Casting was announced June 7. Colella starred in Broadway's High Fidelity and Urban Cowboy and Off-Broadway's recent Lucky Guy. The York Theatre Company's summer 2011 Musicals in Mufti Concert Series — presenting musical theatre gems in staged concert performances — kicks off with the late-'70s Off-Broadway hit, I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road, and its world-premiere sequel, Still Getting My Act Together.

Both shows, offered in rep June 19-26, will be directed by Wes Hyler; the sequel will include three original cast members from I'm Getting My Act Together, including co-creator Cryer, who will reprise her role of Heather Jones.

I'm Getting My Act Together… will feature Lisa Birnbaum (Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party), Jenn Colella (Lucky Guy, High Fidelity), Jillian Louis (The Dinosaur Musical, Philadelphia), Daniel Robert Sullivan (Jersey Boys, Toronto), Louis Tucci (Buddy) and Jeremy Yaddaw (Musicals in Mufti: I Love My Wife). Music direction is by John Di Pinto.

Still Getting My Act Together will feature original cast members Betty Aberlin, Gretchen Cryer (librettist) and Margot Rose. Also featured in the cast are Lynne Halliday (Porterphiles), John Hillner (La Cage aux Folles), Greg Landes, Dennis Michael Keefe and Scott Wakefield (Ring of Fire). Music direction is by Christopher McGovern.

	Gretchen Cryer, with Joel Fabiani, in the original production of I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road.
	photo by Sy Friedman

I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road and Still Getting My Act Together are presented as a special Musicals in Mufti event, requiring separate tickets for each staged concert performance. Each of these shows will run approximately 90 minutes with no intermission. There will be a 30-minute break between Muftis on Thursday and Friday evenings, and Saturday and Sunday matinees. There will be an extended 90-minute dinner break between evening Muftis on Saturday and Sunday only. York producing artistic director Jim Morgan said, "I am delighted to kick off our multi-month celebration of Off-Broadway with Gretchen and Nancy’s shows. That one is an iconic long-running hit from the past, and the other a world premiere perfectly encapsulates all that York does. Still Getting... is the first premiere in the Mufti series, but why not? Rules are made to be broken!"

Detailed show information follows:

I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road
Book and Lyrics by Gretchen Cryer
Music by Nancy Ford
"The show premiered in the late 1970s Off-Broadway at the Public Theater and ran for years, becoming a sensation for all theatre-goers. The story follows a fictional cabaret singer, Heather Jones, as she evolves her traditional act of romantic pop tunes to a bold new act full of emancipating, feminist pieces. As she performs the new show, song by song, Heather fights to achieve an artistic metamorphosis while her dominating manager, Joe, tries to keep her act in the past."

Still Getting My Act Together
Book and Lyrics by Gretchen Cryer
Music by Nancy Ford
"The never-before-seen-or-heard sequel... takes place 30 years after the original and will also be presented Mufti-style for the first time ever onstage. In this new show, Heather and her daughter take center stage and will uncover just what happened in the three decades since Heather got her act together and took it on the road... And, in a real treat for music theatre aficionados, the sequel will feature three cast members from the original production: Gretchen Cryer (also the show’s librettist), Betty Aberlin and Margot Rose. Nancy Ford also returns as composer."

Performance schedule:
Sunday, June 19; Saturday, June 25; and Sunday, June 26:
12:30 PM: I’m Getting My Act Together...
2:00 PM: 30-minute break
2:30 PM: Still Getting My Act Together
5:30 PM: I’m Getting My Act Together...
7:00 PM: 90-minute dinner break
8:30 PM: Still Getting My Act Together

Thursday, June 23; and Friday, June 24:
7:00 PM: I’m Getting My Act Together...
8:30 PM: 30-minute break
9:00 PM: Still Getting My Act Together

Marathon tickets (for both shows) are priced $67.50; regular tickets are $39.50. York Theatre Company at St. Peter's is located on East 54th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue. For tickets visit www.yorktheatre.org or call (212) 935-5820.

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Mufti means "in street clothes, without the trappings associated with the original productions."