Cass Morgan in “The Road To Where” at Geva Theatre Center. (Photo by Ronald L. Cronk II)
The Road to Where, the folk-tinged musical memoir that actress-writer Cass Morgan conjured from real events, places and people in her life, will get a fresh New York City industry presentation 6:30 PM Dec. 14 following recent stagings by Geva Theatre Center and Weston Playhouse in Vermont.
Morgan is the Broadway actress and songwriter whose soulful, crystalline voice has brought texture to musicals Memphis, Mary Poppins and her own Tony Award-nominated musical Pump Boys and Dinettes. Morgan told me the new show “is a search for home, and what that really means.”
The Road to Where, which has a script by Morgan and original tunes by Morgan and a handful of others, had its world premiere April 23-May 10, 2015, at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY, her hometown. It then had an Aug. 13-30 run at Weston Playhouse.
Sharing the stage with Morgan for the new reading will be Eli Zoller, Max Grossman and Pearl Rhein. Musical director/orchestrator is Steven M. Alper, who also penned a song and incidental music.
Here’s how Geva previously billed The Road to Where: “With the help of three talented musicians, Broadway veteran and writer Cass Morgan searches for her roots. A trip to the West of Ireland sparks memories of her childhood in Rochester, her growing up in a Florida trailer park, and a need to reconcile with her parents in an enchanting evening of story and song.”
The roots of the show are in an earlier intimate musical by Morgan called True Home. Hudson Stage Company in Westchester County, NY, produced it in 2002. (The now-defunct Charlotte Rep also developed it.)
Of the eight songs in the show, Morgan wrote or co-wrote five. The others were “by invitation,” she said. The score includes three new songs Morgan penned for the Geva run. Her collaborators on the songs are Alper, Mark St. Germain and Randy Courts, Jack Herrick, David Bucknam and Steve Tyler.
Morgan is repped by Ron Gwiazda at Abrams Artists. Industry people curious about the show may email the actress-author directly: cass.morgan@gmail.com.
Read my earlier interview with Cass Morgan about the Geva premiere of The Road to Where.
