Playbill
Bruce Vilanch’s New Musical, A Sign Of The Times, To Have Industry Reading In New York
BY ANDREW GANS
NOV 28, 2017
Industry presentations of the new musical A Sign of the Times, featuring songs made famous by Petula Clark and other 1960s hit-makers, will be presented December 14–15 in Manhattan.
The cast will feature Chilina Kennedy (currently starring as Carole King in Broadway’s Beautiful) as Cindy, Ryan Silverman (Side Show) as Brian, Van Hughes (Spring Awakening) as Dennis, Drew Seeley (Jersey Boys) as Matt, and Crystal Lucas-Perry (Bull in a China Shop) as Tanya.
Directed by Gabriel Barre (Amazing Grace) with choreography by JoAnn M. Hunter (School of Rock), the musical made its world premiere last summer at Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut. Lucas-Perry reprises her performance from the previous engagement; the rest of the principal company is new to the title.
The ensemble will comprise Lauren Boyd, Brad Bradley, Lauren Nicole Chapman, Melessie Clark, Natalie Charle Ellis, Mylinda Hull, Jeremy Gaston, Jeremiah Ginn, Lindsay Moore, Kevin Santos, Nathan Scherich, and Amos Wolff.
The new musical, conceived and created by Richard Robin with a book by Emmy-winning writer and performer Bruce Vilanch, concerns Cindy, whose passion for making a difference in the world takes her from her small Midwestern town to New York City. Set against the backdrop of the events in 1965—The Civil Rights Movement, Women’s Liberation, and the war in Vietnam—songs include “Downtown,” “I Know a Place,” “The Boy from New York City,” “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss),” and “If I Can Dream.”
Music supervision is by Joseph Church (The Lion King, Tommy) with music direction by Rick Fox (Jesus Christ Superstar), and casting by Tara Rubin Casting.
“It was quite an experience for A Sign of the Times to have had such a positive response during its first production at Goodspeed,” said creator and producer Richard Robin in a statement. “Using feedback from the Goodspeed audience and ongoing discussions with the creative team, the December presentations will showcase a number of changes to the book and score. As options for the next production are being explored, we hope that A Sign of the Times will make its next appearance on stage in 2018.”
