn (Menier Chocolate Factory, London). Film credits include Source Code, Bride Wars, The Good Shepherd, Over/Under, My Eleventh and The Odd Life of Timothy Green. Arden can currently be seen on the series Anger Management on F/X and FOX. Other TV credits include: GCB, Nurse Jackie, Royal Pains, Unforgettable, Off the Map, Kings, The Closer, The Forgotten, Bones, The Return of Jezebel James, Cashmere Mafia, Grey’s Anatomy and Numb3rs. His concert work includes: Barbra Streisand, Chris Botti, Below 54, Feinstein’s at the Regency and Joe’s Pub. He also formed the site-specific theater company The Forest of Arden, and their immersive production of La Ronde is currently being developed into a feature film. Training: The Julliard School. As a director, Arden’s production of Spring Awakening with Deaf West Theatre is currently running at Inner City Arts in Los Angeles. Other directing credits include La Ronde, for The Forest of Arden, For the Record: John Hughes, both in Los Angeles and A Tale of Two Cities (Associate) on Broadway. On Broadway, Patrick Page (“Frollo”) created the roles of Valentina in Casa Valentina, Rufus Buckley in A Time to Kill, Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and The Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Also on Broadway: King Henry in A Man for All Seasons (with Frank Langella), De Guiche in Cyrano De Bergerac, Scar in The Lion King, Decius Brutus in Julius Caesar (with Denzel Washington), Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, Marley/Scrooge in A Christmas Carol and The Kentucky Cycle. Off-Broadway: Rex, Richard II, Duchess of Malfi, The Sound of Music (Carnegie Hall). Regional credits include 25 years, including Associate Artist at The Old Globe, where roles include Cyrano De Bergerac (Craig Noel Award), Jeffrey Cordova in Dancing in the Dark (Craig Noel Award), Malvolio in Twelfth Night and Michael in I Do! I Do!; Associate Artist at The Shakespeare Theatre Company DC, where roles include Iago (Helen Hayes Award), Coriolanus (Emery Battis Award), Macbeth, etc. For TV/Film: The Good Wife, Law & Order SVU, All My Children, One Life to Live, Affluenza, Substance of Fire, Mystery of Matter, Flesh and Bone, Michael, Saava. His awards include: Drama Desk & Outer Critics nominations, Princess Grace, Helen Hayes, Richard Seff, Emery Battis, Craig Noel, Joseph Jefferson, Matador Award for Classical Theatre, William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre and The Utah Governor’s Medal for the Arts. -- more -- Ciara Renée (“Esmeralda”) has appeared on Broadway in Pippin (revival) as Leading Player and in Big Fish as The Witch. Her regional credits include Sondheim on Sondheim at Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Lizzie Borden: The Musical, Chess and Passing Strange at Playhouse Square, Carousel and Harvey at the New London Barn and Les Miserables at the Fulton Opera House. She is a graduate of Baldwin Wallace University. Tweet her here: Ciararenee8. Andrew Samonsky (“Phoebus”) appeared in the Playhouse’s world-premiere production of Little Miss Sunshine. His Broadway credits include The Mystery of Edwin Drood as Neville Landless, Scandalous as Kenneth Ormisten (original cast recording), and South Pacific as Lt. Cable, where he was seen on the Live From Lincoln Center PBS broadcast. Samonsky appeared Off-Broadway in Michael John LaChiusa’s Queen of the Mist as Frank Russell (Drama Desk Award nomination, original cast recording) and the City Center Encores! productions of Fiorello! and Merrily We Roll Along. Original productions of Somewhere in Time (Richard, Portland Center Stage), Tales of the City (Beauchamp, ACT), and Disney's On the Record (Original Cast Recording). He is a soloist with symphonies across the country. TV: Elementary and Guiding Light. Erik Liberman (“Clopin”) recently co-conceived, co-directed and appeared in Raising the Roof, an all-star gala celebrating Fiddler on the Roof's 50th Anniversary at New York's Town Hall, having toured North America as Motel opposite Topol, Harvey Fierstein and Theodore Bikel. He made his Broadway debut in Harold Prince and Alfred Uhry's Lovemusik, received a Helen Hayes Award for his portrayal of "Charley" in Eric Schaeffer's revival of Merrily We Roll Along, a