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Altar Boyz Celebrates its Third Anniversary

The Off-Broadway musical Altar Boyz, winner of the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical Off-Broadway, celebrates its 3rd annivarsery on the 1 Mar 2008.

The musical is currently booking to 31 Aug 2008 at New World Stages / Stage 4, where it opened on the 1 Mar 2005, following previews from the 15 Feb 2005.

Altar Boyz recently recouped its investment, making it the first Off-Broadway commercial book musical to recoup in years! Capitalized at $1Million

The show received mostly good to luke-warm notices from the popular press: "Sends you home with a smile" (New York Times); "keeps you laughing all evening long." (New York Daily News); New York Theatre Guide reviewer Polly Wittenberg said "There is virtually no plot involved, and the procession of clever rock numbers may not bring peace but they sure provide 90 intermissionless minutes of fun."

Altar Boyz is a musical comedy about a struggling Christian boy-band riding the wave of America's latest fascination with religion. Armed with catchy melodies, freaky moves and product in their hair, the self-anointed apostles of pop (Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan . . . and Abraham (He's Jewish) bring their soul-saving tour to New York City, with their heavenly hits like “Girl, You Make Me Wanna Wait” and “Jesus Called Me On My Cell Phone”.

Altar Boyz currently features Jesse JP Johnson (Luke), Chad Doreck (Matthew), Jay Garcia (Juan), Ryan J Ratliff (Mark) and Ryan Strand (Abraham).

Conceived by Marc Kessler and Ken Davenport, Altar Boyz has a score by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker with book by Kevin Del Aguila.

The musical is directed by Stafford Arima and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli, with set designs by Anna Louizos, lighting design by Natasha Katz, and sound design by Peter Hylenski. Lynne Shankel is the music director and Co-Orchestrator.

Click Here to read Polly Wittenberg's review and what other critcs said about the musical.

Altar Boyz received the 2005 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical Off-Broadway and earned Christopher Gattelli the 2005 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreographer.

"Working in the Theatre" to feature Off-Broadway Artistic Directors

The American Theatre Wing's "Working in the Theatre" will feature the Artistic Directors of four off-Broadway not-for-profit theatre companies on CUNY TV on Sunday, January 6 at 5 p.m. The segment will repeat on Friday, January 11 at 9 a.m., 2 and 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, January 12 at 11 a.m.  The program becomes available as streaming audio and podcast from www.americantheatrewing.org beginning Monday, January 14.

Douglas Aibel of Vineyard Theatre, Charlotte Moore of Irish Repertory Theatre, Tim Sanford of Playwrights Horizons and Jim Simpson of The Flea Theater -- share their thoughts about attracting audiences to their shows, the cost of keeping their theaters going, the challenges they face competing with commercial productions, how they choose the works performed on their stages and what they hope to accomplish for their companies in the next several years.

Click Here to read the full article.

Weekend Hot Picks in Entertainment

STAGE: STOP, SHOP AND CAROL

Performers from off-Broadway shows "Stomp," "Altar Boyz," "The Fantasticks" and more will be belting out all your holiday favorites today at 4 p.m. when the League of Off-Broadway Theatres & Producers adds a little merriment to the last-minute shopping frenzy happening in the 100 red-and-white retail tents occupying Union Square Park through Christmas Eve. The performance happens near 15th Street and University Place.

Looking for a Last Minute Holiday Gift?

Broadway.com offers a gift certificate that can be redeemed for any Broadway or Off-Broadway show currently playing in New York City, (you can even throw in a dinner voucher). If you don't live near Manhattan, Ticketmaster will have you covered for plays and events going on in your town.

Off-Broadway is in tune with the Holiday Market

The cast of “Altar Boyz” — the off-Broadway musical comedy about a fictional Christian boy band from Ohio — performed Dec. 7 at Union Square as part of the square’s annual Holiday Market. Casts from other top Off-Broadway musicals will be appearing at the Holiday Market, at the south end of the square, every Friday at 4 p.m. through Dec. 21 to sing songs from their shows as well as holiday carols for shoppers. Future performances will include cast members from “The Fantasticks” and “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”

'Love Perfect Change' Cast Performs in Union Square Dec.14

I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change cast members Jonathan Rayson, Frank Vlastnik and Amy White are set to perform a medley of favorite holiday songs at the Union Square Holiday Market this Friday, December 14 at 4PM.  This marks the third of four successive Fridays in which shoppers can enjoy a taste of some of New York's hottest Off-Broadway shows as they wrap up their gift shopping in the Union Square area.  The performances are made possible by the Union Square Partnership and the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers in partnership with Urban Space Management, which organizes the annual Holiday Market.

Click here for more information.