The previously announced leads include Tony Award nominee Laura Osnes (Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella) and Corey Cott (Gigi) along with Tony Award winner Beth Leavel (The Drowsy Chaperone), Joe Carroll (Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella), Brandon James Ellis (Once), James Nathan Hopkins (What’s It All About: Bacharach Reimagined), Geoff Packard (Matilda), and Joey Pero (Broadway debut).
They will be joined by the newly announced Mary Callanan (Mamma Mia!), Max Clayton (Something Rotten!), Patrick Connaghan (Broadway debut), Matt Cusack (One Man, Two Guvnors), Andrea Dotto (Broadway debut), Marc A. Heitzman (Broadway debut), Ryan Kasprzak (Broadway debut), Andrew Leggieri (Broadway debut), Erica Mansfield (Finding Neverland), Morgan Marcell (Hamilton), Drew McVety (The Front Page), Kevyn Morrow (The Color Purple), Jessica Lea Patty (Evita), Becca Petersen (Broadway debut), Keven Quillon (Shrek), Jonathan Shew (Broadway debut), Ryan VanDenBoom (Something Rotten!), Jaime Verazin (Finding Neverland), Mindy Wallace (An American in Paris), and Kevin Worley (On the Town).
The show is scheduled to begin previews March 31 prior to an April 26 opening night the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre.
Bandstand is directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Andy Blankenbuehler (Hamilton, In the Heights). The show features original music by Richard Oberacker and a book and lyrics by Robert Taylor and Oberacker.
The newly announced design team includes Tony Award nominee David Korins (scenic design), Tony Award winner Paloma Young (costume design), Tony Award winner Jeff Croiter (lighting design), Tony Award nominee Nevin Steinberg (sound design), Greg Anthony Rassen (co-orchestrator, music supervisor, and music arranger), Tony winner Bill Elliott (co-orchestrator), Fred Lassen (musical director and conductor), and Mark Stuart (associate choreographer).
Bandstand made its world premiere at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse in October 2015 under the title The Bandstand.
“Set in the smoke filled, swing fueled night clubs of 1945,” Bandstand, according to press notes, “brings the against-all-odds story of singer/songwriter Donny Novitski (Cott) and his band of mismatched fellow WWII veterans to the stage. When a national radio contest to find America’s next big swing band offers a chance at instant fame and Hollywood fortune, Donny must whip his wise-cracking gang of jazzers into fighting shape. Teaming up with the beautiful young war widow Julia (Osnes) as their singer, they struggle to confront the lingering effects and secrets of the battlefield that threaten to tear them apart. Playing for every voiceless underdog in a world that has left them behind, they risk everything in the final live broadcast to redefine the meaning of victory. With an explosive original score and choreography inspired by the high energy swing rhythms of the era, Bandstand is a truly American story of love, loss, triumph and the everyday men and women whose personal bravery defined a nation.”
Tickets are now on sale to the general public and available by visiting Telecharge.com or calling (212) 239-6200 or (800) 432-7250.
Bandstand will be produced on Broadway by Tom Smedes, Gabrielle Palitz, Terry Schnuck, Tom Kirdahy, and Roger Horchow.
Check out photos from the Paper Mill run below:
(Updated January 13, 2017)