Connecticut Critics Circle Award as The Baker in Mark Lamos' Into the Woods, and a New York Musical Theatre Festival Award for his portrayal of Groucho Marx in The Most Ridiculous Thing You Ever Hoid, a role which he reprised at The White House and in Off-Broadway's Minnie's Boys. Liberman originated the role of Frank in Portland Center Stage’s Somewhere in Time, directed by Scott Schwartz, and appeared in the world premiere of Reefer Madness, for which he received LA’s Ovation and Garland Awards. Additional credits include: Mabou Mines Dollhouse (world tour and Off-Broadway), and the New York premiere of Kooman and Dimond's Dani Girl. He is a winner of the Lotte Lenya Competition for Singers and featured in the Actors Equity Centennial book, Performance of the Century. www.erikliberman.org. The nationally-acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is known for its tradition of creating some of the most exciting and adventurous new work in regional theatre. The Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and is considered one of the most well-respected not-for-profit theatres in the country. Numerous Playhouse productions have moved to Broadway, including the currently running, multiple Tony Award-winning hit Jersey Boys, as well as Big River, The Who’s Tommy, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Walk in the Woods, Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays, the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Farnsworth Invention, 33 Variations, Peter and the Starcatcher, and Hands on a Hardbody. Located on the UC San Diego campus, La Jolla Playhouse is made up of three primary performance spaces: the Mandell Weiss Theatre, the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for La Jolla Playhouse, a state-of-the-art theatre complex which features the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre. La Jolla Playhouse is led by Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg. -- more -- Fact Sheet: The Hunchback of Notre Dame WHEN: October 26 – December 7 (press opening: November 9 at 7pm) Tue/Wed at 7:30pm; Thu/Fri/Sat at 8pm; Sun at 7pm; Sat/Sun at 2pm WHO: Creative Team: Book by Peter Parnell Music by Alan Menken Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz Director: Scott Schwartz Choreographer: Chase Brock Music Supervisor/Arranger: Michael Kosarin Orchestrator: Michael Starobin Scenic Designer: Alexander Dodge Costume Designer: Alejo Vietti Lighting Designer: Howell Binkley Sound Designer: Gareth Owen Dramaturg: Gabriel Greene Production Stage Manager: M. William Shiner Cast: Michael Arden Erik Liberman Patrick Page Ciara Renée Andrew Samonsky Quasimodo Clopin Frollo Esmeralda Phoebus Ensemble: Lucas Coleman, Julian Decker, Mary Joe Duggan, Ian Patrick Gibb, William Thomas Hodgson, Beth Kirkpatrick, Samantha Massell, Neal Mayer, Nora Menken, William Michals, Anise Ritchie, Vincent Rodriguez, Richard Ruiz, Brian Smolin. On-Stage Chorus: SACRA/PROFANA BACKGROUND: Based on the Victor Hugo novel and featuring the Oscar®-nominated score from the 1996 Disney animated classic, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is the only stage collaboration from two masters of the American musical theatre, composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz. Celebrated for such beloved and award-winning works as Menken’s Newsies, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin and Schwartz’s Godspell, Pippin and Wicked, their artistry reaches its zenith in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Featuring a lush, emotionally rich score, this brandnew production from acclaimed director Scott Schwartz highlights the music's orchestral power and choral beauty in an intimate retelling of the famous love story. Librettist Peter Parnell crafts a bold, highly-theatrical take on the moving tale of the scorned bell-ringer Quasimodo, the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda and the dashing Captain Phoebus in 15th century Paris. PRODUCTION SPONSORS: U.S. Bank, Morrison & Foerster Funded in part by the San Diego Tourism Marketing District Corporation with City of San Diego Tourism Marketing District Assessment Funds. TICKETS/INFO: LaJollaPlayhouse.org or (858) 550-1010; Tickets start at $15.