Arden, who co-starred in Off-Broadway's Bare: A Pop Opera, will present his original musical Dec. 21 at Joe's Pub, the intimate cabaret located within the Public Theater. Bare director Kristin Hanggi will helm the reading. Show time is 7 PM.
Easter Rising, according to production notes, "concerns the last few weeks of a man's life. As his battle with a terminal cancer draws near, he confronts buried relationships with his estranged childhood friend and struggles with the dilemma of balancing a love for his fiancé and this man from his past. Set in Plano, Texas this four person musical questions the limits of love, definition of family and the morals we pass on to our children when our own are in debate." An earlier presentation of the musical at Makor featured the talents of Gavin Creel, Eden Espinosa, Evan Pappas, Eden Riegel, Sara Gettelfinger, Matthew Morrison, Shoshana Bean, Max von Essen, Kirsten Rossi, Norm Lewis, Michael Hunsaker and Santino Fontana.
Kerry Butler was most recently on Broadway as Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors. She portrayed Penny Pingleton in the original Broadway cast of Hairspray, and her other Broadway credits include Belle in Beauty and the Beast, Eponine in Les Misérables and Ms. Jones in Blood Brothers. Off-Broadway she was seen in Bat Boy The Musical, The "I" Word, Prodigal and The Folsom Head.
Steven Pasquale appeared at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater in the limited engagement of A Man of No Importance, where he stopped the show nightly with the rousing “The Streets of Dublin.” Pasquale’s other theatrical credits include Spinning Into Butter, Rumpelstiltskin, The Spitfire Grill, The Wild Party, Miss Saigon, West Side Story, The Light in the Piazza and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged. On screen he has been seen in “Vanilla Sky,” “Six Feet Under” and, currently, "Rescue Me."
Colin Hanlon has been seen on Broadway in Rent, and he recently played Rent composer Jonathan Larson in tick, tick . . . BOOM! at the George Street Playhouse. Hanlon played Fredric in a production of The Pirates of Penzance and appeared in the workshops of Wicked, Taboo and Fanny Hill. In addition to Bare, Michael Arden has also appeared on the New York stage in Big River, The Vampire Lestat, It's Only Life and Harold & Maude. His regional credits include God of Vengeance; Falsettoland; Art, Song Dance; West Side Story; Songs for a New World; The Common Pursuit and A Winter's Tale. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Arden's compositions include Easter Rising and As You Like It.
Joe's Pub is located within the Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street; call (212) 539-8778 for reservations. Tickets are priced at $25.
