Barre, who also directed the new musical, has departed to direct the 137th edition of the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus.

A cemetery in the Bronx is the unlikely setting for A Fine and Private Place, which will play the York through May 21. In the story — based on Peter S. Beagle's 1960 novel — Jonathan Rebeck is a recluse who lives in a Bronx cemetery. His companion there is a talking raven who flies in stolen food. Rebeck's unofficial job is to assist "newly arrived ghosts to accept death. Once these ghosts no longer remember what it is to be alive, they vanish. Michael and Laura are two such ghosts. Each has a conflicted past, not fully remembered, and takes different approaches to this new state of 'living.' A ghost at only 34, Michael wants to live, while Laura is ready to leave the world of the living."

The cemetery is based on the famous Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, a place where may theatre icons are buried.

Joseph Kolinski is Rebeck. Glenn Seven Allen is Michael and Christiane Noll is Laura. Also in the cast is Evalyn Baron.

Gary Littman has appeared Off-Broadway in Minnie's Boys, The Hating Pot and The Home for Lost Boys. His regional credits include Sight Unseen, Dracula and Metamorphoses. The York Theatre Company is located at Saint Peter's Theatre in Citigroup Center at 619 Lexington Avenue. Tickets are available by visiting www.smarttix.com. For more information go to www.afandpp.com or www.yorktheatre.org.