Somewhere
Somewhere by Matthew Lopez
Springs to Life with East Coast Premiere at Hartford Stage


Creative Team includes Three Tony Award Winners:

Actress Priscilla Lopez (A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine), Composer Bill Sherman (In the Heights),

 and Designer Donyale Werle (Peter and the Starcatcher)

Somewhere


Hartford, CT – February 18, 2014 – Matthew Lopez’s Somewhere, the captivating, dance-filled saga of a Puerto Rican family in 1959 New York City, springs to life April 3 to May 4 in its East Coast Premiere at Hartford Stage. By the author of the critically-acclaimed The Whipping Man, which garnered rave reviews at Hartford Stage in 2012, Somewhere will feature Priscilla Lopez (Morales in the original cast of A Chorus Line) and will be directed by Giovanna Sardelli, with original music by Tony Award winner Bill Sherman and choreography by Greg Graham.

In 1959, West Side Story is storming Broadway, and a movie version is on the way. It fuels the show-business dreams of Inez Candelaria (Lopez), who works as an usher but hopes that her children will succeed on the other side of the footlights. The play’s journey over the past two years included well-received productions at The Old Globe in San Diego and TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, CA, and then a workshop as part of Hartford Stage’s Brand:NEW series four months ago. Matthew Lopez also served as the 2013-2014 Aetna New Voices Fellow here.

The Los Angeles Times called Somewhere, “Ebullient, charming — a sprawling family drama and a coming-of-age story,” and the San Diego Union-Tribune commented, “Lopez’s imaginative and beautifully acted Somewhere bursts with ideas and feeling and a boisterous (if bittersweet) sense of romance.” San Jose Mercury News said, “Priscilla Lopez has this part in her bones. She grounds the play with her deeply felt and compelling performance.”

The cast of Somewhere includes Zachary Infante (Julie Taymor’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Theatre for a New Audience; Peter Pan, Paper Mill Playhouse); Priscilla Lopez (Broadway’s A Chorus Line, Tony Award nomination; A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical; In the Heights; and Anna in the Tropics); Jessica Ann Naimy (South Pacific, National Tour; A Chorus Line, San Diego Musical Theatre); Michael Rosen (Broadway’s West Side Story; Nikolai and the Others, Lincoln Center Theater); and Cary Tedder (Broadway’s Big Fish and Memphis: A New Musical). Priscilla Lopez, who is the playwright’s aunt, as well as director Giovanna Sardelli and choreographer Greg Graham, have been a part of all previous productions of Somewhere.

Director Giovanna Sardelli’s previous works include Off-Broadway’s Earth Girls Are Easy and The North Pool, at such theatres as Cherry Lane Theatre, Second Stage, The Vineyard, and The Woman’s Project. Choreographer Greg Graham’s credits include the TV series “SMASH” and “Ugly Betty.” Broadway dance credits include Fosse, Hairspray, Chicago, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Billy Elliot.

Composer Bill Sherman is the Tony Award winner for Best Orchestrations and Grammy Award winner for Best Cast Album, Co-producer, for In the Heights. He is the composer of the New York-bound musical FLY. Sherman is also the longtime music director for “The Electric Company” and “Sesame Street,” where his credits include the recurring Elmo: The Musical montages and an Emmy Award for Original Song for “What I Am.”

Somewhere features scenic design by Donyale Werle (Tony Award-winner for Broadway’s Peter and the Starcatcher and Tony Award-nominee for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson); costume design by Amy Clark (Broadway’s A Night with Janis Joplin and Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus); lighting design by Philip Rosenberg (Hartford Stage and Broadway’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, also Mary Stuart and Shrek: The Musical on Broadway); and sound design by Jason Crystal (Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella and The Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess on Broadway). Lori Lundquist will serve as production stage manager.

The Presenting Sponsor for Somewhere is The Hartford. Production sponsorship provided by Bank of America and Robinson & Cole LLP. Somewhere is supported by the 50th Anniversary NCTF/Ford Foundation Fund for New Work.

Additional production support provided by Jill Adams & Bill Knight and The Seedlings Foundation. Somewhere is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts ArtWorks program.

The 50th Anniversary Season is made possible, in part, by Legacy Sponsors Travelers, United Technologies and The Hartford. The anniversary season is also sponsored by the Greater Hartford Arts Council and the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development.

The production runs April 3 through May 4, 2014. Evening performances are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday matinee performances at 2 p.m.; and select Wednesday and Saturday matinees are at 2 p.m.

Tickets for all shows start at $25. Discounts available for groups of 10 or more and for students (recommended for ages 14 and up).

For a more specific schedule of performances or to buy tickets for Somewhere, please call the Hartford Stage box office at 860-527-5151 or visit www.hartfordstage.org.