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Jai Rodriguez, best known for “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” and his musical theatre triumphs in Rent, Spinning into Butter and The Producers will star in the a concert staging of the new musical DANCE WITH ME about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as part of the Festival of New American Musicals in Los Angeles, California. Showing a very different side from what many loyal “Queer Eye” fans have come to know and love, Rodriguez will establish himself as a Broadway leading man playing one of20the most charming and romantic roles created for musical theatre. Also joining the cast will be Broadway veteran and television star Jim J. Bullock (Hairspray, Hair and “Too Close for Comfort.”), Leslie Easterboork (The Police Academy movies, “Laverne & Shirley,” and Broadway’s California Suite and On the Twentieth Century) and Broadway’s Fleur Phillips (The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and Scapin).
DANCE WITH ME, with book, music and lyrics by Robert Bartley and Danny Whitman, is a brand new original musical that follows in the footsteps of many great American musicals such as GYPSY, JERSEY BOYS, DREAMGIRLS and FU NNY GIRL about famous icons. With an original score that spans from big band to hot Latin conga rhythms, DANCE WITH ME tells the story of how Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz struggled against all odds to be together and wound up making television history in the process.
DANCE WITH ME is described as follows: “Escaping the bloodshed of his native Island, a young Cuban boy sets sail on a turbulent journey that leads him all the way to Hollywood and into the arms of a fiery, redheaded movie star named Lucille Ball. At the climax of DANCE WITH ME, Desi and Lucy put their money, their trust and their dreams on the line in a gamble to save one thing—their marriage. They risk it all on an untested medium called television. Can these two star crossed lovers blaze a path that defies Hollywood and history to be together?”
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Fleur Phillips (Lucy)
, Jai Rodriguez (Desi), Leslie Easterbrook (Dede Ball)
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DANCE WITH ME was recently featured in the development series at off Broadway’s Drama Desk Award-winning York Theatre Company. It was recently announced that DANCE WITH ME is a finalist for the prestigious National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) Festival in the fall of 2008, and as a finalist for the 2008 Eugene O’Neil Music Theatre Conference. The authors of DANCE WITH ME, Robert Bartley and Danny Whitman, are the creators of the annual all-star Broadway event, BROADWAY BACKWARDS which has featured Betty Buckley, Neil Patrick Harris, Len Cariou and dozens more. Recent incarnations of DANCE WITH ME have featured such Broadway talent as Tony Yazbeck, currently stopping the show every night in GYPSY starring Patti Lupone, and Jenn Colella (star of Broadway’s URBAN COWBOY and HIGH FIDELITY).
DANCE WITH ME will perform July 10-12 at 8pm and July 13 at 4pm at 916 North Formosa Ave., West Hollywood as part of the Festival of New American Musicals and will serve as a benefit for the WeHo Church. Tickets cost $15. To purchase tickets, visit www.DanceWithMeTheMusical.com.
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