By Andrew Gans
21 Apr 2006

Deborah Gibson
photo by Aubrey Reuben

The Stamford Center for the Arts will present the world premiere of the new musical Saint Heaven June 1-11 at Stamford's Rich Forum.

Tony Award winner Chuck Cooper and former pop idol Deborah Gibson head a company that will also include Cheryl Alexander, Montego Glover, Darren Ritchie and Patrick Ryan Sullivan. Matt Lenz directs.

Saint Heaven features a book by Martin Casella and a score by Keith Gordon. The musical, according to press notes, concerns young doctor "Thom Rivers, who has returned to his childhood home of Saint Heaven, Kentucky, for his father’s funeral. Met with unhappy childhood memories and strong pressure to follow in his beloved father’s footsteps and remain in Saint Heaven, Thom is determined to put the pain of his past behind him, settle his father’s affairs and head back north. However, his plans change when he falls in love with a young black woman, who is a preacher with the gift of speaking in tongues. Believing her to be suffering from epilepsy, he attempts to treat her, sparking a chain of events that affect their lives and all of those who live in the small mining town of Saint Heaven."

The creative team for Saint Heaven comprises David Korins (set design), Lon Hoyt (music direction), Paul Miller (lighting design) and Robin McGee (costume design).

Chuck Cooper, who won his Tony Award for his work in Cy Coleman’s The Life, has also appeared in productions of Caroline or Change, Chicago, Thunder Knocking On the Door, Passion, Avenue X and Someone to Watch Over Me. He also starred as Paul Robeson in the one-man show Robeson.

After early pop success, Long Island native Deborah Gibson focused on the musical theatre, performing in the Broadway companies of Les Misérables, Grease!, Cabaret and Beauty and the Beast as well as the national tours of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Funny Girl and Cinderella. Gibson also appeared in the North Shore Music Theatre’s production of Chicago and opposite Betty Buckley in the Paper Mill mounting of Gypsy. She was seen on FOX-TV's "Skating with Celebrities" and in the film "Coffee Date."

Tickets, priced $27-$67, are available by calling (800) 233-3123. Visit www.stamfordcenterforthearts.org for more information.